My posts-- I am going to miss this!

I had trouble posting my blogs, so I finally figured it out and will post them all together to make sure they all make the blog. I had a great time in the garden and spending time with all of you, good luck with everything and keep in touch!

Day 1-- Today I joined Courtney, Sara, Emily Dickman and Katie for some quality weeding of one of the lots. I have weeded before, but was not expecting for the lot to be so overgrown with what looked like grass. I needed to brush up on my technique, so Courtney and helped me grab hold of a handful of weeds, and I pulled them out of the soil. This was going to be fun.

The group sat around the lot and we all began weeding. One of the best parts of weeding the lot was the conversation that existed. I think this is probably the benefit of gardening in a group. When I think of gardening I usually think of sitting alone and being one with your thoughts. This is very beneficial to those who know how to garden, but for the first time being at the lot, I am glad we worked as a group. We all chatted about things going on in each other’s lives, and it was nice to see how a community developed from an English class. This is surprising to me, because in most of my English classes, a bond rarely exists, besides befriending the students that sit next to you. Even though this was the first day of our voyage with the garden, I was already getting sentimental about the classroom and the friendships that have formed.

Day 2-- I have never been a serious gardener, but used to enjoy helping my mother with our garden, planting tomatoes, lettuce, or simply tending to the flowers. This is why I was so excited for Courtney’s idea for the final project. Though the weather has not permitted much time in the garden, and my schedule has left me missing two days of gardening with the group, I am really looking forward to what this afternoon holds. After spending an hour weeding last week, I am excited to finally be able to begin planting. One sad thing about this project is that I won’t be able to see the end result because I won’t be here this summer. However, if I do end up living in New York City, I plan on visiting Bethlehem many times this summer and next year and then will be able to see the progress of our garden.

I think I have a skewed perception of what the garden would look like when, or if I visit. What I am imagining is a flourishing garden of vegetables and flowers, and my peers who maintain the garden over the summer, benefiting from all that grows. After we start planting, I am sure I will get a better understanding of what the end result would actually look like.

Day 3-- Today we planted an assortment of vegetables and flowers. In one lot, from what I can remember, we plated beets, sunflowers, spring pees, carrots, and I believe kale. I think the second lot contained herbs and tomatoes, but I was not there when my peers planted in this lot, so I could be mistaken. This second lot with the herbs was already showing the tops of the plants. This past sentence proves that I am not the experienced gardener. From what I observed today, the leaves look green and the plants appear to be pretty healthy. The lots experienced a lot of rainfall from the night before, and this is clearly helped the plants.

Planting the seeds was a great experience. We divvied up the different seeds, and Emily Dickman and were ready to plant the beets. Surprisingly, our seeds looked the smallest, even though they were going to produce the biggest vegetable in the lot. We both kept laughing about this because you could barely even see the seeds when they were in our hands. Something that was also very educational about this process was that there are actual directions printed on the back of the seed packets. I loved this because it gave me a boost of confidence that I could pretend like I knew what I was doing. Emily and I followed the packet’s directions, while asking Will to double-check our work. We all marked our rows with sticks to remember where we planted our vegetables or flowers. The sad part of this whole experience was realizing it would take a long time for us to see the progress our specific plants made.

Day 4--Yesterday I planted beet seeds with Emily and today I kept thinking about the actually process of digging and planting the seeds, and how impressed I was with my peers.

When we first arrived to the garden, Will had already been at the garden for awhile. He was using a tool and scraping at the soil. When I asked him what he was doing, he said it was to help with the nitrates in the soil. Will’s knowledge on gardening is amazing. He was like our garden guru, and we always looked at him for help and suggestions.

Sitting aside Courtney, I watched her plant her sunflower seeds. It was evident that she knew what she was doing, so I just sat there for a second and watched her do her thing. After taking in her skills, Emily and I took charge and started making our row for our beet seeds. Once the row was dug to the right depth, we dropped our seeds in, following the directions on the back of the packet. We then covered our seeds with the remaining dirt.

Though this process was mechanical and required following directions, it was also very spiritual. Being a part of creating or at least helping something became a part of earth is an amazing feeling. Although we only put the seeds into the dirt, we were still giving the plant the opportunity to grow and therefore to continue to create.

Day 5--Visiting the garden alone was a different experience. Today, there were children playing on the play structure next to the garden, so it was not very quiet, but I was still alone and able to think about my day. The garden offered me serenity in a way that I haven’t really had before. With the normal noise coming from the playful children, I was put in a place where I was able to think inward, while also being aware of my surroundings. This was the first time I visited the garden without my classmates, and I cannot decide if I preferred today, or being there with the class. Comparing the two is difficult, because I was not planting or doing anything with any immediate interaction with the soil and our plants. Instead, I was simply at the garden to look and admire the lots. What was interesting about today’s visit however was how two completely different environments can be so close to another and coexist so perfectly. What I mean is, this busy plastic and metal playground sits a few feet away from the marked of garden. As a class we decided to garden to show our appreciation for organic and local foods, but it amazing to me that toxic materials used for the playground that give people such enjoyment, is right next to a garden which has the same effect.

Day 6--Today there were no children at the playground and everything around me was quiet. As a sat down next to the lot where I planted beets, I began to realize how serene and personal gardening really is. This was the first time I had visited the garden when there was nothing distracting happening around me, and this forced me to just sit and think. I am not saying that the quiet forced me to be there, but rather it required me to understand that this quiet was good and in some way humbled me. Day to day we are obsessed with technology, checking our cell phones, going online on our laptops, doing anything that helps us connect to the outside world. Being in the garden, though, helped me realize that stepping away from this technology and simply admiring your surroundings and the quiet that is present is probably the best way to feel connected to the world.  When everything was quiet around me, I was not worried about who was texting me, but was actually content on sitting on the wet ground and feeling comfortable looking at the plants. This brief period where I was disconnected with technology and was simply able to think my own thoughts, reflect on my day, and admire what was around me was amazingly relaxing. I am assuming this is the benefit people find of gardening and why they find it so relaxing and beneficial.

 Day 7-- I brought my friend Chloe to the garden today because I wanted to show her what we had done as a class. Of course nothing was really there to show for our planted vegetables and flowers, but it was still nice to know that our class planted the little seeds under the soil, and that we had made some small difference to the community. 

My friend Chloe lived on Birkel last year, which is about two blocks over from where the garden is. Chloe had no idea that this garden existed, and she really wishes she had known. South Bethlehem is not the most attractive place to live. There is trash and broken bottles everywhere and it can feel very unsafe. Having a simple garden a few feet from your house somehow changed the scary atmosphere. A garden, to me, represents safety; a garden is a sanctuary. Although this garden is not flourishing with plants or flowers, there is still some kind of an aura around it. Gardens give off a sense of comfort, and this garden makes me feel especially safe because I have contributed to it.

Visiting the garden with a friend was a new way to experience it because Chloe was not in the class, and though had heard many stories, it was great to be able to show her everything I had told her about. This gardening project was something very different for me, and I was excited to show off my hard work to my close friend.

Last Day--Today was the last day I visited the garden. It was not a quiet day, but there were not children around. Cars were driving by, which prevented me from fully immersing in a trans-like state at the garden, like I did the day no one was there and it was very quiet. What was nice about the surroundings today was that the serenity of the garden and the chirping birds, were combined with the outside distractions of cars driving by, and people chatting in the distance. Today was really the epitome of what the garden stands as- a combination of nature and everything involved in the outside world. I enjoyed the garden for what it was today, but also became very sentimental about our English class, and graduating. Time flew by this semester, and seeing the plants have not made much progress makes me wish even more that I was staying another semester to see the final product. Hopefully I will be on the east coast and will be able to make many frequent visits to campus, but today, sitting in the garden, I realized how real graduation has become. I tend to push things off and think they are far from happening, choosing to ignore the fact that this big period in my life is coming to an end, but sitting along in the garden, I realized it is actually upon me. The garden offered clarity and let me come to terms with this. Being stuck in the library all week, time seems to go by slowly, but quickly at the same time because all you are doing is working. Changing your surroundings and visiting the garden, though, offered me the chance to come to terms with the fact that college has ended. I am really going to miss Lehigh, and our English class. Hopefully when I come back to visit, I will be able to visit our garden and have moments to myself, like the ones I am so thankful I had the opportunity to enjoy these past we

Plastic's presence

Have you found a piece of plastic in either of the gardens? I would assume the answer is unanimously, yes. What we do to this plastic is selfish. We pick up the plastic and place it a foot away, outside of our garden bed. Or, we hide it so nobody else will see that we didn’t throw it out. We view it as unusable and dirty. We want nothing with it because it’s not new. I feel that our generation has taken the ‘out of sight out of mind’ phenomena to an extreme. When in fact, the plastics that are were produced after World War II, 50 years ago, are still in natural form somewhere on Earth. It is unknown how long it takes for plastic to photodegrade, the breaking of the long polymer molecules into smaller segments.  The presence of this plastic is terrorizing Earth’s natural system. Now, obviously our planet is coping with the material, but imagine 10 million square miles in the Pacific Ocean entirely surfaced of plastic, nearly the same size of Africa. If you don’t think a continent of plastic is harmful, causing air pollution problems, aiding to global warming, and just a negative impact to the environment, I suggest you may want to find interest. Now lets say your thinking, which we all admittedly have, “well the plastic that I just placed outside my garden bed, in say Bethlehem, PA, will take years to reach the Pacific and its so small”. There are approximately 6 other major tropical oceanic plastic garbage dump gyres being made in the world’s oceans. With no filtration system to catch little granules in your Colgate toothpaste or exfoliate body wash (only two of the million plastic products), these small materials end up remaining in the environment, to later intrude a marine animals digestive tract.

Think of it like this: We, humans have built our cities near a water source for the obvious basic need it provides. This water source is the vital organ that connects us to the rest of the world. Whether it be through it rains and enters sewer or goes down a faucet, this plastic reaches our oceans. We as a society need to pay much more attention to our own waste and what we do with it. In the case of agriculture, one is able to generate their compost over the years. In the case of finding plastic in your garden, make sure there is a liable source to recycling for your whole community to use.

If you have ever found a bottle cap: (I would be surprised if you never have!)

http://www.cityfarmer.info/2011/04/04/urban-gardening-in-bottle-caps/

Now if you realistically want to plant in plastic, or any container, you should read this : http://urbangardenmagazine.com/2011/02/clever-containers/

(specifically: What’s Wrong with Standard Containers, Air Pruning and Root Trapping)

The End

                Today was last official day of our gardening project.  By official, I mean just the project so far as the grading goes.  I went to Carlton Street, just to see how things are looking. The plants are all still alive, so I count that as a good thing. Our little seeds have not sprouted into full growth yet but I have come to terms with the fact that my initial vision of picking tomatoes off the vine by this point was not exactly plausible.

                There are many things I have learned through this process, about myself and about life in general.  I understand the meaning of patient, something I have always struggled with before.  I also discovered that there are times were it is ok to be alone.  In today’s society, especially in college, I think that there is a misconception of being alone and being lonely.  People are so afraid to be lonely that they have to surround themselves with others. I use to be self-conscious about going places alone, not wanting to give off the impression that there was something wrong with me, with who I was.  However, I have found that I enjoy going to the garden alone.  I feel at peace and feel no need to have company.

                On the other hand, I feel this project has bonded our class in a way that I have not witnessed elsewhere in my Lehigh experience.   We are jocks, greek, musicians, artists, seniors, juniors, sophomores and graduate students. We come from all different aspects of life and yet we have a common connection over this garden.  I feel like I have actually gotten to know the people in this class, not something I can say about my other classes. Professor Lotto, thank you so much for allowing us to go off the charts and do something different. I will always remember this project. I look forward to continuing to garden this summer. For all those who are not graduating, I hope to see you around next year. For those who are, I hope you come visit the garden as alums and remember the mark we left on the Bethlehem Community. 

The Seed

Seeds are a funny thing. They are so tiny, so unassuming and unimpressive. They do not look like much. However, they have so much potential.  The oak started once as an acorn. Within that miniature pod, there is life. From this tiny seed, roughly the size of a pea, a large plant is going to grow.  I am fascinated by this. This plant is going to supply food and substance. I am not sure why this is so amazing to me, but it is. 

                I wonder if this is how any new parent feels when they hold their newborn child. At first, the baby is so small and so helpless.  There is no telling what type of life lies ahead for this baby. The parents’ job is to care for and nurture this tiny human being, and hope that one day they are able to give back to the world. 

                As I sit alone in our garden, these thoughts run through my head. I wonder about the seeds that we put into the ground. I imagine their outer shells cracking open in the soil, they stretch their roots like tiny limbs, twisting and moving so to grow.  Eventually, with enough water, nutrients and time, they break through the soil, ready to join the world.

Cover crops and turning them under

On the afternoon of May 30^th, around 4:00 pm the whole team showed up to plant the seeds! By 4:00, I had already turned under the cereal rye and fresh compost in the 5^th bed. The cereal rye, which was planted in all of the MLK garden beds acted as a cover crop. Cover crops provide many benefits in gardens and agriculture. Some of these benefits are:

- Protect the soil from runoff and erosion

- Recycle and supply nutrients

- Replace soil organic matter

- Suppress weeds.

Different types of cover crops are suitable for different situations. In general, cereal grains grow vigorously and can provide quick ground cover even when the weather is cool. Cereal rye is known as the most commonly grown cover crop in the Northeast since it is strong, very cold hardy, and can germinate in cool weather. They yield large amounts of biomass when planted and harvested at proper times.  If planting cereal rye, it should be done between the time span of late august until late October. Two to three (lbs.) pounds of seed should be applied per 1,000 square feet. When planted in say, September, rye will capture some of the available nitrogen in the soil and recycle it for the next crop. However, if too much of the rye stalk is turned under without having time to decompose before spring planting, it may suppress the growth of spring crops. Also, know that rye grows rapidly in the spring and become difficult to turn under. So, stay with the season, remaining attached with the land over the course of all seasons.

How to turn it under: If the top of the cereal rye is too heavy and long to turn under easily, cut and remove most of the top growth. Then use a shovel or garden fork to turn the cover crop under to a depth of 3-6 inches.

Back to planting the seed's with the team! I was able to plant three rows (6, 4, 4) of cucumber seeds. Trying to fit in as many rows of seeds as I could, I felt like nature's jazz artist. Since we all were planting seeds and figuring out the best place regarding sunlight and neighbors, we all were artists in action. But, the collaborative music was on mute, which Courtney described as unknowingly scary, yet magical.

If you would like to create your own garden this summer, but feel that you don’t have the land, check out this website. Don’t let agriculture be confined to massive farmland! Make your own land. Make your own produce.  You’ll save a couple bucks too.  http://www.technologyforthepoor.com/UrbanAgriculture/Garden.htm

Methodology, but there's not just one!

After Ed agreed to Courtney’s proposal, how did we now get started?

1.     Starting a committee

            -Members of the class were invited if interested to join. The excitement came along with the    interest in bring a community garden into their lives.

2.     Choosing your spot

                       

            -We were granted two garden beds at the MLK garden on South Side Mountain in the Lehigh Valley.

3.     Tending the contract (setting up rules and guidelines)

            -Everyone decided that 10 hours and a combination of 8 blog posts (200 words each) was a feasible and comparable requirement to an original 10-page proposed paper.

4.     Divvying the responsibilities

     

      -Paperwork aside, what needed to happen to the garden? What kind of position was it in?

            -Having already pulled the cereal rye out on bed #5, on Monday, April 30^th, I cut the rye and broke apart the bigger root-clods, putting them on top of the garden bed. I then added 4 more paint buckets of compost to the top of the bed, turning it all under. I say this because I                   was there on my own and was unable to share with you!

5.     Making it legit

            - Digging our hands through the soil. Commitment to the garden will become             contagious.

6.     Expanding your initiative

            -Engage in practicing local agriculture in all areas that you spend allocated time. Just because one doesn’t have access to land, doesn’t mean you don’t have access to other ways of urban agriculture techniques. However you get to this stage, congratulations! There is no sole correct way to establish your own local agriculture initiative, but some of these points were essential to our success as individuals with a shared passion in taking part in a community garden. 

            If you would like a summer read this summer, a book called “Urban Farms” by Sarah Rich is scheduled to release in June. The book is focused around in depth looks at 16 innovative farms located in metropolitan areas across the United States. Individuals within communities committed to growing their own fruit, vegetables, and even animals operate each farm. People are showing that they are catching on to this local movement and this book shows the rise of environmental awareness, food culture, distrust of mass production, and mainly the do it yourself outlook in life. I have already heard             great things about the read!

Simply getting acquainted

April 26^th, the day of our last registered class together, I visited the garden at night. A few us were talking about how it would be cold this evening, but wanted to transplant Sara’s various tomatoes, peppers, and sweet basil. The night was full of darkness, but evenly spread so that my eyes adjusted and I could still see in front of me. It was 11:00 pm. I sat down inside the garden on a planted stone and admired what was in front of me. As the vegetables and sole herb that was planted a mere 12 hours earlier were becoming newly acquainted to the soil, I too was becoming more comfortable with my work place. But, work place…is that fair to call a community garden a work place? Even since we humans have planted seed’s, we have worked the soil to reap the benefit of food, medicine, and various other necessities of life. But why does work now refer to a business suit, cubicle, and long hours? I hope to redefine work, call it rework, and allow people the opportunity to create a means of living that are sustainable. Not just for the human species, but all aspects of biodiversity and the natural environment.

            As the night was frigid and I began to show goose bumps, I took my jacket off and laid it over the peppers for 10 minutes, then the tomatoes and sweet basil for 10 minutes. My thoughts became confined by the cold and I couldn’t bare it much longer. When humans first reached a state of cold, we produced or hunted for clothing. When plants become cold, they retain and conserve heat. What a genius idea. Whoever thought of conserving the sun’s heat through solar panels, wasn’t thinking on a rocket science level. It’s the simple ideas that will outlive us.