Summer Program Week 1

The rising 6th grade is back for summer school.  They are learning about healthy bodies and healthy food systems while working in the garden.  Here are some of their first thoughts and pictures.


"What we must do to care for the chickens is feed them good and healthy food, have them live in a clean and safe environment, and clean water.  What we must do to care for the compost is water it and put wood chips in it so that it turns into soil and not bad food.  What we must do to care for the garden is water it four times a week and don't water it too much.  Also we need to check on it daily and give it good soil to grow in."
--Jamari B.


"What we must do to care about eh chickens is we should feed them the right food. We can also make sure they get fed every day.  What we do to help the garden is pull out the bad things next to it immediately.  We should also put the right soil in it.  You should also water it every day and make sure it has enough water and put enough soil in the plans.  What we must do to help the compost is we should put the right insects in it so we can have great soil.  We should also put things like fruit pits or old fruit in it also.  If we do that we will all be happy."
--Isaiah

Here is Mr. Jones pouring some strawberries and cantaloupe into our compost bins.

Here is Mr. Peyton helping us pull out all the weeds in the garden.  The weeds will feed the chickens.

Here, Mr. White is watering the strawberries in the garden. 

Mr. Thomas looks on in amazement at the eggs he found in the coop.

The compost bins must be watered daily in order for the compost to work.

Mr. Brooks and Mr. Wilson learn first hand what it is like in a chicken coop.

Chickens Lay Their First Eggs!

Almost exactly six months after they hatched, two of our new chickens have laid their first eggs!

Each chicken lays different eggs.  The white one was laid by Sarah, the white leghorn.  She's almost three years old and has been laying one egg a day for a few years now.  The greenish egg was laid by one of our Aurecanas, and the brown egg was laid by one of the buff orpingtons or rhode island reds.

The eggs were washed, then kept in the refrigerator until they are sold to CJA community members.

Summer Planting

"School is out, but Alzario, Artis, and Derrick gave up a morning of their summer vacation to work in the garden.  They fed and watered the chickens and took care of the compost.  They transplanted tomatoes, bell peppers, and tomatillos that they had sprouted indoors.  They also prepared beds and planted corn, eggplant and several types of squash.  Before they left, they harvested mustard greens, arugula, lettuce, and swiss chard to take home.  I also had some for my lunch, and it was delicious."
--Mr. Dwyer

Artis gives water to the compost

 Our pots of lettuce are looking yummy

Derrick and Alzario inside the chicken run

 Derrick, Alzario, and Mr. Dwyer with bell peppers, tomatos, and tomatillos ready for transplanting

 Artis, Alzario, and Derrick prepping a bed for new plantings

Those carrots are looking crowded!  We thinned them out.

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