Final thoughts on the 2011-2012 school year

As the school year ended, Dion, Artis, Laron, Derrick, and Alzario held two farmers' markets and reflected on their experiences as the Agriculture Task Force.

"Task force has been great this year, raising chickens and planting.  It has changed the way I buy crops.  This year I got to know Mr. Dwyer and the rest of the task force very well.  We went on trips to Gourmet Gorilla to make and produce our one and only all-time strawberry jam.  It was a very pleasant experience.  In our garden we have organic crops.  We sold these crops during our farmers' markets and made a profit but still had to buy things like chicken feed.  I would advise all rising 6th graders to choose to be a part of the Agriculture Task Force."
--Dion

"What Agriculture Task Force means to me is everything.  I had a lot of fun in the Task Force.  It was the best thing I did in my life.  I loved taking care of the chickens and garden.  I hope I can do it again when I'm in the seventh grade.  Wish us luck as we move on up to the seventh grade.  Thanks for the support."
--Alzario

This summer, the rising sixth grade will take care of the chickens and garden as a part of their summer program.  Follow CJA Agriculture for their blog posts!

CJA Farmers’ Market

Reopens for 2012

Friday, May 25

From 2:30pm dismissal until 3:oopm

Eggs, parsley, cilantro, rose hip tea, and mint tea for sale!

All profits go to CJA's agriculture program

Thinning the garden

"Thinning is when you pull out some plants that grew a little and you leave the strongest plants.  We thin in order to give that strong plant a chance to grow properly.  If we didn't thin we'd have a cluster of plants mis-growing."
--Laron

"My experience of thinning was hard because at first I didn't know what to do.  But when I noticed the rest of my teammates doing it I got it.  It was fun because I learned how to do it."
--Alzario

Mustard greens benefiting from thinning

Thoughts on how we get our food

"We should get all our food from a local garden.  Why?  Because you know where it came from, it can be very fresh.  You planted it and not anyone else.  One example of this is when we planted cilantro.  I know who planted it, which was us.  So I took it home to my mother.  She cooked some tacos.  It was very good."
--Alzario

"I think a person should get their food by growing it in their backyard because you know if it's healthy or not.  And you know if it has poisons in it.  For example, I like to eat apples, and apples are healthy for you.  If we grow apples on the farms we are building the earth.  Using the seeds you can grow and regrow more apples."
--Derrick

Our Chickens Then and Now

"We keep chickens so we can sell eggs at the farmers' market and so we can learn how to take care of a pet."
--Derrick

"We keep chickens because as kids we should learn how to keep chickens.  It takes a lot of work, but we do it because we want to be genltemen one day."
--Alzario

The chickens are growing!  This is what they looked like in mid-January:

Three and a half months later, they're almost fully grown.

"Coco likes to have fun in the wood chips with her sisters.  She also likes to fly."

--Derrick

"Sarah is almost two years old.  She is always the first to get food and water."

--Derrick

"Daisy is a Buff Orpington.  When I walked up to her she ran away.  She's the smallest of all the chickens.  She's the last to get food and water."

--Alzario

Whitney is a Rhode Island Red

Tulip is a Buff Orpington.  She's medium-sized.

"Coretta is an Aurecana.  She is about three months old.  When I was watching her she was running around.  She's one of the last ones to get food and water."

--Alzario

Aretha is the biggest Rhode Island Red.  She's almost as big as Sarah, the two-year-old White Leghorn.

Mr. Farmer is named after one of our fifth grade teachers.  (He said it was ok.)  Despite her confusing name, she is a female.  She is the biggest of our three Buff Orpingtons.

Garden update

"Spinach, mustard, onions, lettuce, and chard: all of these things are what was already planted in the garden.  As we continue to plant more, we learn a bit more about them.  One item I would like to talk about at the moment is strawberries.  First off, the plants are small and they are growing well.  The strawberries were born about a week ago.  The strawberries look like plants that are green."
--Laron

"Our chickens grew a whole lot.  But one of them died, which is sad because a cat killed it.  They are almost ready to start laying eggs.  But we are doing our best to keep our chickens and garden safe."
--Alzario

"We planted strawberries, but I cannot describe that because I was cleaning the chicken coop.  It had lots of feces.  While cleaning we had to get inside and get the poop out of the back.  First, we opened the chicken coop.  Second, we closed the flap so the chickens couldn't come in.  Third, we swept out the entire coop.  Fourth, we re-swept it to make it cleaner.  We closed the door and opened the flap and kept the locks secured.  We put the poop that we swept out into the compost bin."
--Artis

The garden begins to grow

Planting has begun and some sprouts are beginning to show!

"I feel that this is a good thing so that we can make our community stronger and healthier.  It's a way to help our society become better."
--Laron

Ruby red swiss chard

Radish

Mustard greens

"Some plants, like mint, were already in the garden from last year."

"Parsley and cilantro were also in the garden last year."