It was the first formal workday for Jon and I, today. As a potential intern, you are invited for two "trial days" to see whether or not you are fit for the work here. Today and tomorrow are those days. If they deem us not suitable to work here, then we pack up and have to head home. That means if I slack off, you all will be seeing me a lot sooner than expected. So if you don't see a blog entry on Wednesday night / Thursday, you'll know why..!
In the morning we did shoveling upon shoveling of worm castings into the mechanical sifter. How it works is the sprouts (which are part of the winter green salad mix) are grown in a mixture of 3 parts coir and 1 part worm castings. Coir is ground up coconut shells, which gets delivered in big dry rectangle blocks to Growing Power. Coir is a growing medium (like peat moss) but it is incredibly good at holding moisture and nutrients... and it can be reused over and over again. Peat cannot - it can only be used a few times at best.
The sprouts get harvested (cut, washed and put in bags for distribution to the local community) then the soil mixture, sprout roots and stems, are put in a big transformer. This breaks down for one month and then it is sifted (we did this today) and put into plastic trays which are also reused. The trays are planted with sprout seeds, then they are harvested, then composted, then it all gets reused... it's a cycle that never ends and produces sprouts for the salad mix every single week of the year. A brilliant system.
Red wriggler worms break down the food waste at an incredible speed. Apparently they are an unusual species of worms that eat horizontally rather than vertically - making them very unique. I will talk more about vermicomposting in a later entry.
After lunch we got an official tour (we have a big crock pot full of stew, which we make the night before, all vegetables grown locally.) Then after that we helped build an outdoor aquaponics system. Again, something else I will talk about later.
Our yummy stew, almost overflowing the crock.
It's getting late so I'm just going to post some more picture and wrap up this entry. I still have 17 more days of work before I leave... so plenty more information to share with y'all. Hope you are enjoying this so far... please keep the comments coming - they motivate me to write more.
So much food... good food... and all of us enjoying it!
Me - From Amherst, MA
Jon - Minneapolis, MN
Jeremy - Chicago, IL
A GREAT OMLETTE, made by Chef Jeremy... but really...
...this is who made the omlette!
Peace,
Ryan
Sweet!!
ReplyDeleteRyan...I love what you are doing! There is nothing like growing and eating organic food. Wondering if you are all vegans there or if you are raising farm animals on organic feed for meat. Keep up the good work, I am sure you will not be sent packing! Joan Seaman
ReplyDeleteRyan - definitely keep sharing! Appreciated you taking the time to describe the growing medium cycle.
ReplyDeleteI wondered about the carbon footprint of the coconut coir but it sounds like 1) its superior to peat from day one in terms of it being a waste product and not from carbon-troubled peat growing industry 2) can be reused so easily and effectively.
These mitigate any carbon footprint arising from the shipping costs from tropical regions.
I am just now getting a chance to read your blog and I realize I have alot to learn about this subject so can I audit your class at UMass? :-) No really this is so cool and love your pictures too. Yes, you have what it takes to stay the stay. Your spirit has been strong from the day you came into this world. You go Ryan!!!
ReplyDeleteLove you