Contact Information
The Spectator
What's Growing On... at the Community Farm
by Katrina Rabeler '12Features Writer
"This looks good," exclaimed Chris Sullivan '09 as he examined a shovel of earth he heaped up from the farm. One thing farming teaches is a great fascination for icky brown stuff. "It's a lot better than last year," he said as he explained. Good soil has a dark-colored, light structure as opposed to the dense clay found in Hamilton soil that hasn't been tilled and cultivated recently. In a farm, you should add organic matter to the soil every year to improve its quality.
While professors are assigning eight page papers, thesis revisions and hair-raising finals, the Hamilton Community Farm is also demanding more of students than usual. Now is the time for manure spreading, rototilling and transplanting, and students are hard at work making it happen.
I spent Tuesday morning with Sullivan and Nate House '12, shoveling manure into wheelbarrows and spreading it throughout the three fourths acre farm behind the Wolcott Co-Op.
The manure acts as a fertilizer for plants and consists of the two most important ingredients they need to grow: carbon, from wood chips in the fertilizer, and nitrogen, which is supplied by horse poop. The 65 cubic yard heap of manure is quite impressive sitting in the middle of the farm. At $10 per yard, Sullivan explained that "this is valuable sh**."
Shoveling the sh** around is not easy work; athletes lifting weights in the pristine gym should especially enter the real world and try out a different form of workout–one that gives you a buff physique and goes to good use. All students are encouraged to lend a hand and learn the reason why our ancestors never needed a Bowflex.
Ideally, spinach, peas, swiss chard and other brassicas would already be planted since these plants can withstand a light frost. Unfortunately, school keeps getting in the way of the farm. Plans are for all of the frost-withstanding plants to be outside before next week. Other plants will be put outside at the end of May, after the threat of frost is over.
Tuesday afternoon I experienced the indoor aspect of farm production. The greenhouse on the Science Center third floor was bustling with activity as 10 people worked to transplant eggplant and peppers into larger containers.
Last Friday, tomatoes were transplanted. Some of the tomatoes are over eight inches tall and are so large that they already have to be transplanted again. The greenhouse is now so full of green that there is not enough space to house all the plants. Many have already been moved to the Co-Op porch, and there was another cart of plants ready to be rolled down as well.
Another goal includes putting up chicken wire-like stuff around the farm's fence to keep out rabbits and smaller rodents. "There's a lot to move. A lot to do," House said. The farm workers said they can use all the help they can get. As Linnaea Chapman '10 explained, "It's a really nice and productive study break. You get to be outside in the sun with friends while getting a little exercise."
To convince students to help out, House and Sullivan thought they might replace the Class and Charter Day slip and slide with "shovel sh** and spread."
"It'd be a drinking game: you get one Utica Club for every wheelbarrow of manure you fill and spread. Everyone should stop by," Sullivan encouraged.
What's Currently Growing Inside:
Leeks, onions, tomatoes, shallots, asparagus, eggplant, okra, kale, broccoli, parsley, brussels sprouts, kohlrabi, collards, cabbage, cilantro, cauliflower, celery basil, lettuce, swiss chard, cucumbers, chamomile spearmint, peppers, eggplant.
What's Left to Plant:
Cucumbers, squash, some flowers
What's Currently Growing Outside:
-The garlic that was planted in the fall is poking up. It will be ready to harvest in mid-summer.
-Leeks from last year that were never harvested.
-Delicious wild asparagus are also showing their faces in the farm. House explained that asparagus don't always look so lonely but eventually grow into patches as the years progress. "Asparagus are like a child. You have to let it mature," House said.
-Clover