Irrigation, Ecosystem Gardening and Trends

 Irrigation, Ecosystem Gardening and Trends

Irrigation is the method in which a controlled amount of water is supplied to plants at regular intervals for agriculture. It is used to assist in the growing of agricultural crops, maintenance of landscapes, and re-vegetation of disturbed soils in dry areas and during periods of inadequate rainfall.

An ecosystem is all of the plants, insects, and wildlife (all of the living things) that interact with all of the physical non-living things (soil, water, air, sunlight) that together create the environment that produces the ecosystem services on which we as humans are totally dependent.

These trends and innovations are redefining every aspect of gardening in the West—and changing the way we live, eat, and connect with one another. Garden and landscape designers across the country forecast noteworthy ideas shaping the gardening world in 2017

Trends

A good way to support local farmers who grow organically is to use Community Supported Agriculture (CSA).  This works by having people in the community pay local farmers so that they have enough start money to buy all the necessary equipment and supplies for his garden.  The people who pay get a share of each harvest the farmer has that year.  It helps keep the farmer from having too much left over crops.  This agreement keeps people from having to start up and maintain their own personal garden.  One of the most beneficial things about using CSA is that it provides small to medium size farmers with a large portion of their income, and it also keeps the money local to help with the local economy.  Most of these farmers grow organically also, but not all of them do so it is important to ask first.

Food Sheds

In class one of the topics we talked about was foodsheds. I never heard the term foodshed until I was read about it for this class. A foodshed is a "geographic location that produces the food for a particular population." This encompasses everything from production to consumption, including logistics (farm to mouth). Foodshed covers the "flow" of the food. The foodshed is split into zones ONLY geographically and not politically. Counties and governments have nothing to do with the separation between zones. For example FL would be split into north, central, and south. In our case, South Florida, we have enough food on hand at any given time on average to last three days before needing to import anything. 

Garden Techniques

I enjoyed learning about different gardening techniques and varies options for growing a garden and what trends are out there currently. The techniques that interested me were the basics to help and start a small garden at home. These topics were not particularly by main interest, but learning about gardening tool, trends and techniques, helped me engage in wanting to grow my own tree, plants and garden in my home.

Food Deserts

A food desert is an urban area in which it is difficult to buy affordable or good quality fresh food. Many people who live is big cities are unable to have access to local and fresh foods and many poor people live in food deserts. The more local cities have access to local foods and produce, they will sustain and help maintain a healthy and clean lifestyle. They will know what is GMO, what toxins they are putting on their bodies and ingesting. Consumers will also be able to afford local foods and is they are indeed organic, they will even pay a little more for their produce.

Sowing, Harvesting and Weeds

Sowing, Harvesting and Weeds

Sowing is the scatter of seeds over an open land on earth. It can also be defined as being dispersed with a purpose of growth.

Harvesting is to handle and grow crops. It can also mean storing and keeping something that was grown and nurtured by the planet.

A weed is a plant considered undesirable in a particular situation, "a plant in the wrong place". Examples commonly are plants unwanted in human-controlled settings, such as farm fields, gardens, lawns, and parks.

Seed Planting

As Professor Segal said, gardening has more to do with preparing nutrient rich soil clear of any harmful substances, such as weeds or harmful organisms, than it does with actually growing the plants themselves.  The idea of planting seeds in trays is very beneficial for many reasons.  The soil in the trays consists of what the planter puts in it while the ground soil cannot be fully controlled.  This gives the seed the best chance to grow and develop in those vital first steps of growth.   Keeping the small plants in the trays also helps keep the plants away from anything that could be harmful to it that is in the ground soil.  Basically the trays provide perfect conditions for the seeds to begin growth.  Once the seed is too large to be in the tray any longer, it is strong enough to survive in the less perfect ground soil.  It is very simple to remove the small plant from the tray and place it in the ground where you have prepared the best soil possible.

Local Sources for Seeds

Learning about seeds and local seed sources in this weeks presentation, gives options and the ability to be able to get local and country wide exposure to other plants and crops. A local seed source such as ECHO here in South West Florida, where they hold over 6,332 seeds from all over the world for trial. With the exposure to native and wild seeds to make local and wild edible crops has lead ECHO to donating more than 1,557 pounds of goods just this past year alone. Us customers can also be able to buy seeds from ECHO and other food supply stores to build our own gardens and explore varieties of crops.

Local Plant Sources

What I enjoyed about this weeks class and from the readings about seed planting and harvesting is how to plant seeds to make them the best products and outcomes for harvesting. It was overall important information for us to know, learn and understand how to plant seeds and which seeds are appropriate to plant when/where so we can make and build our own gardens. Being able to plant our own vegetables, fruits and other harvests can benefit us from having to rely on grocery stores for fresh foods. It is also important to learn how to plant seeds for plants and flowers.

Harvesting

One of the things that we learned about in class today were weeds, which is just a plant that's growing in an inappropriate place. They talked about different types of weeds and how to get rid of them. One of the more interesting ways I thought was to use a blowtorch. I never knew that was a legitimate method to eliminate weeds. They also went over cover crops which essentially just does the same thing as mulch (protection) except it's a living barrier. 

Irrigation methods were also covered in class.  Some of the methods I was already familiar with, like manual irrigation, rain water, and drip methods. I still think that the computer controlled irrigation sprayer system is pretty cool. The professor gave a bunch of gardening tips and talked about composting for a little bit as well. 

Gardening Organically, Edible Garden and Soil Building

Gardening Organically, Edible Garden and Soil Building

Organic gardening means you won't be using synthetic fertilizers or pesticides, but that doesn't mean your plants are left to fend for themselves. There are an array of tools you can use to bolster plant health and ward off pests.

Edible landscaping is the use of food-producing plants in the residential landscape. It combines fruit and nut trees, berry bushes, vegetables, herbs, edible flowers, along with ornamental plants into aesthetically pleasing design

Wearing away of Earth's surface caused by wind, water, ice or chemicals. Soil-Building. Process where the breakdown of rocks and organic materials creates arable (farmable) land.

Local Gardening

Being able to garden local and organically can provide and help the local economy in a big way. As of season starting here in Southwest Florida, if I am not working then I am at the local farmers market by my house each Saturday morning. Not only are you able to support local companies and businesses as well as knowing where your food, products and goods are coming from. I usually go to get local fruits such as oranges and grapefruit as well as local produce such as tomatoes from the fields in Immokalee. Not only is everything very local and healthy, but not so expensive either. I rather take the time to go to a local market then a store for my produce because I know what I will be eating, as well as supporting the local community.

Local Planting

Not having much interest, resources or want to garden was difficult for me to like this weeks class and presentations. Even though, my group learned about composting and what benefits it may have for local gardeners, I personally don't have an interest in it or resources to do it in my home. However, being able to learn and have ideas on what different types of pots there are for planting you can have at home. There were also many options and different pots to learn about for the different types of gardens other people may want and have. Learning about different containers to garden in is best for different garden areas.

Soil Building

This week I learned about highly managed compost, compost tea, and compost extract. Highly managed compost (or aggressively managed compost) is similar to passive compost, except it requires a lot of work (like turning and monitoring the temperature). In return the compost is created much faster (2 weeks or so instead of a year). The speed at which the compost is created is dictated by the size of the materials and how often it's turned. 

Compost tea is exactly what it sounds like. The compost (and other optional ingredients) is brewed/steeped into water and aerated. The microorganisms are fed either molasses or kelp/fish powder. This process takes at least one day, but after it's done you are left with liquid fertilizer. The tea has a very high concentration of microorganisms. 

Compost extract is very similar to tea except that it is normally produced using humidified compost. The compost is placed inside a burlap sack and submerged in a barrel of water for an hour or so (some methods take slightly more or less time). The end result is similar to the tea, except the extract has a greater number of different microorganisms (biodiversity) than the tea, and it has generally much better shelf life as well. 

Organic Soil

A lot of what was discussed this past week had to do with personal gardening.  The vast amount of gardening techniques makes it easy for someone in any environment to grow their own food. The first thing needed is good soil. We learned many different ways to give more nutrients to the soil, most of them involve adding compost to the soil. Next we discussed different types of pots such as hanging pots to hold different plants in. This can be very useful for inside plants or if you live in a city and don't have a yard to plant in. Of all the things we discussed, I think the most important thing was that all these techniques teach us how to grow organically and locally. Organic food is what our bodies are meant to eat not the chemically and genetically modified food grown by large farms. 

Products and Recycling

Products and Recycling

A product is an article or substance that is manufactured or refined for sale. An environmentally friendly product is are sustainability and marketing terms referring to goods and services, laws, guidelines and policies that claim reduced, minimal, or no harm upon ecosystems or the environment.

Recycling is to convert (waste) into reusable material. Tips on reducing waste and conserving resources. The three R's - reduce, reuse and recycle - all help to cut down on the amount of waste we throw away. They conserve natural resources, landfill space and energy. Plus, the three R's save land and money communities must use to dispose of waste in landfills.

The Three R's

Growing up in a city like New York, recycling was taught from a young age and strictly enforced in our communities. Today, the city is not only over populated but people still make it part of their lifestyle to recycle. Each household is given three stickers for "regular" trash, "plastic" and paper. As of 2016, each home is given a compost garbage can and strictly enforced to encourage homeowners to make sure only food wastes and scrapes are placed in the brown compost bins. They are picked up twice weekly and if not stored correctly, the home will be fined. This makes New Yorkers not only want to recycle, but have to recycle. The more we can keep our planet clean, the more we can reuse. As the presentation stated in class, we need to "rethink" what we will do after we finish reusing, reducing and recycling the product.

Productivity Use

I enjoyed listening and learning about different and varies uses of products that can be reused multiple times over. I enjoyed learning about how to get longevity use out of products that I use everyday. For example, when other classmates noted that in order to not waste a multitude of products such as using mason jars or getting meat wrapped in paper products, we are lowering and cutting costs on recycling and more on reusing. These are better ways and more sustainable affects than using plastic and foam.

Waste Packaging

The presentations in class talked a lot about the amount of waste packaging alone creates.  I personally work at a nutrition store and had never really thought about the packaging of items until now.  Companies try to make the jugs of protein look as big as they can so that customers think they are getting a lot, but in reality the container is only half full if even that much.  Many bottles of pills also come in a box.  What is the point of putting a bottle of pills into a box also?  They are already packaged in the bottle.  There is no logical reason why companies use extra unnecessary materials other than the fact that they believe it will help them sell more of the product.  Greedy people are wasting resources and creating more trash that pollutes our planet for the simple reason of gaining more money.  One classmate discussed how the store she worked for would reuse boxes multiple times.  This is a great way to reduce waste and I believe more stores should do it.  My store receives the boxes and throws them all away right after they are unpacked.  They are used only once.  This is a huge amount of waste that could easily be avoided.

Making Life More Sustainable

This class we learned about sustainable products and waste/recycling. When dealing with product design manufacturers are starting to focus on making products and packaging that can be reused from the very beginning, with a train of thought called cradle-to-cradle. This means that instead of making the products biodegradable, they're designed from the ground up to be directly recycled back into itself for re-manufacturing. Research and development for a lot of these companies are also using biomimicry to improve the efficiency of their products. Since evolution naturally creates the most efficient features over millions of years, it's only natural to look at nature for inspiration. 

When we learned about waste and recycling, I thought it was pretty crazy that there is a giant accumulation of trash floating around the Pacific that's literally named The Great Pacific Garbage Patch... Which is exactly what it sounds like. Another thing that surprised me was the high percent of our country's total trash is made up of construction and demolition materials

Livable Cities and Food

Livable Cities and Food

The Value of Rankings and the Meaning of Livability. ... The Economist and Forbes base their rankings primarily on data from the Mercer consulting company, which annually measures "quality of living" standards, using data such as crime rates, health statistics, sanitation standards, and expenditures on city services.

A sustainable food system is a collaborative network that integrates several components in order to enhance a community's environmental, economic and social well-being. It is built on principles that further the ecological, social and economic values of a community and region.

Livable Cities

This weeks presentation on local foods and our presentation of livable cities were both very informative and important information in our everyday lives. Living and growing up in New York, I took local transit and buses to get to school in the city, which was most convenient and affordable at the time. If you are enrolled in a high school or middle school more than five miles from your home, you are granted a student Metro Card which gives access to up to three rides a day to and from school and to and from a school event as well. Being able to live in a city expanded my understanding of what life in the suburbs can be like. Being able to sustain a healthy city involved a lot of people but being able to recycle, have reusable bags for groceries and make time to go to the local farmers markets on weekends is a big plus when living in a city like New York.

Local Farmers Markets

I enjoyed listening and watching the PETA video about the meat industry and their large effects and impacts from it. Watching this weeks presentation, second to ours was very informative about food, local resources and what we can do to help prevent more consumers of meats. This can occur such as cutting down on meat weekly.

Life in the City

This week our classmate's presentation was all about food and agriculture. We learned about organic farming, industrialized farming, factory farming, and GMOs just to name a few. I learned that the USA's organic certification process was actually pretty stringent compared to other countries, and that a large majority (80% or so) of Cuba's food is organically grown. They also talked about community farms and a few different projects that have been successful (some more than others). This whole chapter made me realize that having the Food Forest on campus is actually a really cool concept.

Local Food

The presentation last week on food was very eye opening. I now know that not only is the

raising and slaughtering of livestock causing large amounts of harmful emissions of methane

and other gases, but it is also harming the human body. Livestock especially cows are being fed

cheap modified food for the sole purpose of producing the largest cows for the most meat

possible while doing it in a shorter time period than is natural. This is done by adding a number of chemicals to the cow and its food. By the time the meat has been sent to the local grocery store it is hard to even estimate how many chemicals are in the meat. Humans then proceed to put all those chemicals into their system. This chemical infusion is happening to a majority of the food people eat today especially Americans whose whole society is focused around money rather than health. Many people including myself do not believe the increase in sickness and disease has no correlation to the increased amount of unnatural food being consumed.

The Economics of Happiness

The Economics of Happiness

Local Futures believes that modern societies have taken a fundamentally wrong turn: policymakers, mainstream economists, and business leaders have consistently pushed us in the direction of ever more growth, while ignoring the ecological destruction and spiritual poverty that have been the price of rampant consumerism, massive scale, and escalating speed. We believe that a radically different paradigm is needed. Rather than attempting to solve every problem by ‘growing the economy’, we need to focus instead on meeting real human and ecological needs through awakening to our spiritual ties to community and nature – through an ‘economics of happiness’.

Subsidized Affects

After the Western Himalayas' began having subsidizes products, vehicles running on subsidized gas and exposure to advertising in the 1970's, it affected the economy tremendously. Local producers and workers were losing money and became poor after having lack of trade and localization among their remote populations. With such change, it affected globalizing activity which can make of break economics in remote and smaller sized populations. People depend on working, making a life for themselves and being successful among local markets, not concentrating on big money companies. We strive for more local markets because it makes both local consumers and producers happy in which gives positive feedback in the economics of happiness. 

 Going Forward

I thought the video was very eye opening as to how much work we still have to do. I especially enjoyed the beginning when the government was mentioned and how they were thinking ahead by 4 years. I think they should be advancing and thinking 7 years ahead and planning prior, in which I believe this is our biggest problem. None of the officials want to deal with these issues because they wont be in office to get rewards about helping others and the economy. Our society needs to think differently if we want any change to happen.

Happiness Among Us

The two points in the video The Economics of Happiness that I thought were the most relative to this course were the ideas that globalization waste natural resources and accelerates climate change.  Globalization promotes the construction of large buildings and massive road systems that destroy the nature that keeps our planet and climate stable.  With all the economic trading or goods across the world, the amount of transportation increases exponentially and with transportation by planes, large trucks, and fuel guzzling ships comes an enormous amount of emissions along with nonrenewable resources consumption.  Globalization creates levels of competition and comparison that are toxic to humans.  Production has changed to have its focus on producing the highest quantities with no regard for the quality of the product.  Food products now have chemicals pumped into them to produce the largest crops/animals in the least amount of time possible.  With all these products being mass produced with no regard for the emissions and other harmful side effects, it is very evident that this globalization is the cause for the accelerated climate change we have been noticing.  To mass produce products resources are needed to build the buildings the products are made in, run the machines used to construct the products, and the materials the products are made from.  Unfortunately many of these materials are nonrenewable resources that once they run out our whole way of life will be a risk to end.  One main point that the video kept referring back to was that the human life has now become so focused on obtaining as much materialistic items as quickly in life as you can because our society compares what each person has to other people and it leads to no one ever being satisfied.  Our lives are spent rushing around to earn money just to spend it to impress or out do other people.  With such busy schedules people are becoming more and more lonely.  Depression is at an all-time high because there is so much pressure on individuals to gain as many possessions as possible that there is only a small percentage of people who really enjoy life.

Future Economy

In class we watched a documentary titled "The Economics of Happiness". The documentary explains the impact globalization has on the world at the human level. The material and money based "western" system of living in the long run ends up producing more famine, depression, and general bad situations than the communities and people that lived off the land. The short term gain is creature comforts, but in the long run it drives people against each other and has proven to be not all it's cracked up to be for certain areas (especially when they realize what they now DO NOT have). 

Globalization almost always ends up with a country being exploited and stripped of their resources. This documentary proves that material things and money are not necessarily important to lead a happy life, as long as they were never present to begin with. 

Lee County Waste to Energy Plant

Lee County Waste to Energy Plant

All of the household garbage collected in Lee and Hendry counties eventually ends up at the Lee County Resource Recovery Facility, where it is sorted for reusable and recyclable materials. The lowest value waste is brought to the Waste-To-Energy Plant where, for the last 20 years, it has been converted to electricity through combustion.

Creating Energy

Being able to bring local garage and objects to the Lee County Resource Recovery Facility changes garbage and our wastes to resources, energy, power and light. Being able to reduce, reuse and recycle local goods and wastes, not only makes our lives sustainable but we are able to give back to the community and the earth. The more resources such as tires, can build up so much energy and bring it back to the county. Being able to reuse resources can not only make our lives healthy, but reduce wastes. If other communities around the country can reuse wastes instead of burning them, we can become sustainable as a whole.

Local Wastes

Being able to enjoy the waste management plant was left as the most interesting trip for last. One thing that was very interesting to learn was not only the entire process but that local people in Lee County have five days to have their trash and wastes to be picked up and for free. I think this is a great way to ensure that people don't find other means of getting rid of things they don't want or need.

Environmental Planning

We visited the Lee County Solid Waste-to-energy plant on our last field trip. This field trip was very informative and surprising to me. We went into a meeting room and were given a presentation about the plant. The presenter went into great detail describing exactly what that plant was NOT, which is an incinerator or "dump". Apparently this is a common misconception that hurts their reputation a great deal. 

When we went inside the facility we were told that there was little to no smell, although I found that turned out to be pretty subjective once we got into the unloading area. We got to see the crane/claw and massive pit area, and then moved through the furnace. After seeing the furnace we got to see the control area and learn what goes on behind the scenes at the facility. I learned that this facility is one of many that is for the most part completely sustainable. 

Resource Center

The Waste Management field trip was not what I expected at all.  I had the mindset of the incinerator instead of a massive power supply.  It was really interesting how much technology went into the process of getting rid of all the waste.  I previously thought that the plant simply got rid of the waste in the most eco-friendly way they could.  I did not know that they actually used the process to create an enormous amount of energy.  I personally think that the state and federal government should be helping and financially supporting waste removal facilities to operate in this same fashion.  It would not only create less pollution from all the waste, but it could also power a large amount of the countries electricity.

Pollution and Ecosystems

Pollution and Ecosystems

Pollution is the presence in or introduction into the environment of a substance or thing that has harmful or poisonous effects. Among the planet is a natural habitat which is the natural home or environment of an animal, plant, or other organism. Local pollution and habitat affects the planet and its ecosystem. Ecosystem is a biological community of interacting organisms and their physical environment.

In class we talked about the earth's ecosystem and habitat, and pollution that we experience. An interesting point that was made was that extinction is not a bad thing in every case (helps with diversity). This is similar to how controlled burns help with invasive species and sort of "resetting" a natural habitat. When talking about pollution, the presenting group handed out common household products that create pollution and used these as examples. The group covered bioaccumulation of pollutants which was interesting. That is when cells and therefore entire food chains slowly build up pollutants in their biological systems, eventually moving all the way up the food chain affecting everything. 

The presentations on pollution were really eye-opening.  I knew that pollution was a big deal, but I was unaware that practically everything in my daily life causes some form of pollution.  I think that pollution is tied directly to what the first group presented on: population.  There are simply too many people who produce too much waste for there to be an efficient and convenient way to dispose of it all.  I have learned in my short life so far that humans especially Americans are lazy.  As a species we always try to find the easy way out and that goes for waste disposal too.  We need a cultural change that will help promote that the little extra work it takes to safely dispose of waste and byproducts will have a vast difference on whether or not our species will continue to be able to survive on this planet.

I really enjoyed learning about population and ecosystems in this weeks class. Each presentation approached the differences and affects on the different ecosystems and how everyday  items and habits affect it. Understanding pollution and its affect on our planet helps me understand what I can do to thrive and sustain the future.

Being able to notice what small changes we can do as a whole with household items, habits and lifestyle changes can make a huge difference over time. I have begun to use a wash rag instead of paper towels to clean my sink as well as shower with my significant other to conserve water as well as the water bill. Also being able to start using healthy household items such as DIY sprays/scents and cleaners to protect my furniture as well as what I have been inhaling on my own. I will not be protecting the environment from pollution but my body some inhaling toxins.

The Earth Charter

The Earth Charter

The Earth Charter is an international declaration of fundamental values and principles considered useful by its supporters for building a just, sustainable, and peaceful global society in the 21st century.

The Earth Charter talked about how we should be thankful we have such a great planet to live on and that it is our responsibility to take care of it.  Instead of taking care of it we are destroying it.  The way I look at it is, nearly every neighborhood has that one maybe two houses that their owners just do not take care of at all.  They look horrible and the other neighbors cannot understand how the owners wouldn’t take care of the house they live in, but humanity as a whole is doing exactly that to our home, the Earth.  We constantly pollute and tear up our home, neglecting to take care of it.

The Earth Charter acknowledges principles, ecological integrity, social and economic justice, democracy, nonviolence and peace as well as the way forward. Being able to protect and restore the world one day and one community at a time is the way to sustain and protect the planet. One principle I related to generation values, traditions and long term flourishing to continue generation upon generation. I use at home values and traditions especially along the lines of medicine. Once I would develop cold like symptoms, the doctor was the last resort, so I would keep on family and health traditions such as hot teas, home made honey syrup and chicken soup. Keeping life healthy as well as a healthy lifestyle can protect your body and planet.

The Earth Charter is a set of principles and guidelines that aims to preserve not only our planet's well-being and resources, but our species as well. The Charter lays out a clear set of steps necessary to make everything talked about possible.

I was very surprised that this class period when discussing about Earth Charter because we were able to discussion our earth footprint. My earth footprint was very high, over 4 earths to maintain my current lifestyle since everything I do on a daily basis is an effect on earth. I learned how much I have to change my habits in order for the earth to thrive and improve.