Week 5: CJA Agriculture

This week in agriculture some students had a debate about unsustainable food systems. They discussed Cheerios and Fruit Loops, comparing how healthy they are.

This week we learned about sustainable food systems. These systmes use less processing of food and treat the animals with respect. On the other hand, unsustainable food systems do not treat animals with respect, sometimes making them stand in their own waste. This can lead to the animals becoming sick, which then leads to people getting sick. We also learned that unsustainable food systems use a large amount of plastic to wrap up the products we use today. Sustainable food systems, on the other hand, use much less plastic and also use fewer steps to get the food from the farm to your table. This minimizes pollution and waste.

Mr. Durkin with one of our chickens. At CJA we treat our animals and environment with love and respect!

Mr. Nimock transferring compost with his trusty pitchfork. Instead of buying fertilizer and soil, we use old vegetables and fruits and turn them into soil to place in our garden.

Week 4: CJA Agriculture

Garden Group:
Overall this week the granden group uprooted weeds so they won't take away water from our plants. The garden group does not believe in using pesticides and herbicides because they are harmful to humans and the environment. They also cut down cilantro, pulled up carrots, and harvested lettuce to eat in our school potluck. They also used new soil from the compost to prepare to grow new plants.

A cantaloupe growing from our garden

Compost Group:
Mr. Walter Jones and Mr. Francois Castillo dug up soil from one of our compost bins to enrich the soil of our garden. Our watering team watered the compost to help the organisms inside decompose the waste. The compost group also mixed in orange peels and other fruits and vegetables so they could make more soil for the garden.

Mr. Jones and Mr. Castillo using teamwork to take out soil from our compost.

Week 3

This week, the students watched Food Inc, a documentary directed by Robert Kenner about how our food is produced.  Here are some of their reactions:

"Corn is a remarkable plant." --J. Boss
"There are no seasons in super markets." --D. Nimock
"$300,000 are put into chicken coops" --L.Simpson
"Tomatoes are ripened with gas." --D. Jefferson
"The Industry doesn't want you to know the truth about what you are eating."
"There are a handful of companies controlling our food system." --D. Jefferson
"Can a community like us stop a factory productions like Tyson?" --D. Jefferson
"Food oversite and protection is not protecting peoples families."
"The animals stand in their own manure." --J. Thomas
"They have vegetables on high prices but cheeseburgers cost less." --J. Thomas
"Farms feed cows corn so they can get fat faster." --K. Ayers
"They feed cows corn because it is cheap and it makes cows fat." --W. Jones
"Real people slice a chicken's throat." --T. Ratcliff
"They hire immigrants cause they don't have many rights in America." --T. Ratcliff
"Where do we get organic food at stores?" --T. Ratcliff
"Why do they use machines to kill our food?" --T. Ratcliff
"Some animals are killed in bad ways." --Q. Williams
"People have to reach inside the chicken and take out the insides." --D. Jefferson
"Chickens need to eat healthy so we can be healthy." D. Nimock
20) "When you modify a crop, you own it." --T. Ratcliff

Week 2

During the week of June 27 to July 1, the students were in Michigan at camp.  Mr. Dwyer took care of the garden, chickens, and compost in their absence.