Magis Day, Harvest Day

Educators in the Ignatian tradition often use the Latin word magis (literally translated: "more") to describe the idea of a continual search for ways to draw closer to God.  CJA celebrates Magis Day at the end of the school year to recognize all the little extras our students, parents, teachers, staff, and community members do to help our young men on their path.

The garden at CJA is an example of the magis; students volunteer their free time to work in the garden to grow healthy, great tasting food.  They give more than what is required of them, and hopefully learn something in the process.  It's fitting then, that our first spring harvest and farm stand took place on Magis Day.  We harvested radishes, arugula, kale, spinach, and collard greens.

Jamari shows off the radishes.

Terrence harvests arugula.

Milaun makes a sale at the farm stand.

Moving wood chips

A healthy garden starts with healthy soil, and composting goes a long way toward building healthy soil.  The four main ingredients in a compost pile are air (from the atmosphere), water (which falls as rain), nitrogen (in the form of food waste and chicken manure), and carbon (in the form of wood chips).  Today we moved part of our wood chip pile closer to our compost bins, so it's easier to add carbon to our compost pile.

Cecil shovels wood chips into the wheel barrow.

Terrence dumps the wood chips near the compost bins.

 An added benefit of moving the wood chip pile is that the chickens get to eat the worms, insects, and other organisms that make their homes in the pile.  They also add their manure directly to the wood chips, so that when they are added to the compost piles, it already has chicken manure incorporated.

Planting squash

Last year we grew sweet potatoes in pots near the library windows.  We had a good crop, but now we have to grow something different there, since the soil components that sweet potatoes need are depleted.  To replenish the soil, we sifted compost and added it to the pots.

This year, we'll plant squash in the pots.  We selected three varieties: zucchini, delicata, and patty pan.  Javion made small mounds and put a few seeds in each mound.  Mr. Dwyer put a label in each pot, and kept a record in the garden journal.

Garden update

On a rainy Friday morning, here are some highlights of the activity in CJA's garden:

Chinese cabbage's mature leaves are spreading

Garlic standing tall 

Spinach looking very spinach-y 

Arugula is looking great 

Wheat is growing strong 

Checking on our transplants

It's still a bit early for tomatoes, eggplants, and peppers to be outside, so we'll have them growing inside in pots for a while longer.  They are next to a window facing south with no trees in the way so they get the most of the sunlight.

Jyaln and Makhi give the transplants water. 

Planting beans and sweet potatoes

It's a warm and sunny day outside!  Late spring is here, and planting is kicking into high gear.

Sweet potatoes are a tropical vine, and aren't related to regular potatoes or yams.  When we order them from the seed catalog, they ship us "slips," or rooted vine segments.  The leaves are a little wilted from their trip, but this is normal.  Today, we buried them in the soil and now we will wait for the fall to dig them up.

Terrence and Ms. Lucy dig holes for sweet potatoes. 

Cecil is adding compost to the soil to add nutrients and beneficial soil organisms (like our friends the worms), and improve drainage.  This year, we planted one bean beneath each fence post.  The beans will use the fence as a trellis.