Under The Rug

This past summer, I was given the opportunity to redesign the dining hall at CSJ. It was a blast to put on my architect hat for a bit. I will have to gather up before + after photos of the space for another post. 

** But for this post, let's go back outside and see how I used the old carpeting from the dining hall in the garden! **

With the help of some Provider Program scholars, I laid out the rolls of old (10 years +) carpeting to cover and kill the grass beneath - the 'no till/reuse/make-do way'! The carpet sat for about 4 weeks, getting rained on, and sunned on, collecting grass clippings, attracting various critters - smelling pretty gross, actually... 
Meanwhile, underneath the carpet, worms and bugs and microbes were doing wonderful things as the grass (starved of sunlight and rain) died. 

When we rolled back the carpet, I was delighted to see bare earth, bugs, and WORM CASTINGS (see tracks?!). 

I quickly mulched the patch with bark mulch from the maintenance crew to keep the fresh earth out of sunlight. The next step is to apply lime (the bark is acidic and so is the soil) then compost, then let it rest all winter for spring planting!

1...2...3... Harvest!

I have already had THREE harvests from the Provider Patch. 
Last Friday was the first - the overnight low was 36, but the tender little greens were perky and ready for pickin' by 730. The dining hall got 4 lbs of mesclun - which, reports showed, were gobbled up by enthusiastic professors and students, alike! 
3 1/2 more pounds were picked this past Monday, and 5 pounds today... Although on Monday I was in shorts and a T-shirt (as opposed to a winter hat + a hoodie!) and today required a full rain suit... I LOVE my work :o)

I also snagged some radishes from the ground and walked around campus offering them to students and staff as a way to advertise the farm... what colorful, tasty, fun snacks!

piles of pallets - piles of compost

Over the past two weeks, I collected pallets from various sources (and had help from a very nice - albeit flirtatious -  Veteran at the dump!)

With help from some students last Friday, some of those pallets were deconstructed then re-constructed into a compost bin!

Don't worry, that little pile is going to grow BIG once we start composting in the dining hall. And to aid in that effort, I designed a couple of posters:

August re-cap

I did claim on July 7th that I was "back at it"... and I am!!! I will try to catch up to the present - a LOT has changed. 

As stated, Pat and I surveyed the land in early July:

Then, in early August, I had two groups of youth volunteers come out to help get things started!

We cleared away sod from two already bare spots (two big pines once stood in these spots), then we layed out cardboard and compost to start building beds. Paths of mulch and beds of compost were built bucket by bucket. The circles are 30' in diameter totaling 1,400 square feet of growing space! We do have a deer and crow population that is quite curious (and destructive) so that 'farmonista' fencing is coming in handy.

Seeds were planted (as were seedlings from my fabulous farming friends, Radical Roots)

carrots and chives in the center bed

It has been a very busy month... rains came, and the sun shined and seeds sprouted (I can't find my pictures of sprouts right now, but trust me, seeds sprouted!) I am actually going to harvest (HARVEST!!!!) next week. I will be sure to catch that on my phone's camera :o)

five-month foot

There have been requests to update my foot photos (after my bunionectomy and osteotomy in February) so I grabbed my camera this morning and snapped a couple:

Pardon the chipped polish... I've been swimming and biking a lot lately (hooray!). That also explains why my second toe is a bit swollen this morning - 7am spinning class.

I am very pleased with my progress and healing. I have had a couple of 'ouch' days... Monday's 15-mile bike ride (after 7am spinning, mind you) found me climbing a hill that my foot did not like. But I finished the ride and propped it up when I got home and all is well. Here is a recap of before and during pics:

Arch-riculture

A friend of mine just sent this article to me. A Philadelphia firm, that I once knew, designed a milking + teaching barn for Cornell... pretty great stuff!

Fun With Fencing

As many of you know, and as I just mentioned in the "back at it" post, I have been working with the College of St Joseph to get a farm started on campus! With limited resources of various natures (labor + money being the foremost), I have to be keen and scrappy - two important farming skills!

So, last week I headed out to collect some old fencing from a house near the school. Equipped with my trusty Ford F150, a good pair of gloves, and a healthy breakfast, I was able to load the fencing into the bed and haul it to the farm all by myself! One thing I didn't have with me, however, was flagging... though it was a short drive, I was still concerned about the fencing hanging out of the back of the truck bed. 

Luckily, I did have a TJMaxx bag in the cab - red as red can be! So, now you can consider this fashionista's must-have a farmonista's must-have!