Final Farm Day Reflections!

Girl Farm is officially coming to an end! We have learned, worked, and sweated well together... For this post, I would love for each you to reflect upon this experience.  Please answer the following questions...

1. What question do you still have about organic farming or local food?

2. What knowledge from Girl Farm will you use in your future life?

3. What is a fun memory that sticks out in your mind from Girl Farm?

june farm day!

rainy day farm day!

Plot Map

Girl Farm Plot map 2011!

Because Long Strings of comments bother me... I'm doing a post instead.

Hello!

 We(me at least)  learned:

• that in keyhole gardens you actually have to dig out the key holes a little bit. I thought you just stomped them or something. 
•  why we used straw on the paths.
• That when you lay out the square foot gardens you do a zig-zag-y thing so it doesn't lean.

Three sisters is Corn, beans. and pumpkin. The beans grow up the corn and the pumpkins shades the ground.
I had a TON of fun!

I think that it vas sooo fun and i cant wait to do it again...i cant think of any good inside jokes....anyone?

May 7 Farm Day!

Saturday was a great day on the farm! It was beautiful out, so we had a quite a full day of work, and accomplished a ton! We consulted our farm design plan to get our plot laid out efficiently using biointensive garden techniques.  These techniques will make our plot produce a high volume of food per square foot and encourage biodiversity for good relationships in the environment between species. Here are a series of photos from the day....

Before: ready to get the plot set!

On their way to the middle of the plot!

They found the center! This is where the 3 sisters garden will go. Who can tell me what 3 sisters means??

Izzy and Lydia work to measure our plot precisely.

Hello Farmers! 

Juliet meticulously designs the square foot grid.

Square foot garden plot.  Each square will house a different crop.  This maximizes the space and the high volume of plants helps prevent weeds by leaving little exposed, unused soil for weeds to take over.

Keyhole garden plots measured and drawn out.

Composting the keyhole gardens.  What can you tell me about keyhole gardening Girl Farmers?? 

Teamwork to move the heavy straw bales! The straw was laid in the pathways to suppress weeds and define the pathways 

Seeding the transplants in the greenhouse. 

Seeding in the greenhouse.

Still smiling after a long day farming!

Can get enough of the Chickens!

A video of the fruits of our day's labor!

What did you learn this week at the Farm? What was the best part about Saturday's Trip??

Saturday, April 16th, 2011: Girl GO to the Farm of THE FIRST TIME!

So, finally we girls got to go to the Actual farm at Amador Hill, and we (at least I) had a blast!

Now I was not the designated reporter for Saturday. That was actually Izzy's job for the day, but given that Izzy is far too busy; I agreed to report. All of the rest is from Izzy's perspective with a few random details from my experience.

Station One: Soil Testing!

First we used a soil probe to get soil samples from an area. The soil was very clay-y, and of a brown, slightly auburn color. We took turns zig-zagging across the field, collecting soil samples; we took about 16 samples and put them into a plastic bag.

After my group was done Grandma Jackie kindly let me, Laura, and Ellen play in the corn field! We played "Marco Polo"! Laura went so far into the corn, that Ellen and I got slightly worried, but we all made it back to the farm house with all of our various limbs and extremities.

Station Two: Budgeting and Banking!

We talked about budgeting, different areas of spending, and why budgeting is important. We got to practice writing out checks, and using the ledger.

Izzy wrote her check out to Hogwarts for her tuition, and I wrote mine to Izzy for her Hogwarts fund.

Lunch/ Relax:

We saw the worm dorms. Me and Lydia held worms. Lydia helped us learn two very important things

1. Worms do not have teeth
2. Worms only poop out of one end

We ate sandwiches, chips, organic soda, and carrots

Station Three: Blog!

We signed up for and learned how to use this lovely blog!

Station Four: Green House!

Medha's group: Seeded onions and broccoli and cabbage.

Izzy's group: Transplanted Basil.

Wrap up:

We journaled, ate cookies, and reflected on our amazing day!

Hello Farmers!

Hello! Welcome to the Girls Go Farming Blog!  This is a place where as a group, we can share our thoughts and ideas regarding our growing experience.  It will be an open forum about a variety of topics...what we're excited about, what we're learning, or what we see happening in our community related to local food.  Let's be creative and have fun with this!!

Here are a few photos from our first meeting.... already so tough. ready to take on those weeds. we don't even need chemicals!!

Now lets have some fun!