Week 1 – Co-Curricular Community Gardens Project

Week 1 Theme: COVID-safety, Supplies, Tools, and Field Prep

**For the remainder of the quarter, I am going to break up my weekly posts for the work we do in the Demonstration Garden into 2 parts: #1 being the planning and preparing for what we will do to within the garden for that week, and #2 being the tending and management that actually took place for that week. In addition to the 2 parts, each week will consist of a theme that will attempt to encompass some directed learning and workshops.

When we are wanting to know what is planned for the coming week, we can look in the planning and preparing section of the demonstration garden weekly posts.**

1:1 – Planning and Preparing (what’s coming up?):

We will not be meeting in the field for the first week but that doesn’t mean that there isn’t some work to conceptualize together!

~Tuesday 3/30 & Thursday 4/1~ Aside from the week 1 introduction, as well as the COVID training courses, we will go over the crop planning document that I (caleb) created during the Winter quarter; I will attach that below. It is common for a crop plan to change throughout a growing season but it is wise to have some sort of idea of the types and amounts of certain crops we would like to have. We will work together through the making of this crop plan so that we are all on the same page.

In addition to the crop plan, it is also important to know what we are up against with regards to the field space we plan to grow in: how much total space do we have? What weeds are present? How are we going to prep the beds so that we can plant into them? – Knowing the answers top these questions can make it quite straight forward with what works needs to be done.

Below are some photos that I took of our Community Garden plot before, during, and after tilling half of the space. I wanted to have some semi-prepped bed space ready for us ahead of time so that we can get some plants and seeds into the ground as quickly as possible. For the 2nd half of the field, I thought we could do a complete no-till system, meaning that half of our space would be tilled and the other half would be no-till; having both a tilled space and a no-till space can allow us to draw some comparisons between the two.

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As we move forward, I encourage us all to really think about whether there are any specific aspects of regenerative vegetable growing that we would like to learn about throughout this quarter. As we begin to meet and work through this, I can be sure to try and focus the weekly themes towards topics that will interest everyone involved.

Lastly, the bibliography and foundational texts page of this site have a list of books that give amazing detail on what we can expect as new-ish vegetable growers, I will be pulling some readings from these books throughout the quarter so it may be worth getting your own copies.

1:2 Tending and Managing (what we do):

Being week 1, my peers and I didn’t meet in the community gardens but rather met over zoom so that we could iron out the details of our individual projects, and go over our COVID safety protocol for working in-person, within the gardens.

Having gotten a portion of the field prepped last week (week 0), I was able to use this week to visualize what we will cover during our first meet-up in the garden space. When we do begin regularly gathering in the garden, there will be a seemingly endless amount of projects and activities that we can start tackling to move towards beautiful and mature vegetables.

I wanted to have some initial ground work put into the crop plan, as well as a vision for the plot-layout, but I also want this to be done in collaboration with the other students that will be helping me in the garden. To meet this end, I have a draft of a crop plan ready to share with other students that we can all work on, and a ‘blank’ plot map that we can complete together. I believe that it will be necessary to try and meet over Zoom once a week with any willing students, outside of the Tuesday and Thursday meet-ups, to unite on a collaborative crop plan. I am hoping that by having a central plan that we can all keep tabs on, we will all have an understanding of the work flow for the season.

I am so excited to get out into the sun and spend time with other humans, growing food, and playing in the soil! I am confident that we will have a thriving and diverse garden in no time!

1:3 Shishito Pepper Field Trial

~Some Context~

I have been participating in Organic Field Variety Trials for the last two years and have really enjoyed and embraced the significance they can have for local consumers and growers. A centralized goal of conducting these variety trials is to continuously work to breed regionally adapted crop varieties that perform well for the farmers and gardeners that produce them, and the social/cultural/environmental benefits of having regional varieties to grow are boundless. Throughout the Winter 2021 quarter, I began the process of reaching out to organizations, and talking with the Evergreen Farm’s manager, to ascertain whether I could conduct a variety trial through an independent research project for college credits. In the past, I had been awarded a fellowship, conducted the variety trials for undergraduate research experience, and through the connections that I made through those years, I was able to have seeds sponsored by the Culinary Breeding Network (CBN) of Oregon State University. Through meeting with Beth, the Evergreen Farm Manager, I was also able to carve out a space on the Evergreen Organic Farm to hold the trial.

The CBN is very closely affiliated with the Northern Organic Vegetable Improvement Collaborative (NOVIC), and it is for NOVIC that I will be gathering data from my pepper trial that will contribute to a national data base with information on hundreds of crop varieties.

~Seeding!~

Varieties:

Having just received the seeds in the mail during the Spring Break, and having a solidified location to hold the trial, it would appear that I am right on schedule to begin the process of designing the experiment. And not only that, but I built a greenhouse on my property over the Spring break, so I can keep the seedlings close to home, greatly reducing my travel time!

• Ise
• Mangangi
• Fushimi
• Mellowstar (f1)
• Takara
• Highmowing (Shishito)
• Osborne (Shishito)

From NOVIC and CBN, I received 24 seeds for 7 different varieties that were provided by numerous different seed companies of the Pacific Northwest. On 3/31/21, I seeded all the seeds provided in trays that will remain in the greenhouse until they are ready for transplant, thus beautifully marking the beginning of the this Shishito Pepper Variety Trial. I will post some photos below to commemorate the beginning of the trial!

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1:4 Mentorship Reflection

I know that many of us are eager to break free of constant Zoom schooling, and actually meet outside, in the elements. I cannot wait to be working with other, presumably smiling, faces in our own collaborative garden space. I am hoping that all of the students involved will garner some pride and ownership of our plot, just as I know I will. I am honored to have the opportunity to work with my fellow peers to grow tasty vegetables, and I am excited that I will get to assist them, and show them some of the ‘tricks of the trade’ to growing veggies. I know I will find this whole project endlessly fulfilling if even one person walks away feeling like a confident, responsible gardener.

I think it is natural for me to have some apprehensions as I prepare to finally meet in the garden with other students. I have always struggled with confidence and I am attempting to confront my concerns towards my own ability in advance. I am uncertain whether the process I have set-up for this season’s garden planning and managing will actually prove useful to the other students. I have always struggled with asking people for help, telling people what needs to be done, and delegating tasks to people that want to help; I think that this is because I question whether I am qualified to do those things, or if I can tell others what should be done. Many of these concerns go far beyond my role as a garden mentor, and I know that I will be able to compartmentalize them once we actually start moving ahead. It helps knowing that I am there to assist the students in their own learning objectives, facilitating the specific learning they are interested in, and it also helps that I am finally beginning to feel confident in my ability as a farmer/gardener.

In preparation, I have been thinking a lot about how to structure this co-curricular garden space so that it is a fun and beneficial project for everyone involved, while also being sure that I don’t put more work in than is necessary. For instance, I would usually be well on my way to planting and seeding, but I want to be sure that students are as involved as they want to be, even if this pushes the season back a couple of weeks. As Steve said in one of our conversations: “..we aren’t a garden in competition for the early-season market”, meaning that we are not in a big rush to have mature crops. By waiting for students, I also will also have their help in completing the jobs that need to be done, saving me some time by having many hands there to help.

I wanted to find some balance in knowing what tasks I should do alone and what tasks I should save to do with the students. Several ideas that I had were to till only half of the space so that it could be quickly prepped and planted into, but leaving the other half as it was so that we could all work together to clear that and get it ready. I also started some seedling trays so that we could eventually all do some transplanting together, but I didn’t seed all the transplanted crops so that the students will have an opportunity to do that as well.

As I said above, I know that much of this season will be a balancing act, but I am excited to have the help of both faculty and students to meet our goal of tasting our own home-grown vegetables!