Welcome to the Agroecology Blog. We'll keep you up to date with what is happening at the Merry Lea Sustainable Farm.
November-December
Although our campus stand is closed for the year, our supply of stored produce has allowed us to continue sales through email orders. Students and staff were given the opportunity to order any of our remaining potatoes, onions, chard, and popcorn that were then delivered to the customer’s office or home. Popcorn sold out quickly, so we will increase the quantity grown next year to better meet the demand.
We were pleased to interact with Pastor François Tshidimu and his wife, Felly, visitors from the Democratic Republic of Congo with ties to the Goshen area. They were hosted by Pastor Nina Lanctot of Florence Church of the Brethren Mennonite in Constantine, Michigan, who organized visits to several sustainable farms in the area. They are exploring ways to put to good use agricultural land owned by their church and were interested to learn of the experience of the Benin Bible Institute. In the photo they are accepting a gift of fresh vegetables from Dale Hasenick of White Yarrow Farm.
Increasingly cold days and approaching winter necessitated the completion of a variety of projects. Perennial weeds were removed from the pathways of the kitchen gardens. Additional layers of leaves and manure were added to the compost bin (look out, Sluiceway the cat!). Several rotted posts in the grape arbor were replaced with black locust, a highly rot resistant wood that can last upwards of 70 yrs in the ground without any chemical treatment. Our area is still experiencing drought, and a walk through the nut orchard reminded us to give the trees another watering in order to nurse them through their first winter.
Winter has brought cold weather and snow to Merry Lea. Time is spent indoors planning for next year’s cropping season, and carrying out strategic planning for the expanding programs and opportunities of coming years. But we also find time to enjoy the beauty of winter. In the photo the winter sunrise is reflected in the west window of Oshtemo cottage. The head house and green house are in the background.
Happy new year to all!
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Posted by Dale Hess and David Stoesz
October
October 1 found me ten days into my trip to West Africa. I spent a week each in Niamey, Niger, and Bamako, Mali, visiting friends as well as former colleagues with the West and Central African Programs of the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT), a former employer. Then I joined Luke Gascho (my Executive Director) and his wife, Becky, for a working visit to Benin Bible Institute in Cotonou, Benin Republic, representing the partnership with our church. There were numerous speaking engagements and many occasions to enjoy the beauty of the country and the hospitality of its people. The visit to BBI’s newly inaugurated, small, diversified, sustainable farm in Oumako was particularly rewarding. 
David had been in charge of the gardens at Merry Lea, so things were ship shape on my return and we continued preparing beds for the winter, and conducted our final campus sales. We are still providing produce to students of Merry Lea’s Sustainability Semester in Residence. Additional produce was taken to the Central Noble Food Pantry in Albion, which earned for David a brief write-up in the local newspaper!
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Posted by Dale Hess, Ecological Field Station Director and Associate Professor of Agroecology
September
If the long, dry summer had a negative influence on the agroecology fields, one would hardly know it from the plentiful September harvest. We easily provided produce for weekly sales on the Goshen College campus as well as to various public programs.
Many students and faculty came to buy our diverse, fresh vegetables on Friday afternoons. Some of the most popular items were broccoli, ground cherries, onions, peppers, sweet potatoes, and tomatoes. Community members who came to Merry Lea to participate in programs such as Wilderness First Aid, the Hope Conference, and the Photography Workshop, also enjoyed meals cooked with produce from our farm. There was still fresh produce to contribute to the Central Noble Food Pantry in Albion, where individuals and families who are struggling financially can receive donations. 
A new residential program began at Merry Lea this fall, the Sustainability Semester in Residence (SSR). Each week we provide the students with fresh vegetables to supplement their communal meals. They are learning to appreciate and cook with local and sustainable foods, some of which may be unfamiliar to them. In the winter months when nothing is left in the gardens they can still enjoy preserved items (frozen broccoli, corn and cauliflower; canned tomatoes) and stored items (potatoes and onions).
The end of September also marked the career end of our 14 Cornish-cross broiler chickens. At just 10 weeks of age they had reached their optimal weight (6-9 lbs dressed). Expertise was provided by Paul Steury and Aaron Goldstein, master butcherers, who demonstrated the proper way to kill, skin, and clean a chicken. With the help of other staff and volunteers, the whole process was completed in just under four hours. The high demand for our chickens means there will be more to come in the spring!
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Posted by David Stoesz, Agroecology Intern
August
The agroecology students are gone! Not only do we miss their fun personalities, we also regret the absence of their capable hands for the many tasks at hand! The chickens made the move from the Farmstead barn to the Rieth Village chicken tractor. Sluiceway, the farm cat, found them fascinating to watch. 
Weeding the gardens takes a back seat, for harvest is beginning in earnest. An unseasonably warm March followed by several hard frosts reduced, but did not eliminate, our grape crop and we were able to make and can Concord grape juice - during which time the kitchen smelled delicious! There was more broccoli and cauliflower than we could sell, so we froze a quantity that can be made available to residential students in the upcoming Sustainability Semester. The abundance of beautiful, multicolored heirloom tomatoes gave us opportunity to can tomatoes and tomato juice. David is not a big fan of eating tomatoes, but we'll see if we can change that! He does enjoy our delicious, heirloom Stowell's sweetcorn. The electric fence has kept raccoons out and the harvest was good! Gloriously-flavored ground cherries and tomatillos are ripening, and it is time to pull onions and dig white- and sweet potatoes.
Andy Ammons came from campus early one morning and we moved the beehive from the Oshtemo Cottage lawn to the west end of the hoophouse. We inaugurated produce sales during the Goshen College faculty & staff retreat at Merry Lea in latter August and have resumed campus sales every Friday afternoon, bringing some of the beauty and good taste of Merry Lea's fresh produce to the campus community. Welcome, new students, and welcome back to returning upperclassmen!
Friday, August 3, 2012
The final week of the summer intensive has arrived! We were grateful for a quarter inch of rain on the last day of July, Tuesday, a day that also saw the arrival of 15 day-old chicks destined for our chicken tractor. We installed them under a heat lamp in the barn for their first several weeks. 
Our field trip was to Tillers International in Scotts, MI, an organization working "to preserve, study and exchange low-capital technologies that increase the sustainability and productivity of people in rural communities." We were received and shown about by Dulcy Perkins, farm manager. For many of us it was the first time to be in close proximity to enormous but gentle draft oxen. Two Tillers interns worked with us as we set our hands to the single furrow moldboard plow. It was eye-opening to see the diversity of ingenious agricultural implements preserved in the Tillers museum. Some serve as models for modern, working versions for use in rural communities around the world. 
Schoolwork was not to be forgotten as students prepared for their final exam and attended to the remaining details of their agroecology term papers. But they are forward-looking, and continued to add material to the compost pile and transplanted a late batch of zucchini even though they would not see the fruits of these labors.
On our final day together students gave their personal reflections on the ASI experience. The different perspectives and varied media reflected the diversity that had come together for nine weeks to learn more about areas of common interest: healthy food and its role in building healthy bodies, families, communities and societies. It was hard to imagine that in coming days and weeks we would not see each other, but Merry Lea remains a welcoming place "where earth and people meet." Won't you consider joining us next year?
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Posted by Dale Hess, Ecological Field Station Director and Associate Professor of Agroecology
July
Friday, July 27
In many ways it seems as though we have just arrived, but already we are in the last two weeks of the Agroecology Summer Intensive! The past week was a whirlwind of trips, lectures and the scramble to complete our remaining classwork and projects. How much we have experienced and learned in a short time!
Our week began with agroecology lectures brought to us by our astute professor Dr. Hess. It also began with rainfall, something that we have experienced seldom this summer. Rain gives life to our agroecosystem and rainfall makes the raising of crops seem a little more possible for us!
Tuesday morning we woke up to a cool and stormy morning. Roberta Miller, a former Merry Lea staff member, was our guest instructor on the topic of food preservation. She taught us how to can and freeze fresh vegetables, an important element of sustainable living. By the end of our class we had about 12 quarts of bread and butter pickles as well as two pints of spicy dill pickles. One thing our group has in common is that we all love to eat, and eat a lot! 
Following an afternoon of working in the gardens we piled in the van and headed to the Goshen Farmers’ Market to check out “the real deal”. There we toured the market, interacted with several producers whose farms we had visited, and bought some snacks before meeting with the market manager who talked to us about her job and addressed our questions.
We had an early start on Wednesday morning with a drive to the state capital, Indianapolis. We were welcomed by Maggie Goeglein, project manager of Fall Creek Gardens, who would be our tour guide for the day. This was my first visit to Indianapolis and my first exposure to urban agriculture. The visits were most interesting, ranging from a one-person operation to an organization receiving the help of hundreds of volunteers weekly. It was a hot day, but an invaluable part of our summer program. 
Thursday Dr. Ryan Sensenig, Chair of Biological Sciences, joined us to help us understand how ecological models can contribute to the field of agroecology. On Friday we wrapped up our marketing class with Melissa Kinsey. Each of us had created our dream farm operation and developed appropriate marketing strategies.
It was a long, busy week filled with seeing and learning new things. Thanks to all of our instructors!
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Posted by Ben Adams, 2012 agroecology student
Friday, July 20
Week seven of the ASI dawned warm and dry, the trademark of this summer. We attended to some of the familiar herbivores of our cucurbits, the infamous squash bug (Anasa tristis), finding and removing egg masses from crop leaves and killing the insects when we could. We also detected a stand of Japanese hedge parsley (Torilis japonica), an invasive that we were introduced to in Michigan last week and that was heretofore unknown at Merry Lea. Bill Minter, Director of Land Management, made the report to the national EDDMapS (Early Detection & Distribution Mapping System) database.
On Monday afternoon we received the visit of Dr. Stephen Hawkins, Asst. Dir. of Purdue's Ag Centers, and his guest, Shershah Ameri, farm and campus manager for Kabul University. Mr. Ameri visited Purdue University and Goshen Collage to develop his background in facilities management and sustainability, interacting with faculty, staff, students. We enjoyed showing our facilities and sharing our experiences, and learned of his work at Kabul University through his photographs and a virtual campus tour through Google maps.
Work continued apace on designing a chicken tractor, a first for the program, and preparing a materials list for purchase. Our week's field trip was to Crystal Valley Organics in Middlebury, a cooperative of Amish farms selling pastured goat, beef, pork and poultry, milk and cheese, eggs, fruits and vegetables. We were shown about the farm by Andy Miller, observing how food and livestock are raised in organic, sustainable ways. For some of us it was the first visit to an Amish farm, and it was interesting to observe ways in which technology was employed on the farm; vacuum to power the milking system, air pressure to operate a variety of tools, a small engine to power a corn picker, hay cutter or baler, and and a small solar panel to charge batteries. Decisions are made based on on the needs and desires of farm and the community. We contributed in a small way to the functioning of the farm by assisting with fence repair in one of the outlying pastures.
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Posted by Dale Hess, Ecological Field Station Director and Associate Professor of Agroecology
Friday, July 13
"Out of sight, out of mind" or "You don't know what you had until its gone" ? Whether it is fields and agriculture, water, rains, the lady beetles, local food systems, or time-tested farming techniques, this question has begun to define our time together here at the Merry Lea Agroecology Summer Intensive.
This week, we began the second half of the program. This meant Monday morning involved the first lecture of the Agroecology course. Now the challenge begins - we have been participating in agriculture in action, learning about the impacts of industrialized agriculture, using soil fertility and pest management best practices, and witnessing how farmers interact with their land and customers. But in Agroecology, the task is to put it all together, and begin understanding how the dynamics of the environmental system has shaped human history, and the role we play in destroying or preserving its integrity. The classes Monday and Tuesday taught us about the evolution of agriculture, and how it is only recently that we are realizing the value and intelligence behind many traditional practices.
On Wednesday, we all enthusiastically packed into the van by 7:00 AM to meet with Doug Landis at Michigan State University, to hear about and see his research into agroecological systems and the role insects play in them. In a series of beautiful pictures and clear graphs, he explained that the natural world - what we typically understand as everything on the planet not made or controlled by humans - is not just there, existing. It is actually a fantastic system that provides many benefits to us - called in some literature ecosystem services - and we could not survive without them. The big ones are oxygen production and water transportation, but Doug's work is on how small pockets of habitat dispersed throughout an agricultural landscape can effectively control aphid populations on soybeans, by providing a local lady beetle family to eat the aphids. So instead of these pockets of forest and natural prairie being out of sight and out of mind, we are wishing we had them back.
Every field trip so far has come with a treat. This week, ours was lunch at a Thai restaurant, and while Dale and David were left underwhelmed by their order of extremely spicy food, we all left with happy mouths and happy tummies. Doug's hospitality continued when he showed us around his country home, demonstrating how one individual can bring a prairie and wetland back to one block of an agricultural centre.
Thursday was a day of local food systems. Paul Steury from the Goshen Farmer's Market told us how the urbanites of Goshen are reclaiming their connections to farmers through Community Supported Agriculture. Instead of letting their food source remain out of sight, the customers and the farmers participating in the CSA and Farmer's Market are acknowledging that they miss the mutually beneficial relationship of a farmer and an eater. In the evening, some of us saw more examples restoring what is gone when we attended a meeting of Transition Goshen on Foodsheds (after getting Chief ice-cream of course). This meeting was a discussion of how Goshen can re-create a food supply that is local in production and consumption, to restore economic and health prosperity to its community, and protect it from the uncertainties of climate change and energy scarcity. They miss what they had before 90% of Indiana's food was imported, as it is today - an irony in a state strong in agriculture.
While some of us may have preferred that the business aspects of farming remained out of sight and mind, we all appreciated class Friday. The morning was spent with Melissa Kinsey, learning how to deliver an elevator pitch about ourselves, and other things that I will specify. The afternoon provided insights in the world of accounting, some many of us haven't had in order to miss yet, but Michelle Horning made the process smooth and engaging.
Practicum this week highlighted that rain is a wonderful thing. We didn't have any, but I have begun to miss rainy days like I have never before. Dale and David ended the week by putting 350 gallons of water on the permaculture garden! I didn't know that we had water to thank for keeping our electrical fence around the field effective - the soil is so dry the grounding post is no longer getting a good contact, so this metal rod in the ground is now being irrigated as well. Unfortunately, this let some rabbits and groundhogs learn how to get into the field, and that sweet potato plants are yummy, so we are now missing several plants. In this case, brawn was needed again as we returned to the trench of the first two weeks, and filled in spots where the gravel was low.
The learning continues. We all are seeing was in which out of sight is a cause for concern - be it rain, lady beetles, or time-tested agricultural practices - and it is important to recognize, appreciate, and preserve the blessings that surround us every day.
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Posted by Caleb Gingrich, 2012 agroecology student
Friday, July 6
This past week was jam-packed with activity. Monday morning we took the final exam for the Vegetable Crops course. In the afternoon we joined Bill Minter again to finish a lab experience that had been rained out the previous week (we couldn’t complain too much—we desperately needed that 0.64” of rain, and we continue to need rain). Bill took us to a Merry Lea field that is being restored to prairie so we could practice using clinometers to find slope, as well as try out several methods to mark out contour lines.
Tuesday morning found us all traipsing through poison ivy and tall grass to look at holes in the ground. This intriguing activity was our Soils class lab practical. We had each selected an area of Merry Lea with a unique soil type, dug out a soil core, and then were expected to interpret it for our classmates as well as our professors Dale Hess and Larry Yoder. We each described aspects of our respective soils, such as what the drainage classification might mean for cropping, why there may be a depleted A-horizon, what mottling in the subsoil indicates, and how the parent material affected the soil we were seeing. I think we all surprised ourselves at how much we had learned about soil in such a short time. In the afternoon we took our soils written exam, during which we began to wonder if perhaps we hadn’t learned quite as much as we thought we had about soils. The conclusion of the day on Tuesday marked the conclusion of the first half of the course. Thanks to the variety of activities we stay busy with, the time has really flown. It’s hard to believe we only have a month left!
After a day off on Wednesday, we jumped right back into things on Thursday by joining some other Merry Lea students, staff, and volunteers for bird banding at 6:00 a.m. We helped set up the mist nets and then walked out to check them every 30 minutes. We were pleased to catch a variety of bird species and have the opportunity to help with the identification, banding, and measurements of the birds. In the minutes between the net checks, we learned more about the nesting habits of certain birds, invented games to play with clothespins, talked about the history of bird banding at Merry Lea, and counted how many ticks Josh had discovered on himself since the previous net check.
That afternoon we traveled to Marcellus, Michigan to visit Bair Lane Farm, operated by Randy and Roxie Ewert. We received a tour of the farm and were very impressed by the innovative solutions the Ewerts had created to simplify a variety of farming tasks. We helped to dig and clean some garlic, and concluded the day with a jump in the river.
On Friday we headed off to Clay Bottom Farm near Goshen. The owners, Rachel Hershberger and Ben Hartman, gave us a tour and graciously answered all of our questions about soil fertility, tillage implements, greenhouse construction, and marketing models. We continued our discussion about the history of the farm, the merits of recordkeeping, and the process of selling produce to restaurants as we helped to clean a mountain of garlic. We returned to Merry Lea to conclude the week by reporting on the agroecology-related books each of us had chosen to read during the past few weeks. Our brief presentations sparked lots of discussion, and Caleb’s presentation was so interesting there was even a disagreement among three others as to who got to read his book next.
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Posted by Katie Jantzen, 2012 agroecology student
June
Friday, June 29
A few days ago, people here and around the country gathered to celebrate America’s Independence Day. Around Merry Lea, the mood was not quite as mindlessly celebratory as I remember it being back home in Kansas. Part of this stemmed from the burn ban in Noble County, which nixed our ideas for a bonfire and fireworks. Another part no doubt came from the fact that most of us here are Mennonite or of Mennonite background, and so are a little bit hesitant about this whole patriotic nationalism thing. However, there was another part of our concern over the Fourth of July - the question of what exactly we are celebrating our independence from. As I explained to Cassilda, who celebrates the Indian independence day very differently, the Fourth of July is a chance to eat and drink yourself into a stupor over the course of an evening. That’s "independence."
As discussions of energy independence, the American role as global policeman, the increasing inequality gap, and the role of the government in economic development become more and more shrill, it is easy to become confused as to what exactly “independence” means. Technically, there is no slavery in America (unless you have committed a crime, as per Amendment 13) - we are free to sell our skills to those who can provide us with unemployment, or even start our own farm. We have some of the cheapest energy on the planet, and we are free to use as much as we want. However, if my sarcasm isn’t blatant (as it drips from every word), much of our economic freedom is determined by larger economic forces and those with far more political influence than ourselves, and much of our energy comes at a cost to our soldiers and to those who live in areas where we flatten mountains and poison aquifers to access coal and natural gas. To reword Orwell, all Americans are free, but some are more free than others.
So here we are, learning about Agroecology. Amidst the lectures on soil and vegetables, the hours weeding in the hundred-degree heat, and the tours to various farms, we are learning more and more about what true independence looks like, and why it is not only undesirable, but also impossible. True independence means that one can provide entirely for one’s own needs - growing food, building shelter, and needing no other person to survive. How sad! There is independence that we should celebrate - from political regimes, from corporate power, from abusive relationships. But there is something we should celebrate even more - interdependence. A good farm is not independent, it is dependent on the consumers, farms and ecosystems around it. The Yoder Family Farm that we visited this week involves local children in their maple syrup-making process and includes all members of the Yoder family in decision-making. All the parts of a farm - compost, vegetables, animals, and farmers - are also interdependent. The Yoders have a diverse farm, with sugar maple trees, lands in the Conservation Reserve Program, asparagus beds, vegetable crops, and soybeans all working together to generate income. These are things we should be celebrating with fireworks - the interdependence of farms and communities, the diversity of strong, stable operations.
And we have been celebrating! Once a week, all of the students in the Summer Intensive, plus whoever happens to be around when we finish (David the intern, some students doing independent projects, our instructor) prepare a huge meal. This last week we celebrated on Sunday with Russian Mennonite verenika and gravy, and then again on Monday with a huge curry dinner to say goodbye to Mike who is beginning a summer internship in the Florida Keys. We celebrate the diversity of our cultures, cooking experiences, and tastes. We celebrate days of hard work in the hot sun. And most of all, we celebrate the interdependence of students, instructors, crops, the land, the weather, and the community both near and far that supports us in our time here. Happy Fourth of July!
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Posted by Jon Bergen, 2012 agroecology student
Friday, June 22
Every day at Rieth Village is filled with a diverse mixture of fieldwork and coursework. This week we spent our time transplanting varieties of heirloom tomatoes, ground cherries, eggplants, cucumbers and sweet potatoes, just to name a few. We also direct-seeded some bean varieties that I had never before encountered. I was most fascinated by the seeds of Phaseolus coccineus, the Scarlet Runner Bean. Its seeds are a beautiful mix of black and lavender and the size of quarters. The young green pods are edible and the seeds can be used fresh or as dried beans. Interestingly, some gardeners only grow it for the beauty of its scarlet flowers.
In the classroom, Professor Dave Miller introduced us to the wonderful world of insects. Although insects tend to be... well, pests, especially if they are chomping away on our Brassicas, we found that they are fascinating to study. We also learned many practical, yet essential, uses for a soil survey from Professor Bill Minter.
Our week ended with a trip to Three Rivers, Michigan. Our first stop was at the farm of James and Kate Lind: Sustainable Greens. Kate gave us a tour of the farm while pointing out the many different types of weeds that had sprouted along the path that can be used for nutritional or medicinal purposes. Sustainable Greens specializes in many different salad greens. Their produce is beyond ordinary, the mustard greens in particular packing a lot of flavor. As a reward for our weeding, we were given a generous supply of delicious salad. The spicy salad mix was by far my favorite!
For lunch we were invited to the house of Jon Templin, a 2012 ASI student and a true gentleman. He first served us a wonderful lunch of delicious grilled brats, potato salad and salad greens. The salad greens had grown at his brand-new farm, Butternut Sustainable Farm. Fresh out of finals this past semester he started converting a 5-acre plot from a hay field into a diversified vegetable farm. A tour showed us some of the difficulties encountered in the first year of a brand-new farm. Grass weeds and pests (primarily Maladera castanea, the Asiatic Garden Beetle) were abundant with substantial negative impacts. But Jon's determination has not faltered leaving us with no doubts as to the future success of Butternut Sustainable Farm.
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Posted by Carina Zehr, 2012 agroecology student
Friday, June 15
While each of us might be here for different reasons, we are all enjoying dealing with the issues of food: where it comes from, what kind is best, how to raise it, and of course, how to eat it. We are interacting with each other around all of these levels, whether we are sowing sweet corn, digging thistles, or baking bread.
We had the pleasure of working with Dr. Larry Yoder, a retired Goshen College professor, who is as enthusiastic about geology and soils as a kid is about candy. Dr. Yoder introduced us to the fascinating world of clay chemistry as we explored how nutrients are held and released as positively charged ions by tiny clay particles. It turns out that clay can both make and break a soil, depending on how much is present and how the soil is managed.
A major work project came to a joyous end, finally breaking up an undesired ecological relationship: that between the resident groundhogs and our cabbages. In what took us several afternoons of sweaty teamwork, we completed digging a trench (and filling it with stones) so that the grass won't grow up around an electrified low wire that runs the perimeter of our biggest garden.
On Friday we drove about an hour to Lagrange County, where farmer Greg Gunthorp welcomed us to his family farm operation, where hogs, turkeys, chickens and ducks are raised. Gunthorp Farms is one of the smallest farms to run their own butchering and processing facility approved by the USDA. They are also distinguished by the fact that their animals spend the majority of their lives outside, on pasture. This practice has rewarded the Gunthorps - they sell their meats to some of the most expensive restaurants in Chicago. When the visit to Greg's farm came to an end, he generously sent us on our way weighed down with chicken breasts, bacon ends, and a gigantic ham! Thanksgiving in June!
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Posted by Josh Yoder, 2012 Agroecology student
Friday, June 8
2012 began with unseasonably warm temperatures in March with highs reaching into the mid 80s (F). As a result all of our outdoor gardening activities began earlier than usual. Pruned fruit trees went on to flower, only to be caught by four subsequent killing frosts. As a result our only tree fruit this year will be some Bartlett pears borne on a single tree growing in the shelter of a large elm at the farmstead (photo). 
A job in her field opened up for Amy at the Back Pine Animal Sanctuary in Albion, so we were sorry to see her go in latter April. We wish her well in her new endeavors!
David Stoesz graduated in April from Goshen College with a degree in biology and environmental science and joined the program a month later as our new intern. He brings enthusiasm, readiness to learn and valuable experience to the program.
On June 4 the new cohort of the Agroecology Summer Intensive assembled at Rieth Village to begin their 9-week program. Participants hail from India, Ontario (Canada), Nebraska, Kansas, Illinois, Indiana and Pennsylvania and represent four different colleges. Individuals of differing backgrounds are living together at Rieth Village to study, work, relax and learn about sustainable farming and food systems in the exceptional learning environment that is Merry Lea Environmental Learning Center of Goshen College.
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Posted by Dale Hess, Ecological Field Station Director and Associate Professor of Agroecology
April
Wednesday, April 11
After a fairly mild and somewhat disappointing winter, March has been unseasonably warm! With temperatures more than 30 degrees over the average for this time of year, we have had quite a bit to do to get ready for the next growing season. The wet winter and the hot sun so far this month have encouraged the trees to begin putting out buds in mid-March. For that reason, one of our first priorities became pruning our fruit trees and grapes. While it may seem counter-intuitive to clip off possible fruit-bearing branches, it is actually essential to increase the production and life of the tree. New shoots usually grow straight up and, if let unattended, can break under the weight of the fruit. Through pruning, one can develop a strong framework that will be able to support loads of fruit. Another important reason for pruning is to allow light to reach all parts of the tree. A tree that has a very thick canopy of leaves may actually produce less fruit due to the limited sunlight that reaches the lower branches.
Another important springtime activity at Merry Lea is the proscribed burning of parts of our restored tall grass prairie. Burning is an important and natural method of managing prairies. Grassland fires occur even without human interaction and have many benefits. The spring burning removes much of the old biomass from the prairie, which allows for the new growth. Also, the fire helps to knock back invasive species, allowing the native prairie plants to get a head start. Plants native to tall grass prairies often have roots that extend 5 to 15 feet into the soil. Therefore, the burning of the plant above the ground has no effect on the life-sustaining root system below the soil. With the use of water-filled backpack sprayers and rubber mat swatters, we are able to control the path of the fire and protect areas that should not be burned.
Earlier this month we had the opportunity to assist in the burning of the pocket prairies in and around Rieth Village. The picture above shows Rieth Village with the flames in the foreground. The other photo shows me using a backpack sprayer full of water to protect one of our apple trees from the extreme heat of the flames.
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Posted by Amy Hartzel, 2011-2012 Agroecology Intern
March
Friday, March 16
Though the winter has been too cold for growing plants outside, we have been keeping busy with other projects here at Rieth Village. One of those projects has been season extension. In our greenhouse, the lives of many of our plants were extended well into the winter. In fact, our final tomato harvest of 2011 took place on December 1st! The picture shows a Sungold Tomato plant thriving and producing fruit with snow on the roof of the greenhouse. Also, thanks to our newly constructed hoophouse, we were able to pull some red kale all the way through the winter season. The plants are still providing us with lush, beautiful leaves!
Late in the last growing season, we had started a few pepper plants in the greenhouse. Once the nights began to get too cold for the delicate plantlets, we brought them indoors and placed them on a south-facing window sill. With a little t.l.c. throughout the winter, all six of the plants survived! The picture shows the first pepper blossom that opened on a snowy, winter’s day. In the absence of insect pollinators we needed to pollinate the flowers ourselves. At this point, each plant has one to three peppers developing.
Another project in which we’ve invested time is vermicomposting, or composting done by worms. Since composting plays such a vital role in the work that we do, we thought that introducing vermicomposting would be a great addition to overall education of the students who live and learn at Rieth Village. A worm bin had been created at another of our sites using a 10 gallon, plastic storage container into which holes were cut for ventilation.
The worms were given to us and we revamped the bin a bit, improving drainage. We created layers with strips of newspaper, soil, peat, kitchen scraps and worms. The dry materials help to soak up the extra moisture created by the kitchen scraps. The worms
(pictured here) most often recommended for vermicomposting are Red Wigglers. This is because of their habit of foraging for food closer to the surface of the soil (as opposed to earthworms that prefer to burrow much deeper). Since the renovation of their home, the worms have been happily working away at turning our kitchen scraps into the most wonderful, nutrient-rich compost that will greatly benefit us in the coming growing season.
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Posted by Amy Hartzel, 2011-2012 Agroecology Intern
Archive of Agroecology Blogs
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