Busy Busy

Alas, I have decided to continue composting afterall! I decided that composting is a worthy activity to continue with the 4th grade because there's not many other ways to actively get them involved. I emailed Mrs. Price regarding another grant I should apply for, but haven't received a response yet. I need to do research on that myself. This coming week, I plan to research healthier snacks that I can sell for my healthy snack week. I also need to focus on advertising, which I am slightly nervous about. If there's anything I've learned, it's that it is really hard to get people to care about what you're most passionate about. So, I'm nervous that, despite my best efforts, the students will be apathetic to their health and to my project. I think most teenagers today don't care at all about their diet or their health because what they eat today doesn't directly affect their health. But, it will later, and that's what they need to know.

I also plan, either next week or the next, on taking a soil sample to the Clemson Extention Center, just for my own educational  purposes. Then, either this weekend or next, I will purchase the potatoes that I will be planting by Valentines day. I have also been progressing in my book, The Omnivore's Dilemma. It is a slow read because it is so full of information and it's hard to process it all and to understand everything Pollan talks about. It might take me the rest of the year to finish the book at the pace I'm going. Other than that, my senior project at the moment is static. Until next week!

A New Start!

           As you all know, due to the weather, we have not been in school all week, so there is really nothing new going on with my project. Although, I did email Mrs. Atherton to inquire about the healthy snack week and she was quite enthusiastic about it! She was also very supportive with my idea. She said she would lend me $50 to buy the snacks, but that it would have to be reimbursed, which puts the pressure on me to advertise and do all I can to make the student body enthustiastic and willing to buy these snacks. Although, I am still convinced that I may not need to borrow $50 because I think I can get donations. We shall see. So, that's pretty much all I have accomplished regarding senior project since my last update. I need to send Mrs. Price an email regarding another grant that I want to apply for. I think I definitely need to apply for another grant because I think my project has the potential to get the money! I also want to start reading The Omnivore's Dilemma by Michael Pollan because it has everything to do with my project and I want to further educate myself on America's food system. Once I start reading it, I will explain in my blog what it is about and gather the highlights of it. Um, I believe that is all for now. Hopefully I'll have something more exciting to talk about it next week!

New Year, New Plans

            Tis now 2011 and here I am writing my first blog of the new year. Over the holidays, sadly, I did not really keep up with my plants. I watered them a few times, but other than that, they had to fend for themselves. When it began snowing, I completey forgot to cover them, and so I gave up all hope of survival. It turns out that my cabbage survived quite nicely. As for the other vegetables, they looked just as wilty as before the snow. So, no damage done by the snow itself. What can I say? I tried to keep my companions warm... but there was only so much I could do. The good news is that I can always replant. I don't think I"ll replant until later in February if that is what I decide to do. The cold weather is too much of a threat! and I have officially ended the composting. I'm sure you are all wondering what I will be doing with my senior project if I am not composting or focusing on the actual garden right now. Well, no worries, I have a plan! I just finished my new and improved timeline for the remainder of Senior Project. My main goal for the remainder of the year is to make people more aware of what they put into their bodies and how it can affect them. The way I will do this is I will have one week where only healthier snacks are sold during snack time while the junk is completely eliminated. The plan is to see the students' reactions and opinions of the new snacks- whether they purchase it or not and whether they think the new and improved snacks are still tasty. I want to have some sort of visual up at snack time, informing people of what junk food does to their bodies and how much sugar they are consuming with one twinkie... or something along those lines. Then, at the end of the week, I would like to show a viewing of Food Inc. to the whole school, which is what originally inspired my senior project idea. Here is what I want to do in each month:

January:

-quit composting

-talk to Mrs. Atherton about the healthy snack week/ have grocery list ready (call grocery stores for donations! And offer to advertise their products)

-talk to Mrs. Price about another grant I can apply for/apply for it.

-get soil tested to start planting potatoes

-remedy the soil’s deficiencies

-schedule a local farmer to come and talk to the 4^th grade kids, or even chapel perhaps (by the last week of January)

February:

-start planting potatoes (by 1^st week of February)

-plant other plants in raised beds (depends on the weather)

- come up with plan to officially integrate gardening into 4^th grade curriculum (by last week of February)

-have farmer speaker come in (by last week of February)

-email Mrs. Ledbetter about healthy snack week- come up with advertisement- put up posters about it. Anticipation is the key!! (first week of February or earlier)

March:

-viewing of the documentary FoodInc to the entire school and then the healthy snacks experiment for one week eliminating junk food completely and putting signs up around the school making people more aware of what they eat. (end of March)

-pick crops (if they survive the winter- donate them to good causes) (end of March/early April)

April:

-Mix in compost with soil? (I need Mrs. Holbein’s opinion…)

-Uproot left-over plants out of raised beds

-Comprise portfolio of senior project