Planting Anew

Friday I am officially planting potatoes. I know I said I was going to do that last week, but I always felt like it was still too early. I have talked with Mrs. Lummus regarding the right time to meet on Friday. She asked if I had enough potatoes for every 4th grader to plant (there are 43 of them), which I don't think I have. My beds are only so big, but I told her that I wanted to plant more onions and brocolli, so hopefully every 4th grader will plant something. This coming week, I will send Mrs. Ledbetter my "Healthy Snack Week" advertisement- the parents need to know about it the next time the Knightly News comes out. Next weekend, I need to look into actually purchasing the snacks in bulk. These are the type of potatoes I bought:

Yukon Gold

 

 Superior


Pontiac


This past week, our senior class watched FoodInc in support of my senior project. I know every time I watch that documentary, I get something new from it and I hope everyone else benefitted from watching it. I know Mrs. Tewkesbury asked to borrow it over the weekend as well as Mrs. Zion. Also, this past week, I sent my research paper to my grandparents who live in Washington state, and they told me they enjoyed it immensely. My grandpa is a doctor and shares the same passion for health as my mom and I do. That's all for now.

On the Brink of a New Adventure

So, I was supposed to plant potatoes today, but it was rainy when I woke up, so I have decided to delay the grand event til next week. I emailed Mrs. Lummus and she thought it best to delay anyways- she thinks it is still too early to plant. So, I hope to come through with my plan next week. I did purchase the potatoes though: One pack of Yukon Gold, one of Superior, and one of Pontiac. I have also purchased onion seeds, brocolli seeds, and swiss chard seeds. Perhaps this time around, my garden will be more successful. It was successful at first, but then bad weather showed up, which was obviously impossible to prevent. Anyway, this past week, I did clear out the rest of the dead plants from the beds. Surprisingly enough, some raddishes were still growing, but I uprooted them anyways. There is still cabbage, but I'm not quite sure when the right time to pick it is. I'll need to research that because they look ready to harvest.
 I also really need to start thinking about which snacks to purchase for the lowerschool "Healthy Snack Week". As I've said before, this week will probably be the week before adventure week and I did contact a local organic farmer who said she would come speak to the lower school. I need to get that date set in stone and talk to Mrs. Locke about a good time. I also need to email Mrs. Ledbetter soon so she can put in a small advertisement in the Knightly News reminding parents to sent their kids with money during this week. The poster contest is still on for each class! All they have to do is create a poster promoting a healthy lifestyle and I will be the judge! I'm not sure what they will win yet, but it'll be something good. Tomorrow is senior club day and we will be watching part of FoodInc, which I am quite excited about! I ordered it on Amazon on Tuesday and it has arrived just in time! That's all for now, folks! Until next Thursday night.

Home Stretch

Another week gone by in Senior Project! We are almost done, which is really hard to believe. I remember the stress of it all last year when we were being pressured to think about what we wanted our projects to concern and now, here we are, almost at our journey's end. Sadly, nothing has changed since my last blog post- I have continued to compost with the 4th graders, but now only once a week instead of twice or more. They are still excited as ever about the garden that is kind of in limbo right now. Sometimes when I take a few volunteers to compost, one of them will talk about their garden at home, which always makes me excited. This weekend, I will need to uproot the remains of the pre-snow week garden so as to make room for the potatoes and other seeds which we will plant next week! I'm hesitant about planting this coming week though, because I hear of another possible snow day coming up sometime next week- we'll see. I think potatoes can take a frosting, though- they're tough. And I don't want to delay planting any longer! I'm eager to have new seedlings sprout from the ground!

 I really hope that my raised beds will be able to stay in place next year so that the 4th grade teachers can use it to their liking- but what with this new parking lot being installed and all, I'm not sure my gardening beds will remain. I have put a lot of time, energy, and even money into them and would really like to see them being used for educational purposes next year- I don't want my project to end when Senior Project is over- it's something that I would like to last at Oakbrook as a unique part of the curriculum and it's something that I hope will continue to grow. It's an introduction to a way of life that is out of style, yet I still think it a valuable way to live and to understand. Organic gardening is a basic concept of life's cycle, which I think it important to learn at a young age. Anyway, now I'm rambling about why I'm so passionate about my project. Hopefully next week, I'll have something more to talk about!

Change in Plans

 A new change in plans, yet again! Lately I have been feeling really nervous and unsure of "healthy snack week" because I don't think that teenagers will have a positive response to my efforts in eliminating, or at least limiting, their junk food intake. If there's one thing I've learned in the past, it's that it is extremely difficult to make people care about something that they don't normally care about, much less something that I am passionate about. I don't really think that I can stop bad eating habits with one week of awareness- it's more of a lifestyle that people must be accustomed to. Instead, I want to have "healthy snack week" in the lower school only- kids are much more willing to try new things, especially if someone older presents the idea. I think I'll be more successful with younger kids.

This weekend, I plan on purchasing the potatoes in order to plant them next week with the 4th graders. I also need to test my soil, for my own educational purposes, so as to remedy whatever the soil's deficiencies are. I also emailed an organic farmer named Robin Gibson who agreed to come and speak to the elementary students during "healthy snack week" to promote an organic and healthy lifestyle. This week will begin on the 14th of March and end on the 18th. I talked to Mrs. Locke earlier this week to get the "ok" from her and she's on board! To hype the kids up during the week, we'll have a poster contest from 3rd to 5th grade and the class with the best poster, promoting a healthy lifestyle, wins a prize that I have yet to come up with! That's all the progress I've made so far...

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