U-32 Enviromental Science

Trying out a new cover for the beds.

2010-03-10T17:49:00.000-08:00

This cover is a clear plastic with small holes in it. It is supposed to increase the temperature by 10 degrees F. over regular remay covering. We will give it a try.

Winter in The Greenhouse: NO HEAT!!!

2010-03-10T17:44:00.000-08:00

Pictures taken March 8th. The snow is on the ground outside the greenhouse. Inside soil temperatures are 45 degrees F. Winter greens are being harvested for the Cafeteria.

TEE SHIRTS MADE FOR OR LOCALFEAST DINNER

2010-01-18T15:07:00.000-08:00

Getting ready for the winter.

2010-01-18T14:59:00.000-08:00

Students prepare the greenhouse for the winter by building a second layer over the crops. We use rebar, plastic tubing, and remay.

Managing the greenhouse beds:

2009-11-22T12:27:00.001-08:00

Oct 12th: First Greenhouse Harvest

2009-10-15T17:22:00.000-07:00

Students harvested 3.5 lbs of spinach and 3.5 pounds of lettuce. The greens were used in the school cafeteria.

Sept. 24: Working in the greenhouse

2009-10-15T17:13:00.000-07:00

Proud U-32 student gardeners taking care of their plants.

Mushroom Lecture:

2009-10-07T16:52:00.000-07:00

Fletcher Dean talks to students about mushroom foraging and growing edible mushrooms on logs. The next day we went out to forage for mushrooms in the U-32 forest.

Video of our students seeding the greenhouse

2009-09-20T04:45:00.000-07:00

Fall 2009 is the first season we will be using our new greenhouse. Each student has their own 3.5 foot by 12 foot raised bed. We are seeding three varieties of winter hardy spinach and four varieties of winter hardy lettuce. The goal is to grow and harvest greens into the winter without using any heat.

Harvesting Potatoes, garlic, onions, and swiss chard: Fall 2009

2009-09-20T04:32:00.000-07:00

Students dug potatoes, as well as harvested onions, garlic, and swiss chard from the U-32 garden. All the food harvested is being used in the school cafeteria. Students not only harvest the crops but also weighed them so we can track total yield for each season.

2009: Greenhouse complete and berries ready to pick.

2009-09-19T15:02:00.001-07:00

May 13th

2009-05-13T17:10:00.000-07:00

Students did a great job today working on the greenhouse beds, preparing the garden, and cleaning up and mulching the herb and butterfly gardens.

Notice On Timestamps

2009-04-28T14:18:00.001-07:00

Since technology hates our photographer Martin, the timestamps on all of our photos are completely off and should be ignored! Thank you in advance.

Preparing the Greenhouse

2009-04-28T14:14:00.001-07:00

In another step to prepare the greenhouse, students learned how to roll up the sod of the greenhouse, and move it outside. Although hard and dirty work, students enjoyed the hands-on work, and everyone seemed to have a good time!

Working On the Gardens

2009-04-28T14:10:00.000-07:00

Along with our greenhouse, we also have a set of gardens we are using to grow in. Students spent time turning soil so they could plant vegetables in it.

Mushroom Project

2009-04-28T14:06:00.000-07:00

Student Ari Erlbaum decided to learn how to grow and maintain edible mushrooms for his project. The first part of his project was to cut down logs for him to grow the mushrooms on. With the help of classroom helper Fletcher Dean, they gathered a few from the woods behind U-32.

First Day in the Greenhouse-Collecting Soil Samples

2009-04-28T13:57:00.000-07:00

During our first workday in the greenhouse, we went in to collect soil samples to test the pH and several other factors of our soil. We needed this information to know if we needed to change any factors to be ideal for growing, and to also know what we could plant, and where to plant it.

Continued

2009-04-28T13:54:00.000-07:00

More pictures from our extra credit trip.

Extra Credit Sugaring

2009-04-28T13:27:00.000-07:00

In an opportunity for extra credit, students were offered the chance to go to teacher Steve Colangeli's house and work on his sugaring operation. It gave us the chance to see the entire process of harvesting sap and and the process to turn it into maple syrup. Our blog interviewer Martin Nunn-Hudson took this opportunity to visit and see the process, and got some good pictures in the process! He said on the subject, "I had past experience with sugaring, so I knew some of the rocess, but because it has been so long before I had done any sugaring, it rekindled it in my mind." Steve's operation is relatively small, he uses a wood fire, buckets to collect sap, and creates a small output of syrup.

Maple Syrup Blind Test

2009-04-14T12:48:00.000-07:00

As part of a fun exercise for the classes Sugaring unit, we decided to take different samples of maple syrup and place them into cups, with the entire class trying to guess which each one was by tasting it. Some of the syrups included were syrup made by our teacher Steve, store-brand syrup, syrup made by our school coach Mike Law, Canadian syrup, and more.

With no surprise (the entire class being Vermonters!), it was very easy for us to pick out the store syrup, with it's buttery and sugary taste. But the homemade and fresh syrups were hard to guess between.

Growing Plants

2009-04-14T12:37:00.000-07:00

As part of our first project in the class, and one we would continue to do throughout the class period, our classmates planted seeds into small starter 6-packs of soil. Our first set of plants to grow were Marigolds and Basil. These plants would grow under grow lights until they were large enough to transplant into single holder pots.

Throughout the growing period of the plants, we recorded information such as height, true leaves, germination rate, etc.

We eventually sold these plants as a fundraiser for our greenhouse.