Our New Hive!

What is a pollinator you may ask?

It is any little critter big or small that helps spread the love of pollen and make our gardens so vibrant and our food so rich. Pollination occurs when pollen is moved within flowers or carried from flower to flower by pollinating animals such as birds, bees, bats, butterflies, moths, beetles, or other animals, or by the wind.

Pollination ensures that a plant will produce full-bodied fruit and a full set of viable seeds.  Somewhere between 75% and 95% of all flowering plants on the earth need help with pollination – they need pollinators. Pollinators provide pollination services to over 180,000 different plant species and more than 1200 crops.

This significant and often invisible ecosystem service ensures the success of our agricultural economies, food supply, and surrounding landscapes. Without pollinators our world would surely be less diverse and less delicious!

Why Plant for Pollinators?

Around the world, pollinators are declining due to factors that threaten all biodiversity.  Loss of habitat is the principal reason, followed by improper use of pesticides, pollution, and invasive species. As our food systems become increasingly industrialized, we have seen colony collapse disorder plague Northern America. When Colony Collapse Disorder appears, worker bees disappear from their hives or die, leaving the queen behind. It is our job as caretakers of the land to ensure that where possible we are providing ample habitat for pollinators to grow and thrive.

What to Plant:

Native plants are adapted to the local climate and soil conditions where they naturally occur.  A diversity of native flowering plants in your garden will provide a wonderful habitat for a large variety of native pollinators and may even provide you with a tasty treat to eat at the end! Plant any of these following plants in your garden and you are sure have a symphony of pollinators visit come spring. [embeddoc url=”https://blogs.uoregon.edu/urbanfarm/files/2018/04/PollinatorGuide-1i6a5pq.pdf” download=”all” viewer=”google” ]

Pollinators at the Farm

Here at the farm, we are especially appreciative of our little friends who visit us everyday and keep our plants looking their best.  Along with providing students with resources to learn about pollinator plants, we are gearing up to plant our very own pollinator garden!

After suffering quite a few bee colony losses over the last year, we finally have a healthy, bustling hive. Thanks to a frequent wanderer of the urban farm– a swarm was spotted down the road and Harper Keeler was just quick enough to bust out his bee box and give these bees a new home. Stop by the Farm this Spring and check out our new friends and learn about how we are designing for pollinators!

Due to the large number of students in the Urban farm class, they separate into groups of around 5-8 people and oftentimes, I like to sit in on groups and see what they’re up to. This past week I was sprawled out on a bench near the grove of pear and cherry trees, soaking up the long awaited sun, and I suddenly found myself in the middle of team leader Lydia’s group. They all sat around me and began what ended up being a very long, involved and delightful conversation that spanned several different topics. The nature of their conversation was a great representation of the sorts of interactions that take place at the farm, and while quite choppy and sporadic, I thought it nice to share this experience for those interested in the happenings of the farm.

The group began by talking about volunteer hours they had completed. Emily, one of the students, told of how she brought her brother to Grassroots Garden with her and now he volunteers there three times a week! We all delighted in this fact until then, the questions began…(Through observation and Emily’s comments, I learned how incredibly curious and eager to learn this particular group is, and Lydia searches her brain and often laughs in response to the insane amount of questions she is asked in a small amount of time.) For this blog post, due to the nature of that particular instance, I intend on sharing cool things I learned in a sporadic manner.

First, we learned how you have to wait 3 YEARS to harvest asparagus. I mentioned that I work at The Kiva and that customers often complain about the daunting price of asparagus; oftentimes around ten dollars for one bundle! Given the long process of cultivation and harvest, though, I believe I can now justify the price. In addition, white asparagus is white because the stalk grows

completely underground! WOW. 

Soil is primarily made up of 3 parts: Sand, silt and clay. Sand is, well, we all know what sand is. Silt is a dust like material typically smaller than sand. Clay is the most dense of the 3. We say that soil has good tilth when there are equal parts sand, silt and clay, and when the soil is aerated and crumbly. We don’t want too much of any 3 parts. The mineral content of soil is 45% with 5% organic matter. Organic matter and microorganisms bring nutrients to the plant (sugars “chocolate cake” from the sun through the process of photosynthesis) that feed and protect the plant.

Heirlooms: Old heritage seeds passed down through generations and coveted for certain qualities. Not so good for storing or shipping. They have not been hybridized! A commonly recognized heirloom are the tomatoes that you buy at the store that come in crazy shapes and colors compared to the other, stereotypical round tomatoes. Heirlooms are generally coveted for better taste. They are, however, more fragile than the conventional tomato, which is why you do not typically see them in big box, average grocery stores. This discussion led to the discussion of what the difference is between hybrid, GMO and heritage. Anyone know?

Generally speaking, the definition of heirloom is given above: Heritage seed passed down through generations to maintain certain qualities. Hybrid: A seed produced by cross-pollinated plants. Cross-pollination can happen through wind, rain, insects and animals, and human-related activities.
GMO: Genetically modified organism. A change in the DNA sequence of the plant. This process should not be confused with cross-pollination, as cross-pollination is a process that most often happens naturally, without human interference.

Until next time!

At the beginning of every class at the Urban Farm, students gather on hay bales for a short communion surrounding a tall, multicolored pole. Many students, including myself, have admired the colorful ribbons and the flowers that sit atop this pole, though were never aware of its significance until the lovely Beltane celebration at the farm.

My experience with May Day as a child was always limited to noticing that people left flowers on each others doorsteps on May 1st, though I never understood why. On May 2nd, I observed and participated in parts of the May Day celebration at the Urban Farm and can say that I am officially converted toward the intention of celebrating this day for the rest of my life.

May Day, or traditionally known as Beltane in many ancient Wiccan and Pagan traditions, is a spring celebration that signifies the halfway point between the Equinox and the Summer Solstice. It is believed to have originated from the Festival of Flora, the Roman Goddess of flowers, drinking and dance. Beltane is also known as a pre-Christian Celtic holiday. Due to the wide variety of suggested origins, adoptions and adaptations to this celebration, it is hard to pin point exact reasons why specific May Day rituals take place. I am a firm believer though, that many traditions, as different as they may seem as a hard as they may reject one another, often originate from the similar beliefs and places.

This mysterious pole I speak of is the center of the May Day celebration at the Urban farm. Students took part in the May Pole dance where different colored ribbons representing the four cardinal directions are wrapped around the pole. The west, or water, is represented by different shades of blue ribbon that stand for the general themes of rebirth and cleansing. The sky is in the east with a white ribbon, representing perspective, insight and understanding. The fire of the south is red, orange and gold ribbon, representing fire, passion and drive. Lastly, earth is in the North with green, brown and black ribbons representing balance and a sense of grounding. Students each grab a colored ribbon and partake in a dance weaving in and out of each other and around the pole.

Plants are popping up all around us, here’s to fertility!

Can I hold a small acorn
In my tiny hand
Plant it beneath the soil
And sweat with workers toil
To bear the gift
Of watching it grow
Into a beautiful tree
That will strengthen me
Hold me in the confines of its branches

“Volunteering is the ultimate exercise in democracy. You vote in elections once a year, but when you volunteer, you vote every day about the kind of community you want to live in.”

-Marjorie Moore

As another term comes to an end, we reflect upon the recent weeks: of the skills we have learned, the people we have met, and the possibility of adopting these agrarian philosophies in the future. Each term at the farm, we afford our participants the opportunity to develop their skills further through various volunteer programs in the greater Eugene community. Consequently, several of these organizations are run or maintained by Urban Farm alumni. This program acts as a subset of the Urban Farm, allowing students to earn credit while performing in their community. Students choose any number of these agrarian projects to devote a minimum of 8 hours of service to. These projects include but are not limited to: Food for Lane County, Huerto de la Familia, Willamette Farm and Food Coalition, Farm to School Program, Creslane Elementary School Garden, Center for the Advancement of Sustainable Living, U of O Edible Campus Program, Serbu Center Farm and Laurel Valley Educational Farm. The programs listed above give light to the real world implementation of agrarian skills acquired at the Urban Farm. Students gain insight into the further implications of their actions on a communal scale, truly capturing the essence of experiential learning.

We are happy to work with the Serbu Youth Services Farm!
(above picture: garden beds within fences of Serbu Facility)

Relative to other University of Oregon programs, the Urban Farm boasts a hefty amount of volunteer service in the community. It is difficult to measure the intrinsic change that a participant may go through after experiencing the principles of agrarian philosophy. However, it is within reaches to quantify the relative effectiveness of farm participants in the community. Spring term alone, the Urban Farm served as a class to 110 students. We estimate that the farm community devoted more than 900 HOURS of their time to the community this quarter. Annually, Urban Farm students dedicate more than 3,500 HOURS of service to the agrarian sectors of their community. Even compared to the employees who work full-time for the organizations in question, these numbers are quite significant. Molly Bullock of the Willamette Farm to School Program says, “Without the volunteers to educate these children about where our food comes from, this program would not exist.” The Farm to School organization maintains that over 75% of its volunteer hours are accredited to the Univeristy of Oregon Urban Farm. It is testimony such as this that motivates the Urban Farm to grow, and maintain its effect in the University, and greater Eugene communities. These volunteer opportunities allow students to participate in all parts of a closed loop communal system, from education, to scaled implementation. The Urban Farm program offers its participants a real world glimpse into the multi-faceted effect of agrarian behaviors in their community.

Hello foodies!

We at the Urban Farm are increasingly in need of local support and volunteer help, especially during Spring and Summer. If you have taken the class before, or are interested in getting your hands dirty for a few hours, come on out to the Farm on Saturday’s at 10:30am. Typically, we meet at the main site located behind the mill race across Franklin blvd. Depending on the work load, we may migrate to the new site on Columbia St. as well. Family and Friends are more than welcome to join and immerse themselves in the Urban Farm community.

We look forward to seeing you all at the Farm!

“Each food items in a typical U.S. meal has traveled an average of 1,500 miles….If every U.S. citizen ate just one meal a week (any meal) composed of locally and organically raised meats and produce we would reduce our country’s oil consumption by over 1.1 million barrels of oil every week.”  

-Barbara Kingsolver

Foodies; a term of common use here at the farm that carries with it the weight of a global conflict. We preach nutritional salvation, a means of food security and sovereignty unparalleled by the globalization of food systems. There is a conflict however, a growing gap between the way we live and the way we eat. It’s roots are not simply buried in the onset of fast food, though these principles do discourage a much needed slow food philosophy. The rapid pace of our society has co-evolved a consumptive ideology that continues to distance itself from the dinner table. Here at the farm we call this the convenience theory. A simple trip to the neighborhood grocer yields shrimp raised in Thailand, and bananas imported from Ecuador. Convenient? Yes. Sustainable? No! To be a foodie, to think and act as a foodie, is to to reject this convenience and replace it with localism. A bit more work of course, but well worth it to ensure the efficiency of our communal food systems.

The Urban Farm community leads a movement towards locavorism by realizing the further implications of our actions as agrarian foodies. To think locally means to transcend the boundaries put in place by a faulty international food reign. To cross these lines means not only putting in effort to cultivate and produce, but doing what you can to support your neighbor even when it means spending a bit more. Here at the Farm, we engage in experiential learning that further develops our knowledge of locavorism. Participants at the farm are introduced to local organizations such as the Willamette Valley Farm and Food Coalition, Food for Lane County, and the Eugene Farm to School program. Through these volunteer organizations, students are granted the opportunity to further their knowledge of local food production on a communal scale. Only after we are immersed in a community that thrives on local infrastructure can we begin to realize the implications of our actions. Through the adoption of a bioregionalist perspective, Farm participants grasp the potential of a locally sourced food system; understanding the economic, social, and communal benefits offered by a simple change in our consumer behavior. We challenge each other to sit and reflect before a meal, begging the question—where did our food come from? As the answers become increasingly closer to the place we call home, there is a glimmer of light in the battle for our food’s security. The Urban Farm encourages behavior such that we may be conscious of sacrificing this security for the sake of convenience. In so far that we remain progressive in our food culture, there is hope, that a new generation of locavores will further this movement and continue to develop local efficiency efforts in our community.

“I dreamt — marvellous error! — that I had a beehive here inside my heart. And the golden bees were making white combs and sweet honey from my old failures.” 

― Antonio Machado

Spring is upon us here at the Farm. A new day, a new golden opportunity to thrive as agrarian catalyzers within our piece of nature. We look to the blooms, to the early budding vegetables and fruits—plentiful organisms waiting to mature neath the Northwest rays. Curiosity strikes, questions arise as to how, why and when these magnificent wonders of the dinner table come to be year after year. Of course we remember the countless hours of tilling, weeding, transplanting and composting. How could we humans forget the laborious tasks that thicken the callus of our hands? However we ponder, there is work being done unseen by us, that which we cannot quantify, insofar as our trust in the ecosystem remains strong.

Keeler and the Pollination Station!

Could it bee, that the key to our bounties lies within the deep rooted evolution of our friend, our companion, the honeybee? As such, as the agrarian co-dwellers, we must give credit where credit is due. The lessons we learn from this marvelous species are unprecedented relative to the work done by human hand and tool. Moreover, the benefits we reap from their countless hours of mastery are deemed nonexistent without the supplementation of their colony to our Farm. A single species, commodified into the most transported thing in North America as per entity. We bring them to the Farm with the hope of fostering a relationship between us, them, and our ecocentric biosphere. In no way can we as humans parallel the efficiency of pollinating techniques so eloquently mastered over thousands of years of insect evolution. Our co-dwellers of the Farm are resemblant to us, of a symbiotic system of drones, workers, and the queen;  all of whom work in tandem for the greater good of their colony, their Farm.

Combs from past colonies!

So what can we as urban farmers hope to see this year from our honeybee friends? Not only are they responsible for the pollination of several fruit trees, late season blackberries and countless vegetable crops; they are accredited with the production of copious amounts of honey and beeswax that are utilized by our fellow agrarian participants. This year, the Farm aims to educate students about the stages of honey harvesting and its holistic properties through a hands-on workshop with a deliciously sweet ending. Additionally, as to encourage sustainable yielding of all produced materials, the Farm will target beeswax usability and intentionality as pertaining to human and agrarian use through salves, rubs, and polishes. It is apparent to us in the Urban Farm community that we have a responsibility to each other and all organisms that exist within our bionetwork; to educate the next generation in order to maintain a healthy relationship between man and his environment. Utilizing a thriving nexus such as this bee colony, we aim to pass along this knowledge, and encourage our academic community to remain as close and connected as possible to the natural world, while fostering sustainable success in their futures.

“Tell me and I forget. Teach me and I remember. Involve me and I learn.”

-Benjamin Franklin

Pear blossoms number in the thousands, creating a surreal barrier between a thicket of undergrowth and the skies above. Squirrels forage for young buds, their cheeks bulging with the spoils of a successful expedition; the elegant gatherers of their time. This place, our place— in all of its beauty, its organized chaos, boasts its potential for communal synergy, personal growth, and the transparent success of hands-on academia. Look no further, for the Urban Farm’s deep ecological clairvoyance is unparalleled by any other collegiate experience. An entire realm teeming with life, truly reflective of ecosystem symbiosis. Enter the vine-ridden gate and you too shall become an organism dwelling within the greater bionetwork of an agrarian community.

The primary mission of the Urban Farm community is to educate the participating student body about the importance of natural, balanced, local food systems and all that they entail. This program offers a chance for students to bridge the gap between academia and actuality. We strive to understand the true meaning of food sovereignty through a collective agricultural effort. After hours of hard work and spent energy, the taste of that first tomato that you yourself produced has a uniquely satisfying flavor. Only then can we begin to grasp the importance of community-centered food production, and what we can do to stimulate its growth. Within the Urban Farm we remain teachable; we aim to fulfill the responsibilities of our generation as a trustee of the environment for succeeding generations. Through the scope of a well-designed all inclusive curriculum, the Urban Farm offers students of all disciplines an opportunity to further their agrarian education as it pertains to paths all their own.

http://blogs.uoregon.edu/cwicks1w13/the-urban-farm-promoting-organic-farming-in-a-city-setting/