Week 3: Learning & Doing

2/18/08

Before I began my hours of service at the Noyo Food Forest this week, I gave a lot of thought to the SL Journal Lead Question of the week: Whose fault is the state of the environment? Though it is questionable whether the assignment of "fault" can serve any useful purpose, I think every human being on the face of the earth must bear some responsibility. We cannot exclude anyone. We all contribute to the state of our environment; there is no escaping the reality that humans -- and all living things -- impact the world around us in some way. The pivotal question is how can we, as a species, repair the damage we have done and return the world to some semblance of equilibrium.

I had a chance to discuss this with Susan Lightfoot today and asked her how the Noyo Food Forest addressed these issues. Here is what she had to say:

Today I continued to repot herb starts in sanitized six-inch pots. As I worked, Susan instructed a high school student on how to begin the starts using a mixture of pulverized coconut husks and vermiculite. She explained that the potting mixture needs to be light and airy so that the delicate seeds can push up to the surface. Normally peat is used, but peat is a precursor to coal formulated from decaying organic material, and we use too much of our planet's fossil fuels already. By recycling the shredded husks of coconuts, we can avoid using peat and the baby seeds can make their way just as easily to the sunshine.

Once the containers have been filled with the coconut/vermiculite mixture, a small depression is made with a forefinger and three or four seeds are dropped in and covered. Over time and with careful (but not excessive) watering, the seedlings will sprout and soon be ready for repotting. The Fort Bragg High School student is making a senior project out of his time at the Noyo Food Forest, and he is following the recommendations of food production researcher/developer/teacher John Jeavons of Willits in his book, "How to Grow More Vegetables Than You Ever Thought Possible on Less Land Than You Can Imagine." http://www.johnjeavons.info/

This week's experience was a delightful combination of learning and doing. The thoughts that Susan shared, the enthusiasm of the high school student, the instructions for starting seedlings, and the now-familiar process of transplanting starts into bigger pots was most enjoyable and made me feel like I was contributing, if only in some small way, to the betterment of the environment.

Here is a link to a slideshow of today's events and activities:

http://home-and-garden.webshots.com/slideshow/562539077MXlFrp

Week 2: The Fine Art of Repotting

2/8/08

Today Sakina told us the story of how Noyo Food Forest began. About two years ago, Susan Lightfoot and some other local women decided they wanted to create an organic community garden where people could stake out their own beds, plant and cultivate their own organic vegetables. They were contacted by Steven Lund, the Fort Bragg Unified School District superintendent, who proposed that the group use the school's garden in exchange for fresh vegetables for the school cafeteria. The project then became more of a community service garden where people would help to grow things organically for the school. Sakina joined the group on the first day they met at the new location by Fort Bragg High School. One year ago, the Noyo Food Forest became incorporated as a nonprofit corporation and chose its board of directors. New elections are slated for next month. The idea of the community garden is still a main goal of the Food Forest and work has started on this project in the Noyo Basin by Thanksgiving Coffee.

After hearing about the background of the SL organization, I was given the task of sanitizing six-inch pots in preparation for repotting herb starts. I gathered about 100 dirty pots which were scattered here and there and washed them down with the garden hose. I transferred them to a sink in the potting shed where I washed them with organic soap called Kiss My Face. This is some fantastic stuff and I'm going to get it for my home. It is made from certified organic aloe vera and herbs and is 100% biodegradable and not tested on animals. Then I rinsed each pot in a large bucket of water with a quarter teaspoon of bleach. Finally, the pots were again rinsed and allowed to drip dry. This is quite a process for pot cleaning, but it is important to get all the previous occupants of the pots out before putting in new ones.

Sakina partnered me with Maria, one of the special needs students who works at the Noyo Food Forest on Friday afternoons. She was a great potter (and I got to practice my Spanish) and we had a good time together in Greenhouse #2. Our goal was to transfer oregano, rosemary and thyme to bigger pots. Here's the process we followed: Take one empty (and very clean) six-inch pot and place fresh soil in the bottom. Pull one herb start from the flat and turn it upside down, gently removing the plant from its small square plastic lining. Remove the wadded up roots from the bottom of the start and place the plant into the six-inch pot. Carefully add more soil all around and press down to remove the air. The plant should not be placed too low or too high in the pot. Done!

Too soon, it was time to go. It was such a lovely and soothing process. I love working in the greenhouse. I found the entire process from washing pots to transferring the herbs a very contemplative and pleasing experience. Here are the photos from this week's visit to the Noyo Food Forest:

http://good-times.webshots.com/slideshow/562409719wfWxwU

As to the question of an eco-hero or an eye-opening someone, I think Rachel Carson, author of Silent Spring would have to be mine. She spoke up about an important subject at a time when it was not at all popular to do so.

Week 1: Meditational Weeding

2/1/08

Today was my first visit to the Noyo Food Forest. I met with Susan Lightfoot, a delightful woman who gave me a thorough orientation about the nonprofit organization and the organic food growing project. She founded Noyo Food Forest three years ago. There are seven people on the board of directors, and about 200 people are on their email list. Between 10 and 15 people volunteer to work there each week, and Fridays from 1:00 to 5:00 p.m. are their community participation days. Their mission is to cultivate a healthy local food system by providing opportunities for education, enterprise and community involvement. They transform vacant land into gardens where they grow organic foods for sale at a reasonable price to the public. Currently, their Learning Garden near the Fort Bragg High School provides organic vegetables to the school cafeteria, which offers a great alternative to the "nachos and pizza" the school was previously offering students. The Noyo Food Forest has various programs that offer instruction in organic gardening to students and community members. They are starting a new Community Garden near the Thanksgiving Coffee Company in the Noyo Basin. This will be a communal garden that will also support the local food bank.

Today my afternoon was split into three sections: (1) Orientation; (2) Gardening; (3) Meeting. During the first session, I learned about the history of this nonprofit organization and got a sense of what the project was all about. During the second phase, I spent over an hour on my hands and knees weeding one of the garden beds in the hothouse. It was a pretty cold day outside, and I felt sorry for poor Crystal who was outside in the cold shoveling manure into the neatly organized garden beds, but I was nice and warm in the greenhouse, weeding away. It was very soothing and meditative. I enjoyed it very much. After the weeding was concluded, I joined a meeting in progress, where Susan, Sakina Bush (the organic gardening expert) and George (a member of the board of directors) met with students from the school to talk about planning their Earth Day festivities. When George reported that he was going to "try" to convince the people at the Fort Bragg City Council meeting that the Georgia-Pacific land should be turned into a "green" area for locals, Susan piped up with the mantra of the day: "Rid yourself of the word 'try'." She told us that we weren't "trying," we were "doing!" I offered a few suggestions about contacting the various groups at the College of the Redwoods to help with Earth Day (i.e., the Student Government, Grupo Latino, the Oceanography Class, etc.), and then it was time to call it a day.

All in all, I felt that my first day at the Noyo Food Forest was a very productive and informative experience and I look forward to next week.

My photos from today can be seen here: http://home-and-garden.webshots.com/slideshow/562341456uJTTGU