QQC #1

Beets in the Hood:
"Sixteen years ago, Allen gave up a lucrative job working for Procter & Gamble's corporate marketing department to found Growing Power, a tiny working farm in the heart of Milwaukee."

I can't imagine how Allen could be more successful running an urban farm and selling the benefits, but it seems like fun.

How does he get the space to grow enough plants to keep himself alive?

Michael Pollan Fixes Dinner:
"Al Gore didn't talk about it at all; 25 to 33 percent of climate change gases can be traces to the food system."

I can understand that exchanges of carbon dioxide and oxygen through plants and animals contribute to climate, but I would have never guessed that the food system had such a big impact.

Does this also contribute to global warming?

Veg-O-Might:
"It takes nearly 1 gallon of fossil fuel and 5,200 gallons of water to produce just 1 pound of conventionally fed beef."

That seems extremely inefficient. Considering the average american eats about 100 pounds of beef per year, this is a very ridiculous method of food production.

I wonder if these facts were taken to produce a single pound of beef? For example, maybe the same resources could be used to produce individual pounds of beef simultaneously so thousands of pounds of beef could be made. What are the sources of this statistic?

This Little Piggy Goes Home:
" ' I was doomed - I knew this was what I was meant to do,' he says."

I find it interesting that he used the word 'doomed'. I would have used the word 'destined' or 'predetermined' or something along those lines, but not doomed. Doomed is a very negative word.

Are there parts of his job that he doesn't enjoy that would lead him to say 'doomed'?

A Cubic Foot of Soil... (Test Prep)

If I took a cubic foot of soil as well as the plants growing there, I would expect to see many different organisms as soil is the essence of life. I would definitely expect to see earthworms breaking up and loosening in the soil; ants taking various things from above ground back into the soil (and therefore providing the soil with a variety of nutrients indirectly); grubs eating roots of plants which will slowly kill them (and when the plant die, and grubs die, they give nutrients back to the soil when by decomposing); pill bugs; centipedes; and millipedes, though I am not sure what either of these three organisms contribute; and various microbes that do a variety of different jobs. Most of the jobs performed by all of thee organisms help to create a richer soil in exchange for killing what lived in the soil before, however the soil that results from these jobs allows new plants and organisms to not only grow, but thrive in this rich new earth. The soil in our garden seems rather hard to me and because silt and clay have properties that allow them to condense and harden, I would say that our soil would be a silty clay loam (40% silt, 40% clay, 20% loam). This would likely be better to support trees and bushes which have stronger roots as those roots would have an easier time plowing through the hard soil and receiving the large amount of nutrients that come with silt and clay that does not come with sand. More delicate plants such as flowers or grass would have a harder time with this soil and so we would need to break it up and loosen it a lot. The limitation to this soil is also in the fact that it is mostly silt and clay. Neither silt nor clay creates a loose soil and so would trap water easily.

Plant Info for the Garden

The season of fall is here and will it come many vegetables for us to grow and harvest. Among those plants are my 3 favorite greens are lettuce, collard greens, and chard. These three plants have many similarities in terms of gardening. They all grow in autumn, given a 4x5 foot area, they will all produce one bunch per week, and they all grow well in loose, rich, fertile loam with a pH of 6.5-6.8. These three plants all are planted 3-4 inches apart in rows 12 inches apart from each other in soil that is 10-27 degrees Celsius. All three of these plants grow better in sunny areas and will work well in the San Diego climate. All three plants have large leaves that can block water from getting to the roots and so they should be watered using drip irrigation. None of these plants are companions with each other, but they all are companions with cabbage, peas, and strawberries. Lettuce and chard take anywhere from a month to a month and a half to reach maturity while collard greens take a month or less. I would say that it is very reasonable to include these three plants in our garden for a harvest at the end of the semester.

Lettuce:

• Type: Vegetable
• Nutrition Facts (varies from species of lettuce):
• Vitamin A: 7-10%
• Vitamin C: 1-3%
• Calcium: 0-1%
• Iron: 0-2%
• Other: Mostly water
• Growing climate: Sunny, warmer temperatures
• Space Requirements:
• rows 12 inches apart
• seeds 3-4 inches apart
• Soil:
• Rich, Fertile, Loam
• 10-27 degrees Celsius
• pH: 6.5-6.8
• N-P-K ratio:  Unknown
• Watering Method: Drip Irrigation
• Companion Plants:  cabbage, peas, strawberries

Collard Greens:

• Type: Vegetable
• Nutrition Facts:
• Vitamin A: 48%
• Vitamin C: 21%
• Calcium: 5%
• Iron: 0%
• Other: Great source of vitamin K
• Growing climate: Sunny, warmer temperatures
• Space Requirements:
• rows 12 inches apart
• seeds 3-4 inches apart
• Soil:
• Rich, Fertile, Loam
• 10-27 degrees Celsius
• pH: 6.5-6.8
• N-P-K ratio:  Unknown
• Watering Method: Drip Irrigation
• Companion Plants:  cabbage, peas, strawberries

Chard:

• Type: Vegetable
• Nutrition Facts:
• Vitamin A: 44%
• Vitamin C: 18%
• Calcium: 2%
• Iron: 4%
• Other: Lots of sodium
• Growing climate: Sunny, warmer temperatures
• Space Requirements:
• rows 12 inches apart
• seeds 3-4 inches apart
• Soil:
• Rich, Fertile, Loam
• 10-27 degrees Celsius
• pH: 6.5-6.8
• N-P-K ratio: Unknown
• Watering Method: Drip Irrigation
• Companion Plants:  cabbage, peas, strawberries