Finally Spring

Photos and entries by Dana Schultheis

The weather is finally suitable and consistent enough for outdoor planting. We've been strictly working outside for a while now. We built, in full, our raised beds made from the wood we ordered with out grant money. Turns out we needed more room than we thought so we also continued using the recycled light fixtures as beds and planting flats. 

Unfortunately, at some point, a lot of our plants were sprayed with pesticides. We aren't sure who did it or who gave the orders for it to be done, but it's not about that. All we could do was salvage every plant we possibly could and move on. The only thing we lost almost all of was melon. 

Our lettuce has been growing non-stop though! And each week we have been taking it down to the culinary room and cafeteria so that they can implement organic growing and farm-to-table eating into what they do! Students all over Oakcrest have discovered new eating options that harbor benefits they never even knew about. 

Unfortuntely, just as it gets warmer, the school year ends tomorrow. We accomplished nearly every goal we set for ourselves and even some additional ones. We brightened the Oak atmosphere with natural gardens and a reconstructed greenhouse that can be used for years to come. We inspired students to get involved in Oakcrest and even provided those already involved new opportunities. We promoted and helped implement healthy, organic eating and growing. All in all, we did a lot. We'll be back occasionally during the summer to keep the plants healthy. Good luck to the students who will be in this class for ears to come. We hope you make a difference, too. 

Update

By: Dana Schultheis

After we received some supplies, we got extremely busy in the greenhouse hence the lack of posts. The first thing we got were the seeds. We ordered forty packets of leaf lettuce among other vegetables and herbs as well as a few flowers including lavender. We planted in doors to get as many plants sprouted as quickly as we could before the Spring weather really kicked off. 

Overtime, things became greener and greener. 

We also took on individual projects of our own. 

We gathered stones, grass and other objects from the pond at Oakcrest and created mini habitats. For about two weeks we observed them change and grow and recorded what we saw in notebooks. During the winter months, they seemed to be decaying but once it got warmer they flourished with life. 

The Aquaponics fish tanks we ordered came in as well! We bought four beta fish; two males and two females. We set up the tanks within days. However, unfortunately, three of the four fish died of the ick. In response, I took the last fish home to ensure she got the care she needed in order to live a healthy life. We concluded that keeping her at school would be unproductive being that none of us were able to come in on holidays, breaks or weekends. So far she has thrived in her new environment and has even grown a few centimeters! We planted bean sprouts and wheat grass on top of the tanks. The water along with the fish's bacteria feeds the plants and helps them grow. They have grown about ten inches in only a month. 

Recently, since the whether has been warmer, we've begun trans-planting some of the plants outside. We built our garden beds. They are bordered by wood planks and floored with recycled cardboard. 

While we began moving the plants outside in their indoor plastic containers, we also received the soil we need to plant them in the garden beds without the containers.

We began planting yesterday, May third, using our new soil. 

In addition to carrying out our original plans, the outdoor garden beds, we have recently taken on other projects to promote environmental sustainability in our school and our community. Last Friday our school celebrated Earth Day with it's annual day of earth-friendly environment-related games. We set up our own table where students had the opportunity to "paint their pallet". Students painted fruits, vegetables, plants, or anything environment related on paper plates which we made into a collage and hung up outside our classroom door the following day.

Also, we found old light frames while walking around Oakcrest one day and decided that we could recycle them into garden beds and implement them into our outdoor garden. 

Our leaf lettuce has grown very quickly, so we brought some to the Oakcrest culinary class and let them taste it to show them the difference between locally grown organic lettuce and store-bought lettuce. 

Now, we're just waiting for the weather to clear up to get back to work! (: 

Public Recognition
By: Dana Schultheis

Right after we wrote to Atlanticare explaining why Oakcrest deserved their new school garden award and recieved the grant, we were required to attend an Atlanticare seminar on gardening. Actually, our teacher, Mr. David Jungblut, was invited but we pleaded to tag along. 

I could not attend but all four of my other classmates did, in addition to one Oakcrest culinary student and a representative from Oakcrest's "Teen Center" (run through Atlanticare). We were all unaware that the seminar was actually a teacher's convention but we ended up in The Press of Atlantic City and the Hamilton Current for our unexpected appearance there. 

From Left to Right: Amanda Allman, Ms. Jasmine, Mr. Jungblut, Keanu Samaroo, Samantha Rocap, Kayla Taylor, LAura Englemmen, and Tyler Clybourn. Not present: Dana Schultheis

At the seminar, presenters shared unique gardening ideas, including aquaponics gardening,or gardening with minerals 

and water and fish waste as opposed to soil. This served as inspiration to Tyler. Once we returned back to school the

 next day, Tyler suggested we begin a aquaponics garden. Our fish tanks in our greenhouse, pictured in the previous post, will be used for the aquaponics garden. As previously

 mentioned, we recently added natural pond water and stones 

to the tanks, which we aerate each day in order to keep the water clean and desirable. Here's a diagram of the science behind aquaponics:

Another gardening system we learned more about at the 

seminar was keyhole gardening. Keyhole gardening includes 

a round gardening bed with a compost pile placed in the

center, or as close to the center as possible. The soil

used consists of manure, ashes and other amendments below 

which lays a layer of straw serving as a drainage layer. The compost consists of kitchen and garden waste and sits atop a layer of mounded drainage rocks. You can add a roof to the compost section in order to assure regulated moisture and protection from rain. Here's another diagram:

Roots
By: Dana Schultheis

It all begins with the seed, but the roots carry the seed's production to surface. A few days ago, we began our garden by planting store-bought green-bean seeds and recycled pumpkin seeds. Now, hopefully, the roots weave through out the soil and natural fertilizer carrying the plants closer and closer to the surface each day. 

We buried green-bean seeds in Terracycle's "Natural, Extremely Effective" Organic Based Garden Granular Plant Food composed of worm poop, pictured below. 

Photos by Dana Schultheis

After a day or so, we combined the mixture with regular, organic garden soil in the greenhouse. 

Photos by Dana Schultheis

This is our greenhouse before we began renovating it and cleaning it up. Now, the fish tank in the center holds natural pond water and stones, ready for fish! The low flat tables on the right hold our planted seeds in small, plastic gardening containers. Once we obtain fish, we will combine the garden with the fish tank to form an aquaponics gardening system. More pictures to come! (:

A Little Bit About Us
By: Dana Schultheis

"The greatest threat to our planet is the belief that someone else will save it." - Robert Swan

As our environment decays at dangerous levels, we face the importance of protecting it from any further harm and possibly curing it of any toxins and impurities. Our Honors Environmental Sustainability class at Oakcrest High School in South Jersey, consisting of a mere five students, aims to learn about different ways to sustain, or uphold, the environment and to carry out projects that will hopefully benefit the environment as well. Luckily, we received the AtlantiCare $1,500 New Edible School Garden Award and plan to plant an edible garden with the money.

This project, our first, has potential to better the environment as a whole and to better the environment at our school. We will clean out our greenhouse, plant edible crops using various unique and environmentally friendly gardening methods, and move the crops to raised garden beds outside when the temperature becomes more suitable. Our culinary classes teamed up with us to promote healthy eating and the importance of a balanced diet consisting of organic locally grown fruits, vegetables, and grains. 

This satellite image highlights where we will be spending the next few months.  The red area, outside of the OHS Greenhouse, will soon be home to the crops that currently thrive indoors, safe from the bitter January weather. Below is a graphic design depicting what our outdoor raised bed gardens will look like:

  

This blog will document our gardening journey and, hopefully, will influence others to embark on their own mission to creatively sustain their local and global environment.

If everyone relies on others to save the environment, no one will. It's our responsibility. We only have one planet and the planet only has one advocate: us.