Week 14: Final Poster Preparations

During last class period, Wednesday, December 02, 2009, we brainstormed ideas about the whole semester and we discussed ways to improve the project for similar classes in the future. On the other hand, we went over the final poster presentation, made some exciting alterations and divided the responsibilities among the classmates. Cori presented her diagram to the class and we liked it with minor alterations (such as adding an extra pathway). Dr. Segal is very optimistic upon all these changes and he is expecting a great presentation of the final project next class period! Dr. Kelly, the director of the Honors Program at Florida Gulf Coast University, might be present during our presentation.

I cannot believe this is the end of the semester already! Time flew so fast. It was a great class, and we all definitely learned a lot from it. It changed the way we view, value and appreciate nature and the environment. We learned a very powerful tool to carry with us in our lives: How to grow our own food!

Good luck in the poster presentation everyone =) 

Leia Mais…

Week 13: Energy Plant Fieldtrip

As we arrived at the Covanta Energy plant, we knew that it was going to be an interesting field-trip! We drove through the gates and saw all the garbage trucks going by. However, it didn't have any stench to it, and our group was quite perplexed. Growing up on the East Coast, all we know of is "Mount Trashmores", so we were intrigued to learn!

We all piled into the conference room and learned many useful facts about the Covanta Energy plant. Our presenter was very informative about the resources the plant had to offer. We learned that incinerators are not the proper term used for the process that occurs! The energy plant uses the 4 r's; reduce, reuse, recycle and recovery. Recovery is an R that most people aren't aware of; but in this plant it is fully employed.

Shown below is the huge mountain of trash that eventually falls down into a shoot and burns to 1200 degrees Fahrenheit. There are so many different components that make up the system; and the most important part of the entire system is its' innovative nature. The engineering behind this plant is genius; it turns waste into energy. It may only power a small amount of houses, but instead of releasing methane into the air; it turns it into something more efficient; electricity.

The mass of the all the various structures was so enormous it was overwhelming! I wouldnt want to be stuck in the middle of this!

 

 

 

 

Shown above is the place where our hypothetical permaculture garden is going to be implemented!

Leia Mais…

Week 11: Permaculature Video

This week, we were watching another interesting video on permaculture. Sadly, two of our group members were absent.

Permaculture begins with ethics; people are central in the way permaculture is designed. It encompasses Earth care and animal care and creates absolute abundance. Its goal is to create a sustainable system, which is enough in surplus to maintain its components for its lifetime. The example of most sustainable system is the Sun. It is the most important source of energy!

We also learned about importance of diversity in nature, which links stability, fertility and productivity.

We also learned about different zones:
Zone 1 is the closest to the house and has the most density and most use.
Zone 2 is larger and broader. It has less elements and needs vague maintenance. Zone 2 is where the main crop garden is located.
Zone 3  contains grazing animals, swales and rough mulches.
Zone 4 is forestry
Zone 5 is wilderness where we can sustainably gather and hunt.




This is a small illustration for Zone 0, 1, 2 surrounding a house:

In the video, Geoff Lawton talked about patterns in nature. Patterns evolve to harmonize with Nature thus serve as a guide for us on how to harmonize with Nature.

Climate factors also must be considered with designing the  food forest.
There are three major climates:
1. Temperate zone
2. Tropical zone
3. Arid zone

We do not have a class Wednesday November the 11th and we are looking forward for our next field trip next week.

Good luck planting your garden!

Leia Mais…

Week 10: Field Trip to Fort Myers Beach

This week our plants database files were due and we had a field trip to Fort Myers Beach Historic Cottage and Matanzas Pass Preserve. We first went to Historic Cottage which was moved there in 1930s. We were given a brief history of Fort Myers beach and we enjoyed some treats by a wonderful lady! :)

 

Then we went to Matanzas Pass Preserve.

Our assignment was to find and identify twelve plants, including white, red and black mangroves.

Different mangrove species protect and stabilize low lying coastal lands. Mangroves serve as feeding, breeding, and nursery grounds for a variety of fish, shellfish, birds, and other wildlife.

 

 

 

 

 

                                               Black Mangrove - Avicennia germinans

 

Red Mangrove - Rhizophora mangle

Sabal Palmetto Palm Tree

Brazillian Pepper

More red mangrove and their roots

Crab

 

 

 

Sable Palmetto

 

Species identified: Homo Sapian (Alex)

Mangroves are also pivotal in an ecosystem's biodiversity. They are important for erosion and have many different creatures residing in them!

Beautiful scenery:

Unknown fish!

We also learned alot about mullets and their history in Fort Myers Beach. In the 1930's up until very recently, mullet were quite abundant in numbers and were caught in cotton nets. Mullet fishing was quite a valuable trade, and brought in much economic revenue. However, through lobbyist parties the nets were banned which caused a downturn in the mullet frenzy. Also, overfishing caused a decline in the numbers of mullet as well.

We also learned about oysters and their critical importance in water restoration. They can purify ridiculous amounts of water, which is why there is an oyster restoration project currently ongoing in the Estero River. Not only are they good for water restoration, but they are allegedly yummy to eat too!

Leia Mais…

Week 9 : Establishing the Food Forest

This week's class was very interesting and informative. After going over most of Gaia's Garden chapters, it is finally the time to actually see how a permaculture garden is designed and built. What we learned from the readings is crucial to understand the basics of growing a permaculture garden. However, watching in real stories how that garden was created and be able to follow its progress was very motivating and touched us on a different level!

Last Wednesday (October the 21th, 2009), we watched numerous videos on permaculture gardens by Geoff Lawton, an Australian permaculturist internationally famous for growing the most productive food forests in the most arid places on earth, such as next to the dead sea and in the desserts.
This video below shows a quick summery for one of the great movies watched in class!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bWayqR9RRys

Lawton showed us the easy steps to follow is order to get the perfect garden. Soil is the base for a good garden. First, the ground has to be covered by mulch, and left to decompose for few month. Then, the seeds of a fast growing summer nitrogen plant and a winter one are added, in order to fix nitrogen and add it to the soil.  We learned the use of chop and drop mulching for N-fixing plants. A ground cover such as sweet potatoes are grown to prevent grass from growing. Little shrubs will start emerging, will N-fixing are still added. And finally, the soil is rich enough to provide the nutrients needed by a fruit tree. In a permaculture garden, nothing is lost, all is transformed to another usable form, essential for the growth for another species. For example, wood obtained from dead trees will be decomposed by mushrooms, fungus, bacteria, soil organisms, back into organic material. No added fertilizers are needed to be used in such a self sustaining system.

Conservation of water is very important in a permaculture garden. Rain water is collected in swales and ponds, and the water is then passively being absorbed by the soil. Minimum human effort is needed compared to other irrigation systems in traditional agriculture.

If the right steps were followed, the final results might be shocking =) The plants grown will be nutritious, healthy, and help us save thousands of dollars.

On the other hand, I went back Friday, October the 23rd, to ECHO, in order to get more information about the N-fixing plants for our database project. Larry was extremely helpful and he provided me with very important information. I got the chance to eat the best tangerine in my life, my first star fruit, save a lot of seeds, buy amazing jam and honey, and got beaten by plenty of aunts.

Looking forward for our next field trip =) - Maria

This week we watched permaculture videos.

     The video was called "Establishing the Food Forest" and featured Geoff Lawton an Australian permaculturist who  has become internationally recognized as a a creator, even in the most unpromising ecosystems, of food forests and abundant, productive landscapes.
     The video was very educational and showed stages of creating food forest, starting with planting groundcovers and legumes. Starting with cowpea which is a summer legume, a cover crop and innoculant. Then the fast short lived trees are planted such as a nitrogen fixing  Leucaena tree which will provide shelter for small fruit trees and later will be used as mulch.

     We also learned about importance of the fungi in the forest garden. Fungi are the mouth of the soil, they transfer wood into the soil and are important part in creating rich dark soil in the food forest.
      The video also showed implementation of animals in creating food forest such as chickens, that would dig up the soil and fertilize the soil. Or whenever the garden has snail problem we would call it " lizard deficiency" or " duck deficiency".
       The video made a point that swales are an important part of designing and creating a food forest.

        In the forest garden, all thats needed is already there. 
-Alex

Week 9 of colloquium and each day is a day closer until our dream is going to be accomplished! Now with all the right techniques learned, our implementation is feasible. In only 9 weeks of one class, my outlook on a variety of things has changed drastically. One of them is concerning vaccines, which I had never previously given much thought to. It was brought up in discussion the flaws of the vaccine, and I am completely against taking any vaccines now, if I don’t “NEED” them. One of our classmates Crystal, received the H1N1 vaccine, and was extremely sick the following day after receiving it. The H1N1 vaccine was just recently released without much testing, and I am wary of its effectiveness. I strongly believe that the vaccine was developed without much testing to make billions of dollars for the pharmaceutical companies. In this class session we watched a variety of different videos pertaining to permaculture. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tyaVxYYVfQE

The most interesting video in my opinion was the 2,000-year-old food forest in Morocco.  I’ve found that since this class has begun I have looked at plants quite differently. Instead of just viewing them as something aesthetical, I view them as having multiple uses and attributing much value to them. I know this may sound weird, but I have always wondered why our society values animals lives (which I do as well) but not the lives of plants or trees, which are of equal if not greater value.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hftgWcD-1Nw

Technically, by the laws of science, trees and plants are alive as well and are under the same category of eukaryotes. I also truly enjoyed learning about fungi because I have studied the various structures of fungi, and it was interesting seeing how important it is in an ecosystem. They are a crucial part to the vitality of the soil, which is a huge link to the success of various plants in a permaculture garden.

The database project is almost complete as well, and I have found it very interesting to learn about the various herbs I use on a normal basis. Some of the herbs and spices I have done research on, I was completely unaware of their multiple purposes which varied from food to medicinal purposes.

-Rebecca

Leia Mais…