A Narrative of the University of Oregon Urban Farm

Archives for garden updates

A Day At Columbia Street Garden

As a student who has demonstrated commitment to the Urban Farm, showing up time and time again since I arrived at the university, I (alongside my fellow urban farmer Grace) was so kindly given some plots at the Columbia Street Garden. Grace and I have now been taking care of the three plots in the southwest corner of the garden for more than a year, and it is as lively as ever. I recently took some photos of the garden’s intricate beauty that I thought I would share here. A healthy garden is always so full of life!

A ladybug on a mystery green–perhaps a hybrid of chard and spinach? It’s been thriving since the fall, and it is now almost as tall as I am!

California poppies! Pro tip: listen to the song Poppies by Nina Simone, and every time you see a poppy thereafter you will hear that song play in your head.

Artichokes growing! Did you know that the part of the artichoke plant we eat is the flower bud? Make sure to harvest them before they turn into vibrant purple flowers. If you harvest them when they’re too far along in their development, the stringy flowers taste like hair.

This lil dragonfly buddy was perched on the fence–perhaps injured? It was incredible to look so closely at its intricate detail.

New Farm Happenings

Hello to the University of Oregon blog community! My name is Ayla Ginger.

I am so happy to be placed here on this wooden bench, spilling out my first, long awaited post for the Urban Farm blog. I wish to bid the previous blog writer and urban farm friend, Kat, a loving hello and farewell. It has been over a year since she last posted on this blog, now living in Portland and partaking in many great gardening endeavors.

My goal here is to post weekly updates on the growing narrative that is the Urban Farm, similar to Kat. I took the Urban Farm class almost two years ago and fell in love with the place, the process and the people of the farm. New plants, topics and issues are constantly sprouting. Hundreds of students occupy the outdoor classroom a term; think about all the hands that have collectively dug into this dirt that have contributed to its healthy state today! Who are these hands? What is their experience on the farm?

From what I have gathered over time spent and conversations had; this place, this outdoor classroom, this cultivated open space, has affected, and continues to affect the lives of an innumerable amount of species. I aspire to bring light to the place, process and the people, and to share this narrative with any who may be interested to listen. Gardeners, urban farmers, nature lovers, academics, ecologists, poets, what have you, all welcome!

I wish I had photos to share, but I am having some technological difficulties in that area. Photos to come soon!

Global Worming It’s Compost Tea Time

Currently Listening: Elder - Lore

Compost tea is a wonderful thing.  We could get real technical here, but lets keep it simple.  In essence, the idea is that you have sugar and inoculated compost and we  fed it to the tomato plants on the new bed that has brand new soil and hardly any organics in it [May 12].  Compost tea is very versatile. Well you know how bad bacteria multiply on the counter top the way you leave chicken out, well good bacteria does the same thing; ‘exponential growth’ it goes crazy, so in a matter of 48-72 hours you have maximum bacterial populations.  If you leave it around, it gets kinda smelly and the good bacteria starts to die off, and the bad bacteria starts to move in.  There are designer versions, you can buy compost starter that have mycorrhizal (and stuff) and special bacteria. A lot of places like DTE have big monster machines that make it bubble all the time… [paraphrased from Harper].

compost tea may 12

compost tea pouring may 12

compost tea pouring may 12

Who doesn’t love watching their garden transform into an edible landscape?  Let’s check out some of the oh-snap pea’s that have grown wonderfully since the spring term started!

April 14:

snap peas april 14April 23:
snap pea april 23

snap pea side shot april 23

snap pea april 23
May 12:
snap pea may 12
snap pea may 12
May 19:
snap peas may 19
snap peas may 19
close up snap peas may 19May 27:

snap pea may 27

snap pea may 27

Just another view of the garden:
peas everywhere may 27

 

Don’t forget to stay in touch!
Instagram
Later Days

-Kat B!

Feelin’ Great From My Head Tomatoes

Currently Listening: Minor Threat - Complete Discography

It’s been rainy here the past couple days which as I’m sure you can imagine makes everything in the garden just POP! Thus far, we’ve harvested 37 pounds for the month of May.

Check out this ridiculous allium: (whose name I do not know!)
upper terrace tom w allium may 12

We transplanted some peppers already (we’ll see!) and check out the spinach that we planted from a Territorial Seed Co. seed strip (May 12):

upper terrace spinach n peppers may 12

At the bottom bed of this photo on April 21, you can see the spinach sprouting up!:

raised terrace beds april 21

Bok Choy on April 14:

bok choy and beets april 14& on May 12:

upper terrance L bok choy beets may 12

I have a bunch of varied, what I like to call ‘general harvest work photos’ that I think it is time to share!

April 7, not even a storm can deter the Urban Farmers from prepping beds for spring planting:

group work storm coming April 7

Every group was busy working and harvesting April 9:

general work April 9 1

general work April 9 2

general work April 9 4

general work April 9 5

general work April 9 6

Someone took a leek in the sink:

leek in sink april 9

 

April 14:

Deion and Riley april 14

harper and lineman april 14

Tom sweeping up for the week on April 23:

tom sweeping april 23

Taking out some brassica’s April 21 to prep that bed for some Thai eggplant:

taking out the brassicas april 21

 

May 5, nice romaine harvest:

 

Happy student lettuce harvest may 5

students working may 5 3

students working may 5 4

upper terrace may 5 1May 7:

group work may 7

May 12:

dans group 2 may 12

dans group turnip carrot may 12

Okay so this isn’t a work shot, but look at how beautifully laid out this bed is!:

horizontal lines lettuce onions may 12

Great job everyone, and don’t forget to study your plant families for the exam tomorrow ;]

Later Days

-Kat B!

Under The Hawthorn Tree

Currently Listening: Crypt Trip- Crypt Trip

Friday May 1st the Hawthorn Tree came down to let in more sunshine and open up the abandoned kiln area.  What an important event to document in the history of the farm!  We were lucky enough to have Sperry’s Tree Care come and do the work with Jesse as one of the former team leaders here at the Urban Farm.

timber 2

timber 4

timber 5

timber 7

Since we can use the wood chips, they will leave the pile for us!

wood chips action shot

 

Harper and Jesse discussing which apple tree should be removed to let in more light for the existing ones:

what to cut

jesse cut 1

jesse cut 2

jesse cut 3

 

Now, how can we use everything to its upmost potential? Let’s save this log to inoculate it for spores!

do we save it for mushrooms

jesse cut 4

Never haul away someone else’s branches:

never haul someone elses branches

 

Taking a break, talking about the Millrace which had been turned on that day:
talking about the millrace

Look at that sunshine!:

beds now have sunshineUpdate!:

Check out the new garden beds and growth that have flourished since the removal of the tree:

May 19: new sun beds may 19 2

Olive You Lettuce Bee Together

Currently listening: Sheer Mag- Fan The Flames

We have 97.46 pounds of harvest for the month of April! Imagine if we had been recording for the winter term too! Epic :]

I am pumped and believe gardening is such an important part of LIFE! How blessed we are to be able to participate in such a course here at the University of Oregon.

The amount of changes since the term started are unbeetlievable, oh you want a couple progress shots? Coming right up!

Prepping the beds on April 7:
bed prep april 7

Making some new paths on April 9:
pathways april 9

Some starts added in April 14:
upper area transplants 4 14

April 2 start of Spring term:
april 2 before

April 9:April 9 pathways

April 14:
april 14

Happy 45th Earth Day, BTW! In honor, here is the unofficial official song of earth day:

Later Days

-Kat B!

These Bee Puns Are Just Winging It

Currently listening: Lecherous Gaze- Animal Brain

Saturday (April 5, 2015) I got to watch bee’s go into a new home. A Kenya (top-bar horizontal hive) and a Warre  Langstroth hive :], Italian honey-bee’s in one and European in the other.

Before:

before bees top bar kenya hive

“After” (Since the bee’s were still adjusting to their new home, I wouldn’t quite refer to it as after until they have fully moved in):

after shot kenya hive

note the bee’s congregating at the entrance/exit in the lower left of the container

This is the container the bee’s were brought to us in.  These are the Italian bee’s (I believe):

bee container 1

“But first let me get a shot for Instagram” – Harper

Harper IG shot

Harper took the queen bee from the larger container, she is separated in her own small box (pictured below).

He popped the cork off her box and inserted wax/honey from a previous hive into her enclosure. This was done for the bee’s to eat off/eat their way into the queen (“within a couple days time”)- to prevent them from swarming off elsewhere. Using a metal clasp attached to her enclosure, he inserted the queen onto one of the horizontal slates:

adding in the queen

Then he took out the can of sugar-water (not pictured: but you are able to see the metal top of it two pictures above, and some six pictures later) and placed the worker bees with their queen into their new home:

boss pours bees

boss inspects bees

boss pours bees 2

Now they are all (or mostly) out of the container, and it’s time to place the remainder of the bars to close off that section of the hive.  These bars were previously lined with wax to promote natural “U” shape comb development.

top bar hive

Here the guys are opening the second batch of bee’s, containing the European lot (or was it the Italian bee’s?).  These pictures show the container of sugar-water used for feeding the bee’s during shipment.  The European honey-bee’s were placed into a Langstroth hive.

second bee box

sugar water can

Partly during this process Harper got stung just under the right eye. I didn’t see who(whom?) to credit, but someone was brilliant and scraped it off with a City of Eugene business-card:

stinger

This group seems to be settling in just nicely:

warre bee home

Here is an adorable picture of Cheyenne with a bee on her hat:

cheyenne hat

And that concludes another amazing Saturday adventure at the UO Urban Farm. If you see information on here that is incorrect, I welcome and value your input and constructive criticism.

Later Days

-Kat B!

Winter 2015

Currently listening: Blue Cheer- Vincebus Eruptum

It just so happens that I have some scattered pictures from winter term available to share with you!

Jan 24 (Saturday Session):

We went over to River Bend Farm/Orchard to learn and help them prune their pear tree’s!

RB Action Shot

Before (not our handy work):

RB before tree

After:

RB after tree

February 3:

I transplanted an m-9 honey crisp apple that Keegan (a team leader) taught me (and many other interested students) how to graft at the Sustainability Fair!  My friend Anna named the tree Isaac :]

Sustain Fair Feb 3

Issac tree m9

February 16:

It was a beautiful sunny day at the farm and we were able to harvest so much we had some leftover’s!  The winter classes are smaller than the fall/spring group sizes.

feb 16 leftovers
I spy: giant red mustard, cilantro, collard greens…

feb 16 garden shot

February 23:

This day our group elected to work in the greenhouse for planting seeds!  We planted a nice mix, such as beets, tomatoes, kale, cabbage, and more.  We worked with flats/trays, cells.. and talked about the benefits of using one over the other for each plant.  Seeds are donated to the Urban Farm through various community organizations/resources.  Previously in the term we went through the collection of seeds and set aside ‘old’ seed (prior to 3-4 years) and organized the lot.  The germination rate goes down with each consecutive year past the packaging date.

beet package

seeding trays

Inside the greenhouse! What plants do you see developing?

inside greenhouse trays

March 2:

Some lovely purple sprouting broccoli:

brassica mar 2

Beets from the Urban Farm, in the front doorway of my house:

beetz

March 9:

The last day of winter classes for me at the Urban Farm!  We got to transplant an entire bed of Walla-Walla Onions, “So good they had to name them twice!”  These are fresh onions, not storage onions, these will be ready in the summer time.

Keegan’s group came over to help once they were done with their projects:

walla walla

Dan looking accomplished!

onions mar 9 woo

I hope you have an enjoyed a brief and quick insight into what kind of tasks can be done at the Urban Farm during winter term.  As always, feel free to follow us on Instagram and Facebook! @UrbanFarmFriend

Instagram
Later Days

-Kat B!

The Time Has Come

Currently listening: Slow Season- Mountains

Hello there!

The time has come!

The time has come to reawaken The Urban Farm blog again, and sometimes this means different viewpoints from many people and different authors; how beautiful!  This reminds me much of how the Urban Farm itself operates, many team leaders working together in one shared space.  Once in awhile you are reminded of a crowded Thanksgiving at your grandmothers with every aunt and cousin in the kitchen with you, all trying to prepare great-grandma’s recipe their own special way.. ya dig? But in the end everything comes out perfectly, and everyone leaves happy.

No matter the season, there is never enough sunlight available for us to be gardening: it’s just mint to bee!  I took Urban Farm over the winter term of 2015 (Jan-Mar) and I would love to share some pictures with you of that experience, since most people exclaim “Why would you take it over winter term?!” or “What could you even do during that time?!”

I also am currently enrolled in the Spring session (Mar-Jun) and would love to enlighten you with our daily/weekly progress reports of awakening the winter garden and prepping it for our spring season! Including harvest reports from vegetables planted previous terms, such as last fall, winter or year.  Maybe I’ll even share some information I’ve learned along the way, and you can do the same for me. :]

And just for fun, here are two pictures of me doing “Warrior Dash” last September:

kat warrior dash rope climb

kat WD rope 2Later Days

-Kat B!

 

Back to the Future

http://chronicle.com/article/What-Would-Great-Grandma-Eat-/130890/

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