{"id":164,"date":"2022-04-30T12:19:51","date_gmt":"2022-04-30T12:19:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wordpress.evergreen.edu\/foodag-portfolio-2022-dyer\/?p=164"},"modified":"2022-04-30T13:23:40","modified_gmt":"2022-04-30T13:23:40","slug":"week-four","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wordpress.evergreen.edu\/foodag-portfolio-2022-dyer\/week-four\/","title":{"rendered":"Week Four"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The weather has continued to be unseasonably cold, which has placed a temporary hold on what we can do as farmer and gardeners. Of particular concern are the pollinators who should be working to fertilize tree fruit crops like apples and pears; because of the chill and rain, fruit set appears to be low this year. Transplanting and seeding are delayed, so this was a week of other tasks: weeding, bed preparation, and repair. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Tomcat Rodent Repellent Spray
Image Credit: Lowes<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

My first “repair” action this week was to treat the community greenhouse with a non-toxic rodent repellent. After a bit of research, I landed on a product safe for animals and people called Tomcat Rodent Repellent Spray, a liquid composed of mint oil, clove oil, cinnamon oil, and Sodium Lauryl Sulfate. The incredibly strong (but weirdly pleasant) scent delivers a smell and taste those rats and mice naturally hate, preventing rodent entry, nesting and foraging in treated spaces. The product lasts for 4-6 weeks, but I’m going to retreat often and early to get a handle on the pest problem ASAP. Losing the seeds that were planted at the Equity Symposium during our April 13th seeding workshop was a real blow, but the silver lining is that we were made aware of our unwelcome guests quickly and we are able to repel them as opposed to killing them. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I also began envisioning our future garden volunteer hours and work parties, and after discussing options with my fellow interns, I settled on afternoon volunteer hours every other Monday from 2pm-5pm and a longer community work party on the third Saturday of every month. I’m especially looking forward to our once-a-month weekend day, which I hope will draw a larger crowd of volunteers and bring a festive, party-like atmosphere into the space.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Volunteers met at the farm on Wednesday to assist Beth with our biggest project yet! As a group of 10 volunteers, we mulched the entire 2022 strawberry patch with wood chips, both in the rows and around the muddy, weedy edges. It took 3 hours and dozens of wheelbarrows full of chips, but we finished our task beautifully. After looking at what we had accomplished, we were inspired to go further, and continued on to restore the main path and to lay a new wood chip path down to the strawberries. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Members of SCARF: (From Left to Right) Laura, Zoe, Carlos, Joeseph, Max, and Gabriel.
Image Credit: Sarah Dyer<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

After completing volunteer hours, we held a short meeting of SCARF to discuss our upcoming budget hearing with the Student Activities Board. I was in charge of assembling our proposal, which can be viewed in full below. Our greatest hope is to receive enough funding to make Demeter’s Garden usable again; it would be AMAZING if by the Harvest Festival we were able to present a reclaimed space to the student body. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

While no new gardeners approached me looking for space this week, I did have an opportunity to communicate with several returning community gardeners about their plans for the season and how I can support them in their goals. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I met Sylvi Baldwin and Clarissa Dirks, two faculty who work with another partner as a trio in a few adjacent plots. They are excited by the momentum in the garden and are looking forward to seeing more progress. Sylvi offered their excess starts to Taste: What We Hunger For and will be collaborating with the program to plant a large, compact squash patch. Additionally, when advised that donations rather than fees are being accepted this year, the pair committed to procuring compost enriched garden soil for use by the entire community. So generous!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Clarissa and I also spoke for a bit about the repairs needed around the garden and started developing a list of projects that can easily be accomplished by a small group with basic hand tools. On our list are items such as repairing the door jamb of the storage shed, building shelves in the newly organized space, creating a “corral” for wheelbarrows and trellising, and repairing\/repurposing the composting toilet for use as a second shed. Clarissa is also willing to lead a few workshops on basic hand tool use and small carpentry repairs, offering students an opportunity to learn a new and valuable skill.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I was also in contact with John Fortugno, one of our most senior gardeners (of John’ Green Dream fame). He is abroad in Romania working with Ukrainian refugee women and children at the Bucharest train station and on the border. I’m excited to meet with him and gain his perspective on the direction of the community garden in the coming weeks. Either way, it was good to link a person to a plot. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The weather has continued to be unseasonably cold, which has placed a temporary hold on what we can do as farmer and gardeners. Of particular concern are the pollinators who should be working to fertilize tree fruit crops like apples and pears; because of the chill and rain, fruit set appears to be low this … Continue reading Week Four<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":455,"featured_media":169,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"geo":{"latitude":47.0749512,"longitude":-122.9731293,"description":"Olympia, Washington, 98502, US"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.evergreen.edu\/foodag-portfolio-2022-dyer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/164"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.evergreen.edu\/foodag-portfolio-2022-dyer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.evergreen.edu\/foodag-portfolio-2022-dyer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.evergreen.edu\/foodag-portfolio-2022-dyer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/455"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.evergreen.edu\/foodag-portfolio-2022-dyer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=164"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.evergreen.edu\/foodag-portfolio-2022-dyer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/164\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":174,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.evergreen.edu\/foodag-portfolio-2022-dyer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/164\/revisions\/174"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.evergreen.edu\/foodag-portfolio-2022-dyer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/169"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.evergreen.edu\/foodag-portfolio-2022-dyer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=164"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.evergreen.edu\/foodag-portfolio-2022-dyer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=164"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.evergreen.edu\/foodag-portfolio-2022-dyer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=164"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}