Service Learning - Farm Work Party!

For my Service Learning Assignment, I went to the Campus Community Farm and learned about the different types of produce and how earthworms are crucial to keeping the crops healthy. The name of the event is Farm Work Parties, and the organizer is Carla Tjung - carla.tjung@email.edcc.edu. I was at the farm for two hours on March 6, 2017. 

We started off the "party" by touring the farm.  

Our first stop was the three worm bins. We were told that our school collect compost and feed some it to these worms. After the worms digest the compost and produce worm castings (worm poop), the castings are then used as fertilizer for the crops; since the crops are constantly pulling nutrients from the soil, we need to supply the soil with nutrients from worm castings so the crops can grow. 

Three bins of wiggler worms.

Then, we took a quick tour in the hoop house. The hoop house is similar to a greenhouse but not exactly the same; the hoop house is only covered by plastics, so the temperature in there is not much warmer than the outside temperature in the winter, but it is still slightly warmer and it keeps the crops from frost. In addition to the patches inside the hoop house, we also have several more outdoor. 

Inside the hoop house.

An outdoor patch of carrot, mustard, and roguette arugula.

Then, we toured the Cultural Kitchen, which was designed and managed by the Anthropology Department. There was a pit oven, a cob oven, a fire pit, and a seating area. The roofs and the benches at the kitchen were built from cedar wood, and some people were also working on carving a boat from a log of cedar wood. 

37" cob oven.

Cedar wood boat in construction.

Finally, we stopped at the Bug Hotel. I was surprised that they wanted to keep bugs at the farm because I thought that all bugs are bad for crops. However, we were told that this hotel is for "good bugs", which are the ones keep the "bad bugs" populations in check. This process is known as biocontrol, meaning allow nature to cure without chemicals. 

Bug Hotel.

The objective of the Farm Work Party is to maintain the crop patches and to keep the farm clean. We split off into several different groups, and each group was given a different duty. For my group, our main duty was to categorize new seeds by types and by alphabetical order, plant pea seeds in the hoop house, and pluck the weeds in the hoop house.  

Newly-planted pea seeds are underneath this patch.

A patch of spinach after we plucked out all the weeds.

My work at the farm allowed me to see how chemistry and biology principles are applied in the process of keeping the produce at the farm healthy. It was amazing to me how earthworm turned compost into organic fertilizer that is rich in nutrients. Besides providing valuable resources for the crops to grow, earthworm also create tunnels that allow the flow of air and water in the soil. Through the knowledge of plant and earthworm physiology, we are able to take advantage of the worms and their castings to grow vegetables that we can consume. 

During the service learning experience, I was able to closely observe the movement of earthworms. First, the worm contracts its anterior and retracts its body toward the anterior. Once about half of its body is contracted, the worm then lengthens its anterior which allows it to move forward. Terrestrial earthworms belong to the phylum Annelida and class Oligochaeta. Earthworms have hydrostatic skeleton and they have antagonistic muscle groups that cause the shape of their hydrostatic skeleton to change. The two groups of muscles are longitudinal and circumferential. To retract its body, the longitudinal muscles contract and cause the circumference of certain segments to increase. To lengthen its body, or to decrease the circumference of certain segments, the circumferential muscle contract and push the coelomic fluid toward segments where the circumferential muscles are relaxed. With the contraction of antagonistic muscle groups, earthworms can move easily in the soil as well as on flat surfaces.

Questions: 

How do seeds know to "hibernate" during the winter? 

How is the design of the Bug Hotel more favorable to good bugs than bad bugs? 

How do earthworms ingest and digest compost? 

How do you know when the soil is depleted of nutrients