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)