! SOIL ! SHAKES !

In school we learned about soil shakes and what they are.
It's soil that is in water and before it settles you have to shake them.In a hour or two it makes layers of soil,
water and sediments. We used three different types of soil to see the differences. The different types of layers are gravel,sand,silt and clay. It's kind of cool because organic matter floats on top.

!IT WAS SO MUCH FUN!

BY: E.W & C.W

farms

Our 4th grade class went on a field trip.Ten farms.Five groups.We went to ten farms total .We found out what they did to prevent soil erosion. We got to interview the farmers and found out what their best-sellers are and their favorite foods.

Haiti's Agriculture

We are studying two different things, that connect some where along the line.

Haiti is a democracy, like the U.S.A. And every country needs money So,like many other countries Haiti needs money to support its residence. So Haiti farms.
This is where our to subjects meet. The economy needs farming, and farming needs flat ground. This is where Haiti comes a little problem. It lacks a lot of flat ground and trees, no trees and you get erosion, soon followed by mud slides. Because they have no trees the hurricanes that they get are much bigger problems because there are no trees to stop the mud slides. This is why you should pay more attention to deforestation.

This means farmers plant plants that only take a little while to grow. But, if they plant the same plants in the soil every year all the nutrients will be taken from the soil. But a farmer lives in poverty all year round, and buying new land and seeds is out of the average farmers budget range. It is very hard to grow good crops in this conditions.

When money is short (which is all the time) every one blames it on the government, which turned a blind eye to the trees and now Haiti is drowning in poverty and will not be able to grow any good crops on land that is sliding down the hill as it grows.

Imagine if you had to tie yourself to a tree to keep from sliding down a hill on the small amount of land that you own.

The best land you can have is near the slow moving Artibonite River, and there is not much of this land, Haiti was forced into poverty because land was divided and divided intil the average amount of land a person has is only an acre or two. When a crop fails year after year they can't move and get new land.

So we can't turn another blind eye, do your part today and save the world.

- N.I.P and C.H

tomatos

In science we are doing a project in our classroom.We have soil a b c and d in four containers in the grow lab.Soil a is the best for growing for now.Soil b is the second best its dry soil.Soil c is like clay its not that bad.But d is a desertess wasteland of sand and rocks.Its a very fun experiment.We put two tbsp. of water in each.We planted three tomato seeds in each.Now we have them up to four inches in one plant it was so cool.You can find soil a in Vermont.Soil b comes from rivers.Soil c comes from a mixture of soil and clay.Soil D comes from a sandy,rocky beach.I think that other kids at different schools shold try this to THE END!

Natural Resources?

What are natural resources? They are the things from the earth that are always going to be there for us, if we treat them properly.

In class we've been learning about natural resources. High on the list is Soil, one of the most needed resources. It grows our food and helps plants that make cotton and milk. Milk also is from the soil because the cow eats the grass that comes from the soil.

A few days ago we tested to see how well different soils respond to water. Here are the types of soil. We will tell the things we noticed about the soils and you can make a guess at which one held the most water.

Soil A: not completely decomposed, a lot of organic matter, soft and fluffy, it can't be rolled into a snake

Soil B: sandy, gravely, not much organic matter, like beach sand

Soil C: like play dough, lots of clay and silt (small particles), can be rolled into snake

No surprise, Soil C won. It held 18 teaspoons of water. Most of the water puddled on top. This happened because there was so much clay in the soil. Soil A leaked on the 4th teaspoon. We think it was because it had too much organic matter and no clay so it dripped. Though if you wanted to plant a garden Soil A would be the best idea. B leaked on the 15th tea spoon. The sand particles in it left too much space for the water to go through.

Soil is something we need. From clothes to food.
I.F.M and C.R.H

Garden Reflections: October 16, 2008

Harvesting Salad
“We made salad with spicy flowers and a little broccoli and a little lettuce. The flowers made the salad lovely. I enjoyed cutting the flowers. The flowers were a deep red and orange.”

Installing Erosion control & Walkways
“In garden program today we started to make walkways to keep the dirt from getting eroded. To do that we had to put big pieces of wood where people kept squishing the soil. To keep the pieces in place we used short lengths of rebar. To put the rebar into the wood we drilled big holes in the wood. I thought that gardening today was really awesome!”

“Today in garden time I helped drill holes in wood that we put in the garden to step on. I can’t wait until tomorrow because I get to see them done. [Our school custodian] Kevin, [some other fourth graders], and I all helped drill the holes. We had to drill four holes altogether. There were two pieces of wood and each piece got two holes. I had sooooooooo much fun! Because I’ve never used a drill before and they’re very powerful.”

“Today in garden time I helped [our school custodian] Kevin drill holes….I was helping Kevin it started to rain. I also used a sledgehammer to hammer rebar.”

“Today at garden time I drilled a hole in a wooden block. The blocks were as long as a lunch tray or a little bit longer. The drill I used had a handle and a trigger on it. The wooden block that I drilled had one hole on each end of the block. “

Building a Composting System
“Today in garden time I got to use a post hole digger and a really big drill. I dug out a lot. I dug out a huge brick. It was really fun!”

Exploring the Herb Garden
“Today in garden time I got to see the herb garden. I got to pick cosmos and zinnias. I got to pick lemon balm. I got to put the flowers in two vases. I got to draw two cosmos flowers on one stem. It came out pretty good. The flowers were a light pink. I colored my flowers pink.”

Counting Farm Stand Money
“I counted [our farm stand] money with [another boy]. I got really wet because I didn’t bring my raincoat. Our garden teacher helped us make room in the shed so we wouldn’t get the money wet. The total is $156.05. I’m pretty sure it’s not right. In school I am going to check on the calculator.”

“Today I counted money [from our farm stand] to send to [our partner school in] Haiti…”

Building a Composting Box
“Today in the garden we made a compost box. It was so fun. I used a big thing called a post hole digger and a spade to dig holes. It was surprisingly treacherous and hard for just getting dirt excavated and transferred into piles away from holes and ditches.”

Making Green Tomato-Apple Crisp
I was surprised when Ms. White announced that we could make green tomato and apple cobbler. I helped make a crumbly topping. It had cinnamon, oats, butter, maple syrup and flour in it… Maria pre-heated the oven to 350 degrees. Then she helped my friends and me with our jobs… Then we wrote the directions for the [crisp]. This was a great experience and it makes me think of all the foods that don’t seem like they would go well together can make something delicious! I feel so lucky that we have people to help us in this field of education!

“My group made some apple and green tomato crisp. We got to do it ourselves . It was fun because we cut apples… We made a [recipe] so we could make it at home.”

“Today at garden time Maria took four people to make apple crisp with green tomatoes. The apples were from Deer Ridge Farm. We used about 25 tomatoes in the crisp. I thought the topping was the best. The topping was made of maple syrup and oats… I really enjoyed garden time today!”

“Today in garden time I made green tomato apple crisp with [some other students]. First we washed and cut apples. Then you chop and wash green tomatoes. We put the apples and the tomato in a small bowl. We mixed the apple and tomato and then put it into a short glass pot. [My friend] made the topping with maple syrup, cinnamon, oats and something else. Then we put it in the oven.”

Garden Reflections: October 9, 2008

Harvesting at the UVM Farm
“On Thursday [some friends] and I went to the University of Vermont Extension farm with Maria to harvest some local food. First off we took some scissors and put them in our pockets. Then we went down to pick some eggplant. It was tough to pick them because they grew spikes… I had a great time at the UVM farm because we had a really fun time harvesting with our friends.”

“Today I went to UVM Farm for garden time...I liked picking peppers because I picked like 10-25 peppers. I liked [one] of the peppers because it was 7-8 inches tall!... Garden time is fun because you get to go lots of places and do fun activities..

Exploring the Herb Garden, etc.
Today in garden time a made a sachet. It smells really good. I also washed purple and green greens. When I tried a radish, I almost had no tongue, it was so spicy. It was my favorite garden time because I got to see what the garden looks like after a frost.”

Building a Compost System
“At garden time today I started to make a compost [bin]. First, I brought posts to where the compost will be. Second, we collected flags for markers for where the post will be. They were one foot from the school and three feet from post to post. When we dug the holes in the ground they were 16 inches deep.”

“Today in garden time we started working on making a compost [bin] for the garden… Deer Ridge Farm let us borrow a [post] hole digger to dig big holes to put in the wooden posts. [Our school custodian] Kevin helped us dig holes and get rocks out of the way. I learned that digging is very hard work, a lot harder than it looks. While my friend was digging she hit some bricks and Kevin said he thought they were from when they build the school. I thought that was pretty cool. When my group was done I felt tired and excited. I can’t wait until next week to do the next garden project!!!”

“Today in garden time we made a compost system! We had 8 fence posts to start out with. We had a [post] hole digger. WE all got to measure a foot away from the [school] wall. Then we matched a yard to the foot and put a flag in the corner where the yard and the foot meet. Then we would put a flag at the end of the yard. Then we would put a flag at the end of the yardstick that we measured the foot with. Then a yard to a yard and put a flag where the corner is where the yards meet and then we put a flag at the end of the yard so it makes a square. We did this three times.”

“Today at garden time we started to make a new composting system. In the new system there are three sections. The first section is where trash waste [organic waste] goes. The second section is where the stuff that has already been in the first part and has already started to decompose goes. The third part is the totally decomposed part so the section 2 goes into section 3.”

Pulling Tomato Stakes
“Today in garden time… I pulled [tomato stakes]. On one post the tip broke. I said to Ms. White, “It’s going to take a mining complex to get that thing out!” I grabbed a digging fork. It took me three minutes to get the tip out.”

Preparing for Dismissal-time Farm Stand
“Today is garden groups we washed and prepared vegetables and fruits such as radishes, peppers, eggplant and chard. First we put them in organized piles. Then we brushed off dirt with our hands, and then we soaked them in water and finally we put them back in bags. It was a very fun project!”

Working the Farm Stand
“Today in garden club I was doing the farm stand all by myself… What I learned by doing the farm stand by myself was how to count money. I felt very, very proud of myself for doing that all by myself. I think that when garden club starts again I am definitely going to do it again I think garden club is really, really fun!”