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…

Week 8 Reflection; Building a food forest!

This week in our class our group learned various things which ranged from growing a garden in the city and about the different layers of a food forest. Many discussion questions were asked, and they spurred much intellectual thought. One of the questions posed was; Why do you think Americans haven't caught on to this "food forest" trend which has been existing in other countries for centuries. I found that answer to spur many thoughts, and I believe the main reason is because of our ignorance (not necessarily a bad thing) to the concept. It had never even occurred to me prior to taking this class to grow my own food, but now it seems quite logical.  Not only does it decrease our reliance on a poor agriculture system, but it enables a healthier life style overall. In my personal opinion, I do not think our bureaucracy enables this way of thinking to trickle down into the populations. I know that sounds like brainwashing, but I don't think our agriculture system is our main focus at point in time. However, if we all took a step back, we may realize that our failing agriculture system has something to do with this downfall in the economy. Not only does permaculture assist in growing food more efficiently, but it alters your way of thinking in many different aspects. At the end of the class one of our classmates decided to actually bring what we read about to life- we got to plant several herbs. It was a rewarding experience, a bit messy, but overall extremely interesting. We will post pictures of our growing herbs as they sprout!

Leia Mais…

Week 7 Reflection

 This week we went on a fieldtrip to Calusa Nature Center.
http://www.calusanature.com/
When we arrived we got to see the Florida's native animals and insects. The Gofer
tortoises, snakes and even a baby alligator! Then we went to the planetarium where we
watched a movie about telescopes and galaxies. The room where they showed the movie was in the shape of a dome and the walls were completely white creating an illusion of being in space ship. 

It was truly a great experience! 

 

Of course we had to make it look like we are going to space!

~Super Alex~

Then we walked on a trail around the preserve. The guide introduced us to many Florida's
native plants and their purposes. For example, the palms and plamettos that at the
beginning stages of their growth look alike except for the sharp peak in the leaf in the
palm and no peak in palmetto ( refer to pictures in the folder). At the end of the trip
we got to see some amazing animals. They are wild animals who were previously injured
and weren't able to live in the wild.The weather was very hot and mosquitos were
annoying, despite all that we had fun.  



The first encounter we had with the Calusa Nature Center was two turtles "copulating." We're all adults here, but then in the insect room there was grasshoppers performing the same actions. Must be something in the air 

 

We always hear about alligators at our campus and their vitality to the biodiversity throughout our environment. These alligators are pretty big if you ask me!

In our nature walk we walked through various highlands and low-lands. The different areas possess different qualities varying in moisture and other characteristics. Below is a photograph of a cypress tree which has a wide base and thrives well in moist environments. Therefore, if there is one in your backyard, beware of mosquitos!!

 

There is a peak in this plant, so this is the palm.

 

Conserving water is very important! 

 

At the end of the day-girls just want to have fun!!

 

See you in the field trip =)

Leia Mais…

Week 6 Reflection

In this week’s class we discussed chapters 5-8 of of the book Gaia’s Garden.  We learned
about  the Nature’s key elements in maintaining its garden and how those elements work
together.  We discussed strategies  that will help the garden survive drought and wet
periods through better drainage, storing rain water for future use, and putting water
where it is needed the most. Also I learned that soap water is actually good for plants
because of the nutrients that plants can use. In the next chapter we discussed the
multipurpose plants such as soil fumigators, pest repellents, fortress plants, spike
roots and shelter builders.  We also talked about animals’ role as decomposers in the
nature’s garden. Garden must have predators, parasitic insects, pollinators and weed
feeders. And finally we talked about communities for the garden and guilds that can be
created within garden. Polycultures are very useful because they are dynamic and
self-organizing. The more diversity in the system, the more resiliency in the system. 

Leia Mais…

Week 6 Entry

During last class period, we went over chapters 5, 6, 7 and 8 from Gaia’s Garden book. All the presentations were very interesting and we learned from them some valuable ideas which we can incorporate in our permaculture design.

Chapter 5 discussed “Catching, Conserving and Using Water”. Throughout this chapter, he explained how much a rich soil is important in capturing and storing our precious water. He also added the role of swales, pond and lakes (artificial and natural ones).

Chapter 6 discussed “Plants with many uses”. For example, a tree can be used to provide a shaded area, create cool air breezes, increase oxygen level, create organic material ready to be usable for other organisms, attracts various animals resulting in fertilizing the soil, erosion-control system, etc.

Chapter 7 discussed “Bees, Birds, and Other Helpful Animals” and ways to attract them. It explained some of the benefits of having animals in our permaculture design such as to fertilize, pollinate, disperse, eat pests, provide food, and circulate nutrients… The chapter also mentioned how a balance between predators and prey is a requirement for a thriving ecosystem.

Chapter 8 discussed how to create communities for the garden, and stressed on the importance of having a polyculture rather than a monoculture to prevent disease or pests than we destroy vast amount of one crop.

Please stay tune for some wonderful photos from our next field trip, Wednesday October the 7^th

Leia Mais…