Hey hey! So it's Monday and you'd think that I'd be feeling like a slug stuck in the mud... but I'm as excited as a june bug caught in a coffee mug because Sarah was at Riverview today! She's been gone for quite a few weeks in the warm Florida climate and just returned with a new haircut and old smile on her face. I like Sarah because she's really spunky and outgoing and always stirs up energy when I work with her. She'll teach you to enjoy whatever task you have to do.  She knows a ton about plants and plant diseases (and used to do gymnastics). She also is the most positively receptive to the pranks Mira and I pull- she always seems the most amused.

I guess I should also introduce Rachel as well. She was at Riverview this Saturday and accompanied all the youth corps students throughout the summer. In school, we're always taught to accept everyone and treat everyone equally- it's been drilled into us for twelve or so years. I think spending one day with Rachel could prove that same lesson. Like Sarah, she walks through life with this contagious air of positivity and spunk. She has an amazing voice that sings Disney songs and wears red boots and is a dedicated practitioner of the art of yoga. After spending time with her I want to hold doors open for strangers or help old ladies cross the street.

So anyway, Mira and I continued working on the garden beds in the hoop house. We filled the dug out trenches with wood and covered a section with sod, grass-side down. I think the reasoning behind this method is that the grass decomposes quickly, providing quick nutrients for any plants whereas the wood decomposes more slow and steadily, with constant nourishment over an elongated period of time. Mira and I were left alone in the hoop house for most of the time so we just conversed with each other. Honestly I'm impressed that we didn't cause any mischief whatsoever.

What a happy Monday it was   

Saturday March 2

Lots of people at Riverview today! Around 50 or so total volunteers from various Lawrence fraternities and sororities showed up. Jaffna, Kate, and crew worked on organizing and cleaning and redesigning and installing sinks! Theoretically, a lot was accomplished.

'My' crew and I sloshed out to the greenhouses and worked on constructing beds. I've decided that bed construction should be given stages.

Stage 1: Sod removal- (sod cutters and flat-tip shovels are used to remove rectangular chunks of sod from ground. sod is rolled up or thrown carefully elsewhere for later use)

Stage 2: Excavation-dirt is shoveled from the trench to an adjacent spot, preferable onto an adjacent tarp. Finished trench should be bowl shaped with sloped sides and about one shovel head deep.

Stage 3: Refilling-Logs, branches, and wood in various stages of decay is packed into the trenches until they are about flush with the ground. Why? Good question! There's three main reasons. First, the wood, like most types of organic matter, holds in moisture.  Second, the air pockets between the branches provide aeration. Third, the wood becomes the habitat for fungi, bacteria, microbes, and many other living organisms that are decomposing the organic matter of the wood and returning lots of valuable nutrients to the soil.

Wood chips, hay, leaves, or other mulch components are then spread over the sticks and branches to make it smoother and more solid.

Stage 4: Unrolling the Sod-The sod, which is in rolls or draped on the ground somewhere, is now laid, grassy side down, over the wood chips.

Stage 5: Mounding the dirt-The dirt which is lying neatly on a tarp somewhere nearby is now heaped back onto the bed in a upside-down 'v' shape. Large clumps can be broken up by hand (called 'shaping' the bed.) the tarps and be upturned and shaken to get the last bits of dirt off.

Optional Stage 6: Worm castings-Especially for tiny plants, or perhaps seeds, worm castings are enormously beneficial. And they also look like coffee grounds, which is irrelevant.

So that's what was on for today! I'm looking forward to Monday when we can continue!

Sorry about the terrible quality of these pictures. The type of camera I have has a serious problem with light. But hopefully you can make out the five trays of onions that we planted, and the inside of the hoop house below! That's primarily where we've been the past three or so days. They've actually flooded in some spots. The trenches we did for the beds just fill up with water.

We fill them in with wood chips which help absorb moisture as well as provide a nourishing and airy soil for the plants to grow in. So far, planted in the hoop houses are garlic, spinach, kale, lettuce, and rosemary. Some plants are tolerating the cold better than others.

I will try to get my camera fixed somehow, and then post some better pictures.

Two teams worked in the garage today. My fellow hooligan Jaffna and I attempted to make another frame to fit over a rack for mobo-greenhouse #2, and so far we haven't messed up too badly. We have the trapazoid pieces for the tent on the top, and two of the four pieces to be fitted over the poles, with holes drilled in hopefully the right area. More shall get done tomorrow! 

Liam (that guy who should be in a ukulele commercial) Ken (the master carpenter) and Nate (friendly guy with the orange hat) worked on building doors for the hoop houses. It seemed to be going pretty well. I'd like to post a picture of the design plan which is complicated and strangely beautiful. There were some random sinks lying around, I believe those will be installed sometimes to hasten along the washing of vegetables before sale. 

A few things; first is that the "goofy little greenhouse" just needs a bit of tape. It also needs at least two more racks and six poles, a problem I haven't solved yet. But as soon as the remaining camera part arrives I'll post some pictures (oh yeah, and as soon as I learn how to do post things which judging by how long it's taken me to figure out  all this stuff, should be another six months.) Next, I'd like to introduce Carly, a very dedicated volunteer. Or is she an employee now? I'm not entirely sure. She has colorful polka-dotted mittens and purple boots. She's quite friendly, and brought in cookies for us on Valentine's Day. She's done a lot of work at maintaining the ski trails and is also quite adept at filling bird feeders. 

So yesterday, we made 'dibblers'. I was pretty dubious that 'dibble' was actually a word. So I looked it up and it was. A dibble (noun) is "a pointed hand tool for making holes in the ground for seeds or young plants." To dibble (verb) is to "make a hole in soil with a dibble." This made sense and fit with the context, but I decided to delve a bit deeper. (I mean honestly... 'dibble' it's like 'kibble' or 'dribble' or 'dabble' surely it isn't a practical agricultural tool!) So guess what else 'dibble' can mean?

According to the Farlex dictionary, it can mean "to drink like a duck, lifting up the head after each sip." Dictionary.com contends that it is "a variant of dib." I looked up dib, which means "to fish by letting the bait bob lightly on the surface." It's also described as "a less common word for dabble." Okay, I admit that these funny things are generally third or fourth on the list. But still,..I just had a feeling about this silly word, and needed to follow through with it. Maybe some day on jeopardy,...but I digress. 

Yesterday, the 18th we attempted to make dibblers for a variety of seed trays. They haven't been finished yet, but they were designed more or less to scale on some plywood. So we dibbled by hand today. And then we planted onions! This is incredibly exciting! First planting of the year! Hurrah! Hurrah! Hurrah!

Mobo Greenhouse, Jaff's details

Have no fear! The Jaff is here! With details of the greenhouse construction. So Oren, the garden manager wanted to convert this wire shelf into an itty-bitty greenhouse that we could put starts in. The self was to be covered in plastic but it would have to be easily pulled back for watering the plants and had to be removable.  Oren first had Mira and I try to come up with a design of a contraption that could be made to do all these things. This is a cool lesson of applied knowledge that school cannot really supply; giving students a real-life problem with relevance and letting them have an extended amount of time to solve it. Anyway, Mira and I came up with an okay design but Oren made an even simpler one that we went off of. Basically, a tent-like structure would be fastened to the top of the shelf and covered in plastic, then plastic would wrap around the sides like a shower curtain and be fastened with velcro. As Mira was helping drill holes in the base of the tent, I measured out and drew cut lines on pieces of scrap wood for the angled parts of the tent (using the rules of a 45,45,90 triangle by the way). When Mira parted ways, I was just beginning to saw the pieces. I cannot saw in a straight line, which was slightly frustrating but I guess I'll just have to keep working at it. We fitted and screwed in all the parts of the tent on the shelf and put plastic around three sides so all that's left is the velcro fasten, which will be experimented with tomorrow. Oh and Mira, you forgot to bring that goofy little greenhouse that you were so aggressively defending home with you...

I would like to second Mira's description of Nathan- he's pretty cool. I mean, how else are you going to describe someone whose made lemonade with honey instead of sugar? 

I should also introduce Oren as well. As I mentioned before, he's the manager of Riverview and does a pretty good job of keeping everything running smoothly. We learned in Psych class that one definition of intelligence includes three subcategories: Creativity, Academics, and Practical intelligence. Oren definitely has an excess of the third. He can analyze and solve problems with bed-building and hoop house construction with amazing confidence. It's a different type of smarts than the one that school emphasizes but obviously is effective in the real world. I also admire Oren's ability to tolerate the incessant shenanigans of Mira and I as he usually is the victim of our pranks and mischief. He recently referred to us as "the hooligans"- hence the name of our blog. I'm pretty sure we're his favorite volunteers.He likes bees and believes they have a code of morals. He knows a lot about economics. He likes Bollywood movies. That's a pretty good summary. 

Friday February 15th mobo-green house

We had a delightful time today and I think I can safely say that the painting of the garage has closed. I'd like to make a comment here that painting can indeed be tough work, and painting the ceiling can be difficult for those of a shorter stature. Just saying. Well, finished up with that and began drawing some plans to temporarily convert a metal rack with adjustable shelves into a mobile greenhouse! I unfortunately had to leave before it was complete. But I learned how to use a drill press, and had a refresher on 45 degree right triangles. Can we organize a march to protest the fact that we aren't on the metric system yet? Please!?

Perhaps my fellow hooligan Joffna will release the details of this fun project. And if you ever see a 6'2'' guy walking around with a neon orange hat, it's probably Nathan. He's pretty cool. He comes a lot and is a ton of fun to talk to. Once I got paint in my hair and he helped get it out. (See, Jaffna's just not tall enough to be able to provide that type of service, poor little waif.) He's quite friendly! And experienced in not dripping paint everywhere. And he also knows how to open paint cans efficiently. That's another skill I'm working on. Apply screwdriver at a 45 degree angle upwards and whack smartly. Repeat as necessary.

Also a random thank-you to the Starbucks on Calumet who supplied my dad with free coffee for the crew at Riverview. They're talking about organizing a crew of their own some day! What an excellent idea!

Did you know that people eat pickled artichoke hearts on pizza? I don't understand the human race.