Garden, Compost, Research Paper

So, I have some bad news... apparently I didn't qualify for the grant I spent 3 hours applying for, which is a huge dissapointment! Mrs. Price and I checked to make sure I was eligible for this grant, but I guess we missed something. Supposedly I'm supposed to be affiliated with a public school somehow, but I thought I could be affiliated with a private oganization (which would be Oakbrook). Hopefully I'll be able to apply for another grant before the year is over. I will be looking at other grant options during the 2nd semester, but until then, I've got too much on my plate. I still have some major corrections to make on my research paper. I need to add at least 4 or 5 more sources to my paper, which is already 16 pages long. This is a problem. I really want to stick to my original thesis, focusing on the how buying local organic food is better for the environment, one's health, and the economy, but that topic turned out to be a much larger area to cover than I anticipated. I'm finding that I could go on and on about those three things and probably write a 25 page paper easily. I wish there wasn't a page limit- and I'm not trying to sound like a nerd. We shall see.

As for the garden, the plants continue to grow, though some are suffering. I think it's because they require more water than I'm able to give. I try to water them every day and on the weekends, but sometimes I can't water them on one day of the weekend because I'm out of town or something. I water them every school day, though. As for the composting, it's still going. I'm debating whether or not I should end the compost once Christmas break arrives. Or else, it will become massive and overwhelming. I still go by the 4th grade, now about only 2 times a week, to empty the compost with them. They also take turns watering the plants. Every time I come by the get my three volunteers, they are all so excited to go, they fight over whose turn it is to be "the volunteer". I'm not sure if they're just excited to get out of class or if they're truly excited about the garden. Hopefully the latter.

$1000 or $0

So, this week I applied for my grant! I didn't think I could get it done, but after a few hours and a few meetings with Mrs. Price, everything was in order. Now all there is left to do is wait. I will be notified at the end of November on whether or not I was successful.

So, here's a little overview of what I plan to do this year. I'm not sure if I had mentioned before my idea to plant potatoes with the 4th graders or do a healthy food week at school. I requested $1000, so now I'm just crossing my fingers in anticipation. Here is a poor-quality phone picture of my plants' progress! This was taken a few weeks ago, so they have grown a bit more than this. But, this is when they are just poking their heads up out of the ground!

 Here are a few of the questions I answered:

Service-Learning Project Summary: (required)
Please provide a brief summary of your service-learning project (10 sentences or less). Please be informative and thorough addressing "who, what, when, where, and how" questions as they apply to this project. YSA reviewers will use these summaries to determine whether your project meets our criteria and is eligible for funding. YSA also uses these summaries to promote projects to the media. (Suggestion: you may want to revisit, revise and review your summary after you have completed your application.)

My goal is to teach the 4th graders of Oakbrook Preparatory School how to grow their own food, compost, and buy foods locally as much as possible. We have built three raised beds behind my school and are now currently growing all of the following: broccoli, squash, beets, onions, garlic, and kale. We built the raised beds near a water outlet and bought a hose so as to water the plants every day. I also bought a compost bin that is located next to the raised beds. After having introduced the concept of composting to the 4th graders, I made them a mini compost bin that I empty with three of them every other day. The students have planted the seeds themselves and empty the compost themselves as well, while I supervise. I want the students to be more aware of their environmental impact through their food choices and to do that, I have decided to grow a school garden. I also want them to be aware of the natural cycle that organic gardening promotes and the type of self-sustainable lifestyle it generates.

Community Need (required)
How will you engage students in identifying a community need? What data suggests that this project is needed?

There is a community need for supporting local farming and organic growing. I will engage students in identifying this community need by getting them physically involved in the planting of seeds, composting, harvesting, and preparing a meal with the vegetables grown. There is unlimited evidence that conventional farming is detrimental to the environment and society's health as a whole. By returning to traditional farming practices that we, as a society, used to cherish, the kids will begin to fully understand the significance in being self-sufficient and self- sustainable. They will attain appreciation for the seasonal foods that are grown locally because of their significant superiority of taste and health benefits. Overall, my project will reintroduce a lifestyle that has gone out of fashion, but is nonetheless valuable because of its environmental friendliness, health benefits, and community strengthening factors.

MLK Day (required)
YSA endorses the teachings and leadership of Martin Luther King, Jr. who encouraged all to give through service. What element of this project could be done or around MLK Day (Monday, January 17, 2011)?

On January 17, 2011, we will plant potatoes together as a group, with the idea that these potatoes will be donated to the Spartanburg Soup Kitchen; thus, increasing our outreach to the community. I will also have a local, organic farmer come in to talk the students about organic farming and what its benefits are to the community, the earth, and to our health.  During this week, we will eliminate junk food options on campus, replacing them with varieties of healthier snacks, to educate and create awareness of the benefits of healthy eating. We will also create signs, describing the nutritional information and comparing unhealthy snacks with their healthy counterparts. We will measure the impact of this week of selling healthy snacks to determine student response.

Global Youth Service Day (required)
A significant component of the project must take place on Global Youth Service Day (GYSD).

What significant element of this project will take place on GYSD (April 15-17, 2011)?

On this day, we will harvest the vegetables and create a meal together consisting of them. It will be a significant experience for the students to experience the taste of something they themselves grew in their very own school-backyard. It will be a celebration of the entire year’s hard work of caring for the plants and an eye-opener regarding the care and attention it takes to grow food. This day will result with a fuller appreciation for food and an understanding of its significance and limited amount. On this day, we will also show a viewing of the documentary Food Inc., which demonstrates the value of organic local buying and educates the student body on how to live self sustainably and why this sort of lifestyle is more valuable. This increases our outreach to over 400 students and faculty.

Well, that is all for now. When I hear about the grant, I shall let everyone know!

Just Keeping On.

This week has been pretty uneventful regarding my senior project. My plants are continuing to grow, though I am a bit nervous about the oncoming cold weather. I hope the little guys can make it through the winter! Composting is still continuing. The 4^th graders are enthralled with the oncoming plants every time I take them out to compost. I water the plants every day that it doesn’t rain. I even travel the whole 15 minutes to Oakbrook on weekends to water them. That shows my dedication! I need to start thinking about a possible fence. Now that the research paper rough draft is in, I am waiting for its return so that I can make my corrections. The next big thing on my list is to apply for the grant for $1000. The application is due on the 9^th, and I have yet to start it. I am confident I will be fine and I think I definitely have a chance at getting it. We shall see. Unfortunately that is all I have for now on my project update. Til next Friday when I have something more to say- probably regarding the grant!

Here is a picture of the compost bin I made for the 4th grade a few months ago.

Sprouting Seeds!

It’s been a few weeks since I’ve planted my seeds and they’re growing marvelously! It might be due to the unusually warm weather and the amount of rain we’ve had lately, but the little guys are sprouting! I go to water them on the days it doesn’t rain and see their little heads peak out, and oh, do I feel proud. I have a warm sort of affection towards them. The strange unseasonal humidity is doing them good. As usual, I’ve been continuing the composting with the 4^th graders. They are just enthralled with the growing plants- I point out to them the barely visible buds sprouting out of the dirt. Today, I turned in my rough draft for my research paper, which was supposed to be a minimum of eight pages and maximum of twelve, but turned out to be a whopping 16 pages- and I used mainly two resources. I know, I’m a little crazy. But, I’ve been learning a lot as the result of all my research and it fascinates me! I had a lot to say and so I couldn’t bring myself to limit my typing. Now, I must focus on applying for a grant in order to pay for everything involved in my project. It’s due November 9^th and I’m pretty confident that I will get it. I shall keep everyone updated! Recently I was doing some reading and came across the idea of perhaps organizing some sort of 4^th grade field trip where they all go to visit one of our local farms. Then, they can really see how a local, organic farm really operates, which I think would be beneficial to their understanding of local, organic, and seasonal food.  I suppose if I wanted to do that, it would have to be within the next few weeks, so I need to have a meeting with the 4^th grade teachers to see what they think of the idea. ‘til next Friday!

Starting to plant!

Another week, and much more progress under my belt! At least, as far as my actual project goes. Like I said last week, this past Saturday and Sunday, my dad and I worked on the raised beds. Lisa helped out a little too. My dad especially has been extremely supportive of my project, having dedicated multiple hours and much sweat to help building the raised beds. In fact, this past Saturday after I took the SAT, I came to meet my dad at Oakbrook to find out he had been working all morning on getting my raised beds ready to start planting ASAP! He built posts along each corner of each bed for more support as well as for the purpose of putting plastic tarps over the plants once the winter comes. He basically made mini green houses, with as much help and support as I was able to give. I didn't realize how much he'd been working on it that day. It was one of those times I realized what a great support system and family I have. The dump truck of dirt was delivered earlier that morning, costing about $210. Thankfully, the man was nice enough to dump the load in three separate piles, each on one of the raised beds to save our backs a lot of ache and sweat. Today I met with the 4th grade teachers to converse over how to get the 4th grade involved with the planting. Since there are so many of them, I didn't want the process to be chaotic. I have decided to dedicate one raised bed to each 4th grade class (there are 3 in all). Tomorrow during my 3rd period, I believe Mrs. West's class will come and help me plant the 1st bed, which involves only dropping the seeds in the rows and covering them up again with dirt, so it shouldn't take too long. Then again during my 7th period, Mrs. Lummus and Mrs. Nethery's classes together will come out and help me with the remaining 2 beds. We'll see how this goes- hopefully nothing will go wrong. Also, I want to get the 5th grade involved with the composting. The garden and compost bin are right outside their window, and it seems unfair for them to have to see it all day and not be able to be a part of it! It would be really easy for them to compost. Every day, just stick the bucket outside the window and it's done.

As for my research paper, I have continued reading my book, which is one of my sources, but I have done little else. The hardest part for me right now is making time to do research and planning out how I’m going to start my paper. With this deadline so far away, I have been pushing it to the back of my priorities, but now that it is approaching, I must get started quickly! This weekend, I will set aside time to work on this for at least a few hours. The other hard part about this is, I’m supposed to have finished reading my book for my research and finding time to do that as well as do other research is challenging because I am already so busy as it is. For those of you who don’t know, my thesis is this: Buying foods locally that are grown in the area is more energy efficient, environmentally friendly, and economically efficient. I have discovered through my book that “buying your goods from local businesses rather than national chains generates about three times as much money for your local economy” and that “cultivation of land meets the needs of the farmer, the neighbors, and the community, and keeps people independent from domineering centralized powers”. Well, that’s all I have for now- hopefully by next week, I will have accomplished much more. Thanks for reading!

Lagging behind...

Unfortunately I have not had much progress this past week with my Senior Project. I've only been continuing to compost roughly every other day and reading my book Animal, Vegetable, Miracle. This Saturday, I am going to shovel topsoil into my raised beds with my dad and sister. I plan to actually start planting seeds in the classroom next week- tomorrow I will talk to the 4th grade teachers and discuss whether they want the 4th graders involved in the actual planting. Also, the deadline for the grant is coming up fast, so I need to start on that! Pronto! As for the research paper, the rough draft is due by the end of this month, and I haven't really started preparing for that, other than reading my book, which is only one source of my supposed five. Deadlines approach soon! I don't know how I will apply for the grant and begin my research paper at the same time- that will be interesting. I have decided to focus my thesis on this: that buying locally and/or growing ones own food is much more economically friendly and energy efficient. Buying food at your local Ingles is not living on foods grown locally, just to clear that up! Though buying foods grown locally might be a little more expensive, it is worth the money- which is what I want to argue. It is overall better for the environment and people's welfares to buy local foods. Also, reading Animal , Vegetable, Miracle has made me realize that I want to grow my own food someday and live, for the most part, on foods that I can tangibly harvest. As well as buy foods locally that I am unable to grow or get by myself (like regional honey). Yes, how very 19th century of me, but I plan to do it. My sisters have agreed to join me. We all want to live on a communal farm together! This is of course, one of our idealistic dreams, but someday it may become a reality! Well, hopefully I will have more to say next week!

Raised Bed Building

This past Saturday, my dad and 2 sisters and I built 3 raised beds behind Oakbrook for the garden! When I say we built the raised beds, I mean mainly my dad did for safety reasons, but I still helped out of course. I mean, I tried to handle the machine that could potentially cut my whole hand off, but it wasn't going so smoothly, so I let the man with experience handle it. Around 12 noon, we all headed to Lowe's to get the supplies: 9 pieces of 6 by 8 feet of wood, nails, potting soil for when I start planting seeds in the classroom, the seeds themselves, and something organic that helps prevent weeds. Then, we headed to Oakbrook to begin our work. We finished our work around 3 pm after some frustration in the hot sun. I plan to start planting the seeds in the 4th grade classroom sometime next week. I asked the 4th graders to start bringing in emtpy gallon milk jugs to start the process. Every day or so I've been taking a volunteer from each 4th grade class to show them how to emtpy the compost so as to get them more involved as well as lessen my work load. Empyting it and cleaning it out/refilling it with water as well as doing the same process with the senior commons compost bin takes longer than one would think- about 25-30 minutes! Good thing I have 7th period free now or else I don't know what I would do. Anyways, of course I documented the raised bed-building process with my camera- I got some nice shots taken of myself pretending to be doing all the work- posing with the lethal nail-gun or whatever that thing is called. Driller? I don't know. Anyways, so that's it for now. Til next Friday!