May 7, 2011

Date of Service: May 7, 2011
Total Time Before: 30 Hours
Total Time Spent: 4 Hours
Total Time: 34 Hours

Actions Performed: Double Digging

Next Action: Unknown

It felt good to go back to the garden from a good spring break. I felt ready for this day. Well, that is what I thought until I was told my task. I had to double dig again! It was very tiring. I felt very out of shape. But I kept going with my task at hand. The soil was harder than the last time I had to double dig. The soil made digging harder because I had to put more force and I would have to keep switching from a fork to a shovel. But I loved doing double digging at the same time because I felt like my body was getting a workout. That is what I actually did the whole four hours I was there.

Hard soil which made double digging tough

Covering the bed at the end of double digging

April 9, 2011

Date Of Service: April 9, 2011
Total Time Before: 20 Hours
Total Time Spent: 5 Hours (Double Digging = Double Hours) 10 Hours after the end of the day
Total Time: 30 Hours


Actions Performed: Double Digging

Next Action: Unknown

How Am I Doing: I have completed my 30 hours! But that does not mean I will stop there. I will be back for more hours. Double digging was very intense. Double digging is a gardening technique used to increase soil drainage and aeration. It involves the loosening of two layers of soil, and the addition of organic matter. We had to dig 12 inches down first. Everyone had to double dig for their own garden bed. Then, once all the soil is dug out, we place the soil back where the trench was. After that, we placed a little compost on the top of the bed. Double digging was harder than I imagined. I now understand why we were rewarded double hours. Double digging is not an easy task.

I had to use a pickaxe for getting rocks out of the soil

Raking the soil back on top

Covering the beds at the end of the day

April 2, 2011

Date of Service: April 2, 2011
Time Spent: 4 hours
Total Time: 20 hours



Actions Performed: -Cleaned garden bed


Next Action: "Big Dig" Event. Double digging and use of other methods to dig out garden beds.

How am I doing: I am on task with all my hours. I did a lot of digging today. Digging out and pulling weeds is not as easy at it seems. Some root are very thick and hard to pull out. This requires hard digging with a fork. What hurt the most was getting cut and scratched by nettles on the ground. Very painful to get cut by those. Gardening is fun because you make the garden clean and you get some muscle work from it. I can't wait for the "big dig" event because it will take a lot of muscle work. Hopefully I get a little stronger from all this gardening.

Poisonous plant known as hemlock

The end of the bed's weeds

A little of the beginning of the bed

March 26, 2011

Date of Service: March 26, 2011.
Time Spent: 4 Hours                                                                                          
Total Time: 16 Hours

Actions Performed: 

-Meeting with the Pacifica Gardens group

-Plant seeds in soil beds

Next Action: April 2, 2011. From 10am to 2pm. Actions will be determined on day of.

How am I Doing: I am doing great so far. I am a little more than halfway done with all my hours. I feel like I am making great progress. On March 26, I had a meeting with all of the members involved in Pacifica Gardens. We all discussed future dates and what we would do. Although next week is to be determined, the week after that will be a big dig. That big dig is an event where everyone literally digs. I feel like I have made great progress since I have started. I learned how to plant seeds and dig soil properly. I will continue to learn more about the garden.

Soil beds with seeds

In this picture, the woman above is my mentor, Ann Mason

March 12, 2011

Date of Service: March 12, 2011
Total Time Before: 8 Hours
Total Time Spent: 4 hours
Total Time After: 12 hours

Actions Performed: Pulling and raking weeds

Next Action: Meeting with Pacifica Gardens group

On this day, I mostly pulled weeds and threw them in the compost bin. Although I only did two tasks, it did not come with ease. Pulling weeds was actually tiring! Especially when they were thick at the bottom and you had to use a lot of force. Next time, I will learn something new. 

March 5, 2011

Date of Service: March 5, 2011
Total Time Before: 4 hours
Total Time Spent: 4 hours
Total Time After: 8 Hours

Actions Performed: Planted holes for fruit trees. Pulled weeds

Next Action: Enhancing the garden

First, I had to dig a hole for a couple of fruit trees. The hole was 4-7 feet wide in diameter. I had to dig 4 holes. After digging down a couple of feet, I placed a cage in the hole to help grow the roots grow in the right direction. I then planted the tree by placing soil, then adding compost over it.

The next task was that I had to move sheep feces. I had to carry them in wheel barrels from the livestock farm to the garden. The feces is used for compost on top of soil. For now, we placed them in a pile of compost. The compost will be used later in the year.

The last task was cleaning the berm. We had to pull many weeds, but we got the job done. Many weeds pulled led to a nice berm in the end.

First 4 hours

Date of Service: February 12, 2011.
Total Time Before: None
Total Time Spent: 4 hours
Total Time: 4 Hours

Actions Performed: Digging out garden beds full of weeds

Next Action: Unknown

My first four hours at Pacifica Gardens went well. I started at 10am and finished at 2pm. My actual mentor, Ann Mason, was not available for the day. Loretta, the temporary mentor, guided me through some of the things that I needed to learn before I began. First, we had to clean out what is called a bed. A bed is an area where plants can be grown. My group had to pick out weeds and other small plants that had to be removed for new ones. We uprooted the weeds so that we don't destroy any roots or soil. Then we threw away any weeds or unneeded plants. After cleaning the bed, we planted cover crops to fertilize the soil. We used fava and Austrian Peas for cover crops.We then planted them, then watered the bed. After watering the crops, we covered the bed with agribon, a sheet used to prevent birds from picking the crops.