{"id":3847,"date":"2017-10-29T21:42:53","date_gmt":"2017-10-30T01:42:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/experimentalstudio.ca\/outdoorschool\/?p=3847"},"modified":"2017-10-29T21:59:35","modified_gmt":"2017-10-30T01:59:35","slug":"3847","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/experimentalstudio.ca\/outdoorschool\/2017\/10\/29\/3847\/","title":{"rendered":"Organic Farming’s Most Underrated Task"},"content":{"rendered":"

The University of Guelph is lucky enough to have an amazing, thriving, organic farm right on campus. It is almost completely run by volunteers, and I was lucky enough to get the privilege of working there this fall. Every Thursday, a market is put on by Martha, the woman who runs the farm. As a nutrition major, I wasexcited that I gained a lot of knowledge about organic farming practices, and was even able to get my hands dirty!<\/p>\n

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Some of the beautiful produce that comes from the organic farm<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

During my time at the farm, I worked on the marketing of the foods, harvesting kidney beans, and most often weeding. Before my experience at the farm, I thought of weeding as a trivial, boring task, but by the end of my 10 hours of volunteering I can honestly say that it is one of the most gratifying, meditative practices a gardener can partake in. Weeds can be pesky, and grow back very quickly if they aren\u2019t dealt with properly, so it is very important that the proper technique is used. We were given an entire field to clear, virtually every plant needed to be dug up. With a little bit of instruction from Martha, trial and error, and a great team of volunteers, we conquered the weeds.<\/p>\n

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A whole field of weeds that needed to be cleared<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

We started by all putting on a sturdy, thick pair of leather gloves and closed toed shoes to protect us from harmful weeds like thistles. Additionally, shovels and hoes should be brought for weeds that are more deeply settled in the ground. Once you have all the necessary supplies, you can begin your weeding! The technique is actually quite important, as the weed can continue to grow unless all of it is taken out of the ground (including the roots). I learned that getting low to the ground, and grabbing the weed as close to the roots as possible with both hands works best. After you have a solid grip, you can pull firmly and slowly so that you don\u2019t cause the weed to snap above the roots. After the weed is removed, it should be checked to make sure it didn\u2019t snap and that the roots are fully out of the ground.<\/p>\n

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I demonstrate the proper weeding technique<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

If they are not, it\u2019s time to bring in the big guns; the shovels. This requires lots of strength, because the roots can be deep in the earth and can often take many attempts to dig up. It\u2019s best to drive the shovel in a foot or so away from the visible plant and then push the shovel towards the plant in order to catch all of it\u2019s roots.<\/p>\n

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Alexa digging deep!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I found this to be incredibly enjoyable for many reasons. First of all, it gave me a large sense of accomplishment, because the other volunteers and I cleared a whole field in a matter of hours and I know that I helped make room for even more vegetables and flowers to flourish! Also, I dug up many hidden gems like mushrooms, which was exciting, as only 2 days before I had participated in our class\u2019s mushroom foray.<\/p>\n

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Some of the hidden treasures<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I am so grateful for the experience I gained at the farm, and my main takeaway will be that many hands make light work. When all the volunteers worked as a team, we were able to accomplish our tasks much more quickly and effectively. We were also able to share expertise from our past experiences, and problem solve in a collaborative way.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The University of Guelph is lucky enough to have an amazing, thriving, organic farm right on campus. It is almost completely run by volunteers, and I was lucky enough to get the privilege of working there this fall. Every Thursday, a market is put on by Martha, the woman who runs the farm. As a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":75,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3847","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/s7CROG-3847","jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/experimentalstudio.ca\/outdoorschool\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3847","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/experimentalstudio.ca\/outdoorschool\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/experimentalstudio.ca\/outdoorschool\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/experimentalstudio.ca\/outdoorschool\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/75"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/experimentalstudio.ca\/outdoorschool\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3847"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/experimentalstudio.ca\/outdoorschool\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3847\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3866,"href":"https:\/\/experimentalstudio.ca\/outdoorschool\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3847\/revisions\/3866"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/experimentalstudio.ca\/outdoorschool\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3847"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/experimentalstudio.ca\/outdoorschool\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3847"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/experimentalstudio.ca\/outdoorschool\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3847"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}