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.

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.

Since beginning my internship at Merry Lea, I have learned so much about growing food sustainably. There is one invaluable resource that I have always underestimated. Anyone involved in organic farming surely knows the many benefits of compost! Composting is something that can be done easily by anyone, and the benefits are astounding.

Growing up in suburbia without much of a garden, I was largely unfamiliar with compost. To me, the word compost simply implied the pile of garbage that one finds in some backyards. I thought that composting was merely a way to cut down on the amount of waste being put into the trashcan, and eventually the landfill. I now realize that I was not far off and understand better how important composting is. In a landfill, waste is highly compacted with few microorganisms and no oxygen for aerobic break down of organic matter. These anaerobic, decaying materials create methane gas. By composting organic matter rather than putting it into a landfill, we are able to cut down on the green house gases going into the atmosphere.

While reducing the amount of organic matter in landfills is very important, there are many additional benefits to composting. Any avid gardener will tell you the value of adding compost to the garden to improve the soil. The arthropods and microorganisms in compost contribute to building a living soil. Organic matter enhances soil fertility, contributes to improved availability of water, reduces erosion and soil compaction, and even enhances resistance of crops to insects and disease.

As there are many reasons to produce compost, there are just as many ways to go about doing it. Here at Rieth Village, we use straw bales to build the walls of our compost bin and landscaping cloth to cover the pile. This helps to retain moisture and insulate the pile so that it actively composts without the need for regular turning. Another benefit of using straw bales to build the walls is that they provide straw for mulching in next year’s garden as well as organic matter for composting.

In order to monitor compost pile activity, I take the temperature of the pile each week. If the temperature of the pile is not higher than that of ambient air, it is a sign that the organic matter is no longer breaking down. We will then add more raw materials and water to our pile. The small farm of a neighbor who keeps a few horses is a steady source of manure for us. Because horse manure tends to compost hot, we alternate thin layers of manure with thicker layers of straw and plant matter. Water is an important additive to keep things moist and active.

I have heard people complain that sustainable practices are time- and labor-intensive and generally inconvenient. Through this internship, however, I am learning just how easy it is to make simple changes that can reduce our ecological footprint.

In a former post, I mentioned that we have expanded our growing space into another fenced field. With high expectations, the agroecology students planted many young plants that they religiously watered. We then closed the gate, turned the electric fence on and continued on our merry way, sure that our young plants would be healthy and happy in their new home. However, there was one problem that we had hoped to avoid. There were small eyes watching from the edge of the tree line. Once the field was free of humans, the ground hogs came out to check out the smorgasbord that we had planted. Although the fence was electrified, the lowest wire was not low enough to prevent the ground hogs from digging under the fence. One by one our plants were trimmed by ground hogs that enjoyed the fruits of our labor. As the photo of the sweet potato plants show, successive trimmings left our crops with few leaves to photosynthesize and grow.

Once it was clear that ground hogs were going to be regular visitors, we placed several live traps in amongst the beans baited with some delicious cantaloupe. Clearly not knowing what they were missing, the groundhogs turned up their noses at the fruit and continued to snack on our crops.

Following the clearing of some small trees from a prairie, we attempted to discourage the visits by placing wood in their way, but the groundhogs just rolled them back to get to their endless buffet of greens. When we discovered the scenethat you can see in the photograph, we decided to pull out the big guns.

Clearly the only thing that would keep the little guys out was to give them a shocking reminder each time they tried to dig under the fence. We installed a fourth wire just a few inches off the ground that they would not be able to limbo under. That did the trick! Once the plants were allowed to grow undisturbed, we were able to reap a harvest from what was left.

All of our work was worth it as we now look forward to years of abundant harvests from that field. Even now, there are days that I spot a forlorn groundhog sitting up on his hind quarters outside of the fence and gazing wistfully at what used to be an easy meal.

With the leaves turning brilliant colors, the shorter days, and the cooler nights, we know that autumn is upon us. It is time to prepare the gardens for the winter. In the past couple of weeks, we have been blessed with warm and sunny weather thatwe’ve taken advantage of to get a lot of outdoor work done. While some of the crops will continue to produce for a little while longer, others cannot handle the cold weather. For those plants, such as tomatoes, tomatillos, beans, and melons, we harvested the last of their produce for the year. Then, wepulled out the plants to put into our compost bin. Before throwing them into the compost, however, we chopped them into smaller pieces to allow them to break down more quickly and efficiently.

We also took advantage of the warm weather to dig up our sweet potatoes. The foliage of these plants was also cut up and composted.

In some areas of the garden, there was still quite a bit of plant material present from the preceding crops. A rototiller was used to mix crop residues into the soil where they will break down and provide nutrients. After tilling and raking the soil, winter rye was sown as a cover crop. A cover crop is used to reduce soil erosion, manage weeds, and enhance soil fertility.

Although temperatures are getting cooler as autumn sets in, our gardens are still producing! Not only do we continue to harvest produce, but we are planting new crops! In the past, the gardens were ramped down following the departure of the agroecology summer intensive students. Usually, a winter rye cover crop would be sown on the gardens at this time of year. But with our weekly campus sales continuing, we would like to be able to provide produce to the staff and students as far into the season as possible. For that reason, we have not allowed the gardens or greenhouse to retire for the year just yet. There have been a few crops that have reached the end of their lives and we have removed those plants from the garden. After a thorough weeding, we till the ground to prepare it for the next occupant. The greenhouse has had some turn over as well. As old plants are removed from the beds, the soil is turned and compost is added.

Some of the newly planted additions include crops that are known to be able to handle the cooler weather such as turnips, Swiss chard, and kale. We’ve also recently planted cilantro, Malabar spinach, broccoli, cauliflower, and an assortment of greens to include in a salad mix.

On August 5, the nine-week Agroecology Summer Intensive came to a close. Rieth Village has been much quieter now that the students have gone their separate ways. However, as the summer wanes, the activity here at Rieth Village does not! The crops that the students helped to plant and tend continue to flourish and with five fewer enthusiastic farmers on hand, those of us left have been quite busy keeping up with the gardens and greenhouse!

When the students were living on site they utilized most of the garden produce. Now that they have moved out, we are left with a plethora of produce and an exciting opportunity! We have begun to market our produce to the faculty, staff, and students of Goshen College. Our first customers were those who live and work here at Merry Lea. Our weekly trips to the Learning Center were well received by all, especially the graduate students who live at Merry Lea. Despite a very positive response we were left with quite a bit of produce at the end of our sales each week. Although we continue our donations to the Wolf Lake food pantry, we decided to expand our market to those on the main campus of Goshen College.

We began our campus sales on August 26. We were expecting our customer base to be made up mostly of faculty and staff because most students had not yet arrived on campus. We were very pleasantly surprised, however, to find quite an interest among the student body! Our very successful first sale was quite encouraging and we look forward to our continued interactions with our campus customers every Friday from 2 to 5pm outside of the Schrock Science Annex.