Tuesday, April 12, 2011

spring VEGGIES!

Its spring. So exciting. Especially for a fresh horticulturist. School is a 100% bummer but life isn't. WE FOUND A HOUSE! :) with a massive backyard. sooooo. Big garden. Now I'm excited. :) So I planted some seeds today! I have no idea how big my garden can be. But im planning big i think. I plan to lots directly. :D:D

From right to left-


Broccoli 'Munchkin'
62days
Peas 'Little marvel'
63days
Early crisp hybrid peppers.
75days


Yellow pear shaped tomato
69days
Bonny best heir loom Tomato
55 days
 Balcony charm
120 days


I also got 7 strawberry plants. They feel off the walfart truck. Sooooo. Unknown Var.
And i just threw a few house plants on the desk too!
Finished product!

Also. Internet is good. But take real notes too. That way when we die. there might be some history.

Monday, January 24, 2011

Sorry! What is a hotbed/cold frame???

This might help with understanding my green project.

Summarized by myself.
All information was taken from the Hotbeds and Cold Frames paper. Written by Michael N. Dane and B. Rosie Lerner.


Hotbeds and cold frames are used for extending the growing season of plants in both the spring and the fall. The major difference between the two structure types is the source of heat. A cold frame relies on the sun for its warmth whereas a hotbed uses a secondary heat source as well as the sun (manure, electric, flue-heated, steam or hot water heated). Plant performance in a hotbed is better but more energy is needed after the initial build then a cold frame.

Both frames give a great advantage to the small farm. The same site selection is necessary for both structures. A well drained, south facing out of the wind location, with a water source is crucial. Proper ventilation not only helps plants with fresh air, it keeps the humidity down and disease out. This can be done by opening the frame for increasing times as the season goes on.

When building your cold frame the best method uses at least two sections. One side with good ventilation and one side sealed good from the elements. Different plants/Different stages of the same plants life require different living conditions.

When building your hotbed the most sustainable method is using manure. Dig the inside of your structure down 18”. For drainage the first layer is 4” of gravel and then fill the rest in with manure (go to about 1”above the ground level). Because you seed directly in the soil (not in pots) you will then add soil high in organics for your top growing mix. A chemical reaction happens between warmer temperatures, water and the manure to create a secondary heat source. Keep an eye on the temperatures with a few thermostats and not allowing it to go out of the 18-25°C range. Nights may require a straw mat (insulation) to keep the temperatures high.

Never think that anything can only be used for one purpose. Growing cool season crops in the fall is a great idea. Another good winter vegetable storage for apples, turnips, beets, carrots, ect is a cold frame.












ALSO! This is my orginial pitch for my hotbed idea.


This is step 1. I'm going to try this this winter as my "Green Project" at school.

  1. Pick a crop you want to specialize in
  2. What type of greenhouse/coldframe structure would you use to propagate/grow your crop
  3. Identify the growing conditions your crop requires and how it correlates to your chosen structure
  4. List the various components of your structure and how they function



1) Crops to specialize in: Arugula, Chard, Kale, Lettuce, Mustard, Spinach, Mesclun mix, Cress, ect

2) A hotbed would be the most functional structure for growing any of the salad greens during the winter months. Temperatures don’t need to be nearly as high as for other crops because salad greens are cool season plants. Using manure as a heating medium should do for the entirety of the winter. Propagation is not necessary for these crops. All of them can be directly seeded in intervals to give a continual supply.

3) All of the crops chosen are cool season crops, usually grown in spring and fall in Nova Scotia. If you are looking for a sustainable lifestyle or a way to prolong your crops for sale you want to be able to produce in the winter. These crops are unable to be grown in the summer. Using a hotbed during the winter months would give the grower the ability to grow greens for 3 of the seasons making your home or business more profitable. Light levels are lower during the winter months thus giving less of a yield but face the hotbed south and you will still have enough light to allow the plant to grow.

4) Hotbeds can be as expensive or inexpensive as you wish. I’m going to profile a hotbed that would be inexpensive to make and still profitable. Building a box with a top that opens is key. You want to the structure to allow as much light in as possible without allowing the valuable heat to leave. You can use plastic, glass, or fiberglass. You also want to structure on a slight downwards slope to give yourself good drainage and maximum solar absorption. Having a wind block (hedge, build your structure off of a building, ect) to the north is also good to help cut down on the cold winter winds. You want to use every source of energy you can so building your structure into the ground a little ways is a good idea to help with insulation. You can use different methods to heat your hotbed during the winter months: Oil-heating cables or steam-carrying pipes are a more expensive method but your results will be better. Fresh manure buried beneath the rooting zones of the plants is an organic method using products we already have. Keeping the manure moist will allow a chemical reaction to happen producing heat. Both of these methods work hand in hand with solar energy.

Chris Gillespie

Green project 2nd Semester :)

So it was Thursday last week (January 13th i guess) and It was start day for my green project. My green project is a semester long piece of work where i have a question and i must preform an experiment to prove or disprove this question (to the best of my ability). In first year we also had a green project where i did my research on CSA's (community supported agriculture). Maybe soon ill do a post of some of my work on that... well this semester I'm doing it on Hotbeds. I have decided to  keep my blog updated with updates to help me along the way ahhahaha and to keep you updated (i don't think theirs anyone ahah).

On Thursday i started by digging my hole (thats a good thing it is -19 today aha). I wanted to do it before the ground freezes because my goal in this project (unlike other/most NSCC projects) is to keep it as low impact and as close to home as possible, so i didn't want to use a excavator My hole is 7'x5' and 18-20" deep. I will be building my cold frame structure to fit inside the hole.

heres a picture or two to prove we did something..

PS Thanks a million Kenneth. i found out his favorite thing to do is dig holes.
PPS Thank you to the beautiful ladies who came and gave us a much needed smoke break/moral support




This is picture one. I will compare all pictures to this one to mark my progress.


Break time 1/5 of the way done. Yup.



Soil face
Victory

ahhhahah

Wednesday, January 12, 2011

nofarmsnofood.ca

Right now we are fighting for our farmland. They are trying to convert it into development projects (suburbs) Multiple farms. Multiple Locations. This one in particular 380 acres.

THIS IS HOW IT STARTS. help fight for the land. Buy Land. keep it a farm.

- Chris


Taken from my newsletter via email

www.nofarmsnofood.ca

Dear Friends of Farmland,
The Kings County Council is set to approve a Comprehensive Development District for East Greenwich.  The community is opposed, the Kings County planners are opposed.
Have your last say to Kings County Councillors --- don’t give Council an opening to say: “The people don’t care.”
You can be part of the effort to have ONE councillor change his or her mind.  If this happens he or she will SAVE OUR SOILS.  We only need one councillor to vote against the recommended development.
What can you do to make this happen?  Do one or all of the options below.
1.        Send an email that states in your own words your feelings and position in relation to the potential loss of over 380 acres of prime farmland in East Greenwich to urban sprawl.  

This email should be sent to Warden Brothers ASAP.  councillor.brothers@county.kings.ns.ca
You must note that you want your email of opposition to be included in the record of the Public Hearing.  And you must include your mailing address in the email.  Emails from Kings County and beyond all count.  We are all Nova Scotians.  We are all residents of Canada.  This is our soil Council holds in its hands. 

The 2 key points to make are:
·      “I oppose the approval of a Comprehensive Development District in Greenwich as recommended to the Kings County Council.”
·      “I support stronger protection of agricultural lands in Kings County”

2.       Once you have your letter sent... Mark your calendar to attend the Public Hearing.

Date: Monday, January 17, 2011.  Time 5PM. 
Place: 87 Cornwallis Street, Council Chambers, Kentville.

You’ll have the opportunity to speak.  Don’t waste it.  Usually Council will schedule a second night to hear members of the public when there isn’t enough time for everyone to make it to the podium.  But this Council has decided a second night won’t be scheduled. 

One night. 

One chance to go to the podium and say:  “I am here to oppose the development of farmland and I want you to vote NO to the Comprehensive Development District proposed to Greenwich.  I want my opposition recorded in the minutes of this meeting.”  Write it on a piece of paper --- if you can’t say it --- pass it in to the Municipal Clerk --- include your name and civic address.

Sunday, January 9, 2011

Its been a great weekend :)

It’s late right now. Almost 11pm. I’m listening to Everclear and going to do a BIT if writing. Mostly just about what I did this weekend. I`m going to write a blog on censorship I think next it just requires more brain power. Serious thoughts (unlike this one) Friday was a bar kind of night. That’s been pretty uncommon for me these days. There was just a few of us and we went to doolys HA. It was fun. We played some pool. I went home drunk. (This is so not exciting. Enough about the bar!)

Yesterday my friends came down from Halifax! It was swell. It’s a nice feeling having them come down. See the issue is that when I go to town I am such a bum. I know no one really has any issues with it but every time it’s the same thing. "Can I crash on your couch? Mind if Harley crashes too?! ect. So when everyone gets to come down here I really enjoy myself. Also I think more fun can be had. Although there is less of ability for people (everyone) to come down we get to do a lot of talking, with most times us going out for a walk :) and we did. I think I fought Shawn and Jason. I few times... Also I love when people come down because dogs follow sometimes. There was snow, beers, the moon and dogs. Skit and Willow were both here and after they all left today, Harley has been sleeping non-stop. :):)

We went to the ravine today. Not everyone. Just a few who decided to stay. there was a lot of snow so I can understand the rush for some to get home but man it was wild. This storm came a few weeks ago and the trees took a real hit in there. 200+ year old trees, fallen to the sharp winds that ripped the forest. keep out signs and almost a foot of snow still didn`t stop us We hiked it, dogs and us all loved it. :)

heres us. Woods Punx

Thursday, January 6, 2011

Harley!

For my friend Krista. A picture of Harley. <3

A new day, A new blog

January 6, 2011

Listening too: La Dispute
Location: Fucking Library

So today I start my blog. I think it will be a great way to not only gather my thoughts but to remember things like the weather, exciting things I have done, jobs I have worked, friend I spend time with things I do in school and whatever else I feel the need to type. My dad has started to focus on writing so maybe it’s in my blood…?

ALSO MY THOUGHTS ARE RANDOM SO THIS BLOG WILL BE ASWELL.
Also. My English is bad and so is my sentence structure. Get over it

It’s the Second day of school. Slow start (it always is) but man do I ever love it here. I feel like when I am done school that I will need to fill the void with… More School HA. Who would have ever guessed? This semester is going to be great. We have our final “Green project” and I think I plan on focusing on hot beds. It’s not just something that interests me but something that I can potentially use to help me grow in the future. I will definitely be writing more about that in the future. Lpm (Landscape Plant Materials) this semester is also going to be great. I just had my first class and instead of doing the whole memorization thing this year it will be more of how to apply the identification skills we have learned and put the plants in the right spots. My kind of learning. My class continues to get smaller. This semester our class went from 6 to 5. Man it’s almost nice. I am going to miss my friend but with a smaller class it is easier for me to learn.

I went and spent New Year’s with my new friend story. She is doing what I want to be doing. I feel like I am a few years behind and that is very hard for me. I have always been one of those people who an impulse buys. When I have an idea it is very hard for me to not act on it (immediately). Her house is at the front of a 60 acre lot with mostly woods. She has two friends who she also has let build a home on her land and it’s SLOWLY turning into a community. She wants me to move there. It might be smart right? Instead of starting from scratch, I get land (my own) close to hers and just add on to what is already a growing future. But then on the other had it would be nice to be close to my friends who will want/need me in the future. My life has always been in Nova Scotia. Do I move…?

My whole life it felt like time went by too slow. Everything I was doing it was for the wrong reasons so I think time just was there for the ride. Now I have goals, ambitions, a work load that doesn’t get any smaller, a girlfriend who is awesome (who doesn’t live in my town), a dog, major fear internally and I’m sure a lot more I can’t think of that is forcing time in a speedy direction. All the while I feel like I am having more fun than ever. I am experiencing Nova Scotia like never before. From a scientific and natural perspective. I am met so many amazing people here in Kentville. Kenneth, Lindsay, John, Catherine, Howie, Eric, you are all amazing people. I feel so lucky to have met all of you.

To end day one on a good note. I love Nova Scotia, I love my friends, my dog, I love Nature, and I love Life.