freakyowl1's+garden+journals+2011

For the past several weeks we went to our [|Citysprouts] Garden at the [|Amigos School] here in Cambridge. We did this every Tuesday for Science Class. The garden is located in our courtyard. It was so much fun there, each week you and your group did a different job! The four jobs were Compost, Biologist, Maintenance , and Harvest/Food Preservation. The garden coordinator, Liz, ran the Maintenance group. They kept the garden in order. We had a helper, Asia, for the Harvest/Food Preservation group. In that group we harvested and cooked a variety of food. Finally, our teacher, Ms. Ferhani, ran the Compost and Biologist groups. The Compost group examined and tended to the compost. Biologists roamed the garden finding consumers and producers to write and draw about. I enjoyed pretty much all of the jobs because they each provided fun experiences that I will never forget. Below are my Garden Journal entries, each night after visiting the garden I wrote one. Now I will always remember everything we did during our 9 weeks in the garden!

= __Garden Journal __ = = __#1 __ = 9/13/11 Before today I had never caught slugs, [|earthworms], snails, or any of the other decomposers in the [|compost pile], and then looked at them with magnifying glasses. It was really cool to do it though. I’m definitely going to remember the sight of the huge slugs on the side and top of the compost bin. Also, I will remember the wheelbarrow of compost teeming with [|isopods]. Another experience I won’t forget is feeling the texture of the slimy worms and slugs that I put into containers to examine. I will also remember the sound of small shrieks when we discovered gross looking organisms. The faint smell of the compost and of the other things in the garden will linger in my memory as well.

Today my group and I were the Composters. We all had to stir the compost and collect decomposers to examine. We especia lly enjoyed the isopods we found, they tickled! I enjoyed the garden today, and I’m so excited to come next week!

= __Garden Journal #2 __ = 9/20/11 Before today I had never pulled up sunflowers. Their roots were in really deep, it was hard work to get them out because they were so strong! I’m going to remember seeing the insides of the sunflowers stem. I’ll also remember the texture of the soft white stuff near the head of the flower and the sharp, rough seeds. I’m not about to forget the sound of my group making a plan to pull the sunflowers up either. I am also going to remember the pleasantly fragrant basil the Harvesters gave me.

My group was Maintenance and we pulled up some old sunflowers. We put all the leaves in the compost. Then we took the heads and after removing the pollen part we picked out all the seeds. They will be planted next spring. We had fun today, I can’t wait for the next time!

= __Garden Journal #3 __ = 9/27/11

A first for me today was looking at a sort of fungi up close on a leaf. It was actually kind of pretty! I will also remember the sight of leaves with holes chewed in them. I will remember the texture of the empty snail shell I found; it was smooth! I can remember the sound of students in the garden because other than them it was actually pretty quiet. I won’t forget the smell of the potatoes with herbs cooking on the grill. Finally, I will savor the memory of the yummy tasting potato chips harvested and cooked by today’s Harvesters.

My group and I were Biologists this week. We went around the garden identifying plants and looking for evidence of animals. We also looked for fungi and answered questions about how plants and animals depend on each other. It was a relaxing class and I look forwa rd to next week!

= __Garden Journal #4 __ = 10/18/11 I had never ground corn kernels up to cook with before today; it was fun! I will remember the texture of the corn all ground up when I touched it, and we ate it mixed with water. I can still remember the sound of the handle turning on the thing we used to grind kernels. I won’t forget the smell of tomato cut up to put in our food. I will remember the taste of the polenta we made. (Ground corn, olive oil, tomato, salt, pepper, and water, all mixed up.) I will remember the sight of everyone putting their __paper__ cups in the compost after we ate from them.

My group picked dried kernels off the corncob. Then we ground them through the “grinder” three times. It was kind of broken though so we also sifted the ground up corn until just the really broken down bits were left over in the bowl. We cut up tomato to put in the ground corn that was mixed with water and heated up. We also put salt and pepper in. Asia told us it was an Italian food called polenta. We gave everyone a little cup of it and tried some ourselves too. It was sort of slimy and the texture was…interesting. Everyone composted their cups afterward, the perfect end to our perfect Science Class.

= __<span style="font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif;">Garden Journ __ __<span style="color: #7c00ff; font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif; font-size: 24px;">al #5 __= 10/25/11 A first for me today was holding two snails on my bare hand for a __long__ time. It got really slimy quickly and usually that’s when I would put them down but today I just kept holding them. I will remember this sight that I saw today in the garden, black dots - fungi, on the composted leaves. I am also going to remember how disgusting the compost smelled, due to the many apples in it. I will not forget the wonderful sound of teamwork through conversation in my group today. I am certainly going to remember the slimy texture of the snails on my palm. Finally, I will remember the taste of the lovely Lemon Balm Tea that the Food Preservation/Harvester group concocted, it was yummy!

Today my group composted. We found snails, worms, only ONE isopod, slugs, a spider and a few ants. I noticed our first time composting the bin was covered in slugs and overflowing with isopods, but there were only a few this time. The final two things we did today were we stirred the compost and looked closely at the decomposers with loupes. I had a great time in the garden today and look forward to next week!

=<span style="color: #ff0000; font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif; font-size: 130%;">__Garden Journal #6__ = 11/8/11 Before today I never really spent time focusing on soil, feeling, smelling, and staring at it.That was a first. I will remember how the dirt looked, a little grainy and bumpy but smooth, dark brown, mostly. I’m going to remember the sound of the trowel digging into the earth. I won’t forget the texture of the soil, smooth, sandy, a little clumpy, moist, etc. I will also remember the herb-y scent of my soil. Today I also enjoyed the delicious apple cider the Food Preservation group made, it was tasty!

Today my group, Maintenance, did a [|soil test]. First we cleaned our trowels so they didn’t have old dirt on them and then we sampled soil from three garden areas. The first person in my group did the strawberry bed, the second person did a bed by our outdoor stage, and I sampled the herb garden. We put soil into the three bins and observed them closely on the stage. We took notes on our soil. Mine was dark, dark brown, moist and fine, but it had a few tiny pebbles and root bits too. In the end we wrapped up a bit of the shoveled soil to dry and send to be examined somewhere else. It was an interesting experience today, I look forward to what next week will bring! = __<span style="font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif;">Garden Journal #7 __ = 11/15/11 My group, (hawkman22 and fluffypanda1) and I were biologists. First we drew a picture and answered questions about a producer in the garden. I picked lavender. Then we did the same but for a consumer. For that I chose an isopod. Next week I will be in the Harvest group, I can’t wait!

= __<span style="font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif;"><span style="-webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; color: #000000; font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 19px;"> Garden Journal #8 __ = 11/22/11 My group was the Harvester group. Today we made a salad! Hawkman22 made the dressing from olive oil, vinegar, mustard, salt and pepper too, I think. Fluffypanda1 cut greens. (Arugula and lettuce) She also harvested some radishes. Goldface and I cut up apple, sunchokes, and the radishes into small pieces. In the end we mixed it all up and put chickpeas in too. We served it up and put an edible flower on Ms. Ferhani's, it’s her birthday! The salad was yummy, I thought, and I believe my classmates agreed!

=<span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif; font-size: 24px;">__<span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif; font-size: 24px;"> G__ <span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif; font-size: 24px; line-height: 36px;">__arden Journal #9__ = 11/29/11 We made different groups of students for today. I was put in the Harvest group with HAPPYME111, goldface, and donuts4money. We made sunchoke hummus. I peeled off the sunchoke skin and the rest of my group got chives to chop up. Then we put the sunchokes, olive oil, chives, garlic, lemon, and sesame tahini in. We mushed it all together and added a little salt, after sampling it. Finally, we put some in each cup with a slice of bread and sprinkled more chives on top. Then everyone sampled it when we met up on the center circle. I thought it was very tasty, and I normally do not enjoy hummus! To end class we composted our cups and gave Liz our Thank-You Notes, it was our last time in the garden. I will miss going each week but at least I will always remember the good times we had because of my garden journals!

To read a book review I wrote about about decomposition, click here Bibliographic Information: Titanium22. "Sunflower." //Flickr//. Yahoo!, 08 Aug. 2005. Web. 13 Mar. 2012. <http://www.flickr.com/photos/nagarazoku/32238285/>.