Blog 10 - Interview 2 Reflection

The entrance to Pomona College's Organic Farm, with the farm's toolshed of general supplies in the colorful hut to the left and a new compost pile behind it

1. Please explain how you are spending your mentorship time (Is it at a workplace or somewhere else?  Are you shadowing?  Are you able to do tasks that are meaningfully related to the topic?  If so, what?  Are there other people who are experts in the location?  Etc...)

- My workplace is a farm, with two sectors wherein there lie rows of crops in earlier stages of development and fruit trees with multiple years of seniority.  Through my mentorship with its manager, Scott Fleeman, I can volunteer with whatever work he tends to on the grounds, with other volunteers, college students and random Claremont residents alike, helping out as well.  In this way, the location of my mentorship is laid back and gives me the freedom and direction with which to shadow an urban farmer in his natural habitat - and analyze his impact on a community -, and learn from his techniques that can be applied to truly any plot of land in Southern California.  There are human wealths of information in the form of farm hands on duty other than Scott though, with one of them being Sam, an elderly gentleman who maintains a (an aspiring) French Intensive garden on the Eastern realm of the farm.  This secondary unofficial mentor of mine is quite proud of his sprouting produce, especially his vibrantly colored and scarily spiced chili pequins, and so getting him to passionately talk about urban farming and his involvement in the idea is a minor feat.

2.  How did you find your mentor?  How did you convince this person to help you?

- My sister attends Pomona College, and I have known of the existence of an organic farm on the college’s campus for about a year, volunteering there with her in the past.  Back then, I really did not know its significance, but after drawing up my plans for senior project, I right away realized its potential to the community and more excitedly my project.  I simply researched the farm’s website, and found the means by which to email the manager - the highest position held on the grassroots site - with a plea for farming enlightenment.  I immediately heard back from Scott wherein his first note on the project’s topic was that he was glad I was interested in urban agriculture.  The beginning of a professionally collaborative relationship thus began.  

3. How would you rate your comfort level with your mentor at this point in your relationship?  How does this relate to the time you've spent so far at mentorship/with this person

- Due to the fact that I have spent around 5 Saturdays working on the farm closely shadowing Scott and his directives through the completion of 2 hour long tasks that account for substantial farm maintenance, I have developed a rewarding rapport with my mentor and the coworkers he calls his friends.  Seeing how dedicated I am to every task he assigns me, ranging from seeding garlic chive for the proliferation of a handy seed bank to trimming an antique, staple Mulberry tree in anticipation for a farm gala, Scott, I suppose and hope, has deemed me trustworthy and a padawan whom to train with no abandonment to be expected.  The evidence for such two-way comfort, as worked with by the mentor and the mentee, include Scott mentioning my project to most everyone he comes in contact with and he willingly meeting with to sign a form I had forgotten to have him sign in regards to a lengthy interview.

4. What went well in this interview?  Why do you think so?  What do you still need to improve?  How do you know?  How will you go about it?

- The interview mirrored that of a conversation, this being likely description of the interview by how much information I was able to gather from lengthy answers to each of my questions.  Scott was willing to provide the material I needed to further explore my topic before I focus on a concrete, sound essential question, and I would like to think this was due to the open-ended fashion of my questions, meaning they couldn’t be answered through simply worded phrases.  I do still need to improve on my follow-up questions though, which I lack to think of after a primary question is answered.

Link to recorded second interview with Scott - 
https://soundcloud.com/robert-machuca-1/pomona-college-farm-interview-2

Blog 9 - Advisory Prep 3

This photo shows an urban garden in the backyard of a Pasadena home; the lot belongs to a coworker of my dad's

We'll have a house discussion in place of a research check this Friday to check in on how things are going.

1. State whether or not you currently have a mentor, and what the status of your interview is with that person (I have completed the interview, I have scheduled the interview, I have not scheduled the interview, etc).

- Thankfully, I have found a second mentor with whom I hope to work with till the end of senior project arrives.  This mentor of mine is named Scott Fleeman and, as mentioned in an earlier blog, he is the manager of Pomona College Organic Farm.  Converting from a possibility into where I am engrossed in every Saturday, the farm has enabled and will continue to enable my exposure to farm management and farm strategy when it comes to providing the material for sale with the idea of urban farming.  In this way, I have two mentors addressing and stimulating my understanding of the economic and literal implications of my topic, and the anatomy of its process (assembly line) from germination to community involvement and onward towards sustainable shopping.  As of now, I have completed my second interview with my current primary farm hand mentor this past Monday at 2 PM (as he voraciously chewed a citrus of some sort).

2. At this point, your research is probably guiding your studies toward more specific areas within your topic.  Name the area or two you find most promising and explain your reasons.   

- The areas of future study I find most relevant to my topic are those of community engagement (and how this movement can influence politics in the name of food security and shifts towards societal sustainability) and the science of proper soil management when farming for the trend.  It seems both add complexity to a rather simple topic (transforming grayspace into productive greenspace through the growing of produce in city environment) by being able to relate urban farming to multidimensional benefits residing in  local food sourcing and the combat against climate change.

3. What kinds of sources do you think will help you in the next month to gain more research depth?  Where will you go to get them?

- To delve deeper into the science of proper soil treatment when farming, I will continue to read the book “Grass, Soil, Hope” by Courtney White and to analyze the effects of urban farming on a given community, I will look into victory gardens established as community gardens in America during its home front effort in World War II.  To supplement this P.O.V. from the past, I will continue to read the modern-day style of the novel “Farm City”, Novella Carpenter.

4. Write down a possible EQ.  Please don't worry about wording other than ensuring that it provides the option for multiple correct answers.  At this point, the senior team is most interested in understanding your thought process.

→ What are the ways in which urban farming can make effective its definition to a food system?

Blog 8: Independent Component 1 Proposal (Revised December 17, 2015)

This picture shows my shadow over a plot of garden I tended with Elephant Garlic (fist-sized and mild in flavor) at Pomona College's Organic Farm...it has been covered with uprooted herbs to maintain moisture in the drought stricken soil and has been labeled as now belonging to the 'holiday bulb'

At Pomona College's Organic Farm, closely knit students and farmers alike plant garlic cloves for winter tending (they shall sprout after 9 months)...this last time I went to the farm, I made many new college friends and met my mentor who hails from UC Santa Barbara

To get your idea for Independent Component One approved now, please answer the following questions:

1.  Describe in detail what you plan to do for your 30 hours.

I am planning to till the soil of and plant a garden in my backyard, relaying the information I have gathered at Pomona College's Organic Farm to my mother - as she acts as a sort of apprentice in my efforts. In this way, it is important to note that I am planning to make my own soil, using worm dung, and compost to make a nutrient rich, carbon trapping patch of dirt.  The produce grown will be seasonal and shall reflect vegetables/herbs/fruits that can be easily be grown in abundance for a family of three - seeing how this homegrown bath of produce affects household costs and the nearby environment. (ie. potatoes, white sage). What's more is that the soil I am beginning my venture with is unhealthy due to paint being splattered on its surface and little to no water reaching a great depth. In addition, the soil is compact and devoid of any plant life, so resurfacing its potential for growth/abundance as described in the book "Grass, Soil, Hope" will be my primary responsibility.
My learning will be further extended by the counterpart to my idea for independent component one: making a self-contained aquaponics urban farm.  This endeavor will take place at my home, where my mom and I will play the part of everyday citizens in the city of Pasadena - which we accurately are -   wanting to eat from land that is ours.  Delving into both forms of urban farming - one based in soil and the other conveniently managed by recycled water and fish - will let me compare their methods as well as cite their similarities as both being solutions to food security and other problems urban farming can easily address.  

2.  Discuss how or what you will do to meet the expectation of showing 30 hours of evidence.  

• During planning of my home garden, I will take plenty of photographs at certain time intervals so that the viewer - the senior team and my classmates - can see how the seeds fared by the time the component shall be due - a sort of time lapse of germination if you will.  My end goal is to be able to provide my house teacher with food grown from seed to stock, in a basket preferably to go along with my theme of self-sufficient small time farming.  Hopefully, she - as well as my mother - will enjoy picnicking on the 'fruits of my labor', and will see as I have seen in my mentorship how satisfying it is to taste freshly picked produce brought into existence a few steps, or miles, away.  My other forms of evidence will include a log by which my family members who wish to help with the work load will sign-in to work the garden in an organized fashion - these logins including times when I teach important lessons in how to maintain the vitality of the garden.  The garden will be the legacy I leave to my family home by being documented extensively and resting as a resource, this being the case expailly after I leave for college.
• My aquaponics garden will be pretty straightforward in providing evidence for how much work it took to design and build by hand.  I will include blueprints and design layouts for the idea in a portfolio along with the actual prototype I will have prepped complete with fish and a flourishing set of plants - as I plan that is.  I also plan to interview my mom unofficially on the process we will have taken in buying and hand making the necessary materials.  Her point of view will be essential in accurately judging my ability in passing on knowledge in what I have learnt.

3.  Explain how what you will be doing will help you explore your topic in more depth.

• By attaching itself so personally to my way of life, my backyard and aquaponics gardens will endure as a area of experimentation for my efforts in understanding how the rungs of farming operate organically and in a city setting.  It will be so enlightening challenging myself with new methods while recycling old ones as I operate in a location I feel comfortable to do so in - exploring my senior topic in the most rugged and risk-free sense.

4.  Update your Senior Project Hours log.

• I have updated my blog thus far in my project.  As the link clearly conveys, I have gotten into a new mentorship at Pomona College’s Organic Urban Farm, where Scott Fleeman - the farm’s manager - is my mentor who shall be teaching me the ropes of planting and gardening in order to maintain a living, established farm essential in providing fresh produce to the Claremont College Consortium on whose campus it stands.  I look forward to spending future Saturday’s on its grounds in conjunction with my mentorship at the Arroyo Food Co-op, it if keeps its doors open having survived its recent financial deficit.  In this way, I am well on my way to comprehensively understanding the steps taken in ensuring the promise of urban farming as having potential to a community (both its people and environment).  
  
  

  

  The end product of urban-based agriculture often invokes the same feeling: pride in being self-sufficient ('Walking Dead' style if you will)
  
  

  
  

Blog 7 - Second Interview Preparation

It will be interesting to see, if the mentorship at the college works out, how being established on a college campus affected and affects the stability of the Pomona College organic farm in its operations 

The Pomona College organic farm stands next to a grassy lawn used for sports and is split into two regions - one with fruit trees and low lying herbs and the other teeming with robust vines and bushes used as herbs and produce...the lot is, from a general point of view, located at the south end of the college campus

1.  Who is your mentor and where do they work?  If their workplace does not reflect their expertise, what makes them an expert?

For my second interview, I shall be interviewing a third mentor of mine - this one hopefully helping me traverse the project till my 1.5 hour presentation next spring.  Unlike my first two mentors at Caltech and the Arroyo Food Co-op, this expert will help me explore the aspect of urban farming concerned with being familiar with farming techniques and measuring a living by the amount of produce self-produced.  Finding one such person at a farm, I will retire from my post as an Arroyo Food Co-op ambassador if the store continues to fare poorly in regards to financial circumstances - as of now, the  Co-op is struggling to stay afloat in their homegrown, community-based vision.  It would be ideal to continue working at a functioning grassroots store so essential to publicizing the idea of urban farming while looking behind-the-scenes at the physical labor put into actually making its shelves stocked.  However, I am expecting to adapt to whatever situation is afforded to me, especially since I have by now fully tapped into the experience and hands-on information (through observation and conversation) available at my two listed mentorships!  

Currently, as I type this post, I am in the process of emailing the head farmer at the organic community farm at Claremont Pomona College - where my sister attends her new college life - to see if he would be willing to mentor me in being more fit - physically and mentally - for this project.  Being that this man has just graduated from UC Santa Barbara with knowledge in biology and general regenerative studies, I feel he is compatible with urban farming as a ‘rising trend’ and a more ‘promising solution’ to many ecological and therefore social issues, like that of food security in a world battling the consequences to climate change.  In the same way the farm manager reflects his recently acquired expertise through his work environment, I hope to take what I have read about in articles for research checks and apply these dreamlike tid bits in continuing the movement towards food sustainability.  If my Pomona contact falls through, I will follow up with the manager at Earthworks Farm, which gives younger generations the opportunity to learn farming techniques from experienced farmers who devote their time to education.  The Farm is unique in allowing each of its ‘students’ manage a farm plot of their own, pulling in big name sponsors to cover costs of the operation.

• Pomona College Farm manager: Scott Fleeman

Scott.Fleeman@pomona.edu

• Earthworks Farm

Senior Farmer (official mentor): Angel Abarca

Program/Development Director: Marianne Zuagg

http://earthworksfarmgarden.org/about-us/staff/

2.  What five (and then some) questions will you ask them about their background?

• What interests growing up most contributed to the fruition of your involvement in urban farming? How do you view your role in bringing urban farming to your community setting? What is your definition of urban farming?
• What struggles have you faced in seeing your ideas come into reality at this workplace of yours? In what ways have these road-blocks stimulated your ambitions? Please detail your ambitions in regards to urban farming.
• How has the community supported you in maintaining the success of your farm? How do you involve the general public in something so against society's reliance on outsourcing?
• Do you relate the idea of urban farming to a trend or a modern-day saving grace? What cause (environmental, economic, etc.) does it most benefit in your opinion, and how can it become more of a staple of ‘everyday life’?
• How has your personal life integrated urban farming into its daily routine? Do you believe urban farming is/has been a keystone of the past or the future?
• What is the prime location of an urban farm and what resources are most needed by a citizen to start one up?
• Which method of urban farming - aquaponic or hydroponic - is most useful? Why? Have you been in contact with either method?
• How does one maximize the potential of an urban farm lot - regardless of its size in acrage?

→ If Scott is chosen…

• What makes having a farm on a college campus beneficial to the farm/more difficult for the situation?
  
  

Inquiry in pursuit of a diverse set of resources…

• How will the drought in California affect the prominence of urban farming in city-communities?
• Who has been your inspiration in your pursuit of urban farming? Where do you plan to continue your career? What career path interests you as of now?

Earthworks Farm is located in El Monte and has been bent on educating the public on how to re-connect with techniques that human ancestors used for sustenance (placing seeds in soil and watching them grow and produce edibles)

It seems that Savodaya Farms is out of the picture for learning the hands-on aspect of urban farming, giving that its farmer training program - a way to most utilize the farm's resources for my mentorship - takes place on weekdays during morning hours - when I must farm grades at school