PICA Foundational Roots Garden

2009-11-14T18:27:00.002-08:00

PICA groundbreaking

2009-11-14T18:27:00.001-08:00

October 31, 2009. This morning we gave C quad a rude awakening with pick axes and digging bars. At first just Jose, Hannah, and I brought tools over to the segment of cut asphalt by C4 and started in. Slowly more picans trickled in and then the excavation was in full swing. We broke the asphalt with the ground-shaking digging bars and then pried it out with pick axes. After a few hours and lots of sweat the spot was asphalt free. Now we'll take out the gravel, help rebuild the soil, and bring some more green life to C quad!

Fall in the Garden

2009-11-14T18:22:00.001-08:00

We're a month into fall quarter now and new picans are becoming comfortable with the garden. The abundance of summer is fading and we've been preparing beds for winter. Workdays have been busy with turning beds, planting plenty of collard greens (leftover from the agroecology lab), harvesting beautiful corn and anasazi beans, much more, and of course, celebrating with a delicious meal afterwards. Soon we'll be loading some pictures of the garden and also of our workday out in Bonny Doon at the Shumei Natural Agriculture farm.

Some new additions to the garden are a new long bed in front of the apple trees by B2. Behind it some perennial collard trees, a perennial tomatillo (Incan ground cherry), and a perennial melon-like squash. A small new bed over by the compost, a nice flower bed next to it and a mulberry tree in between. Just today we put in a loganberry bush in the shaded corner of the garden, part of expanding our berry row. In our effort to beautify the shade-structure we planted one banana passionvine. Future plans are to plant a purple passion vine to keep it company, and some other either beautiful or edible vine(s).

That's it for the moment, more later, and pictures too. Come stop by if you get a chance! : )

Sean

Pergola and garden Action

2009-04-29T14:09:00.000-07:00

Hey all. It is going down in the Garden. Pergola got started on Saturday and is looking amazing! Thanks to everyone who put in their time and effort working on that project. This Saturday Pergola work will continue, so be there, as we work to complete this awesome garden structure. Also, we have turned almost all of the beds and have got a bunch of new crops in the ground. There is still lots of planting and other work to be done so don't miss out on the action. Come take part in Saturday workdays and get involved!

Now they're flowers!!!

2009-03-13T12:14:00.000-07:00

Remember, way back in October when we stuck all those bulbs in the ground behind B1? Well I sure as heck do! Guess what? Now they are beautiful flowers! Check it out!

Winter Tree Pruning

2009-02-27T10:37:00.000-08:00

The Winter Tree Pruning Workshop was an amazing success! Thanks to everyone who came out! And thanks to Dave Shaw for leading such a great workshop! We were able to prune all the apple and pear trees in the garden. We will hold off on pruning the stone fruit trees (peach, plum, etc.) until summer because they will require a different type of pruning. Hopefully. because of the awesome pruning we gave the trees last weekend, we can expect lots of delicious fruit come summer and fall, so get ready!

Harvest List as of February 17th 2009

2009-02-17T13:34:00.000-08:00

Garden
• Chard
• Collard Greens
• Bok choi
• Mustard Greens
• Broccoli and Cauliflower will be ready soon, keep an eye out, they are a bit too small right now. These are planted primarily on the south edge of the garden in between fruit trees, do not confuse with collard greens and harvest the leaves or else the broccoli and cauliflowers will suffer and may not produce.
***Chard, Collard Greens, and Bok Choi are real small just due to the lack of sunlight, you can still harvest them small. Remember it is a good idea to leave at least 5 leaves per plant so they will maintain productivity and cut leaves from the outside inwards. Also, in beds 8B ad 15, there are brussel sprouts which have leaves, but should not be eaten because they the plants will not be able to produce brussel sprouts. Check with Andrew if there is any confusion about this.

A-Quad
• Collard Greens
• Cauliflower
• Romanesco broccoli
• Mustard greens
• Lettuce
• Kale
***If you have any questions or are confused about harvesting any goodies in the A-quad, check in with Bee or Molly in A-1 they will be happy to hook it up.

PICA's Farm Beds
• Broccoli
• Cauliflower
• Collards
• Kale

What PICA means to me

2009-02-08T21:20:00.000-08:00

The following is a piece written by one of our PICAns expressing a little about what PICA means to them. It is likely that this piece will be included in a campus wide environmental media project currently in the works. If you have anything you would like to share, please do.

PICA

We eat together.
Monday, Tuesday, Wendesday, we eat dinner together. We sit around enjoying delicious meals that we take turns preparing. The kitchen is warm, the food is warm (and delicious), and the way I feel inside, as I am surrounded by all the good company, is warm. After the meal is finished and cleanup begins, we head back to our respective buildings, and with us we bring our sense of community.
We live together.
Someone puts on some hot water for tea, and maybe some folks sit around the kitchen sippin mate and shootin the breeze, talking of mushrooms and the up-and-coming 5th weekly sunrise meadow barefoot run. Down the hall a few folks are studying together or their watching a movie. There are no strangers in my building, nor in my quad. PICA is my home, and when I am away, I miss my home and everyone who is a part of it.
We work together.
On Saturdays we work in the garden. We turn the soil, pull the weeds, make the compost, plant the plants, and do a wide array of other tasks and projects that keep the garden healthy and thriving so that we in turn can remain happy, healthy and well fed. Food from the garden goes into our meals, and the work we do not only brings us together as a community, but it allows for the opportunity of others who don’t live here to become involved and be a part of the PICA community.

Back to Winter

2009-01-07T09:36:00.000-08:00

Welcome back everyone. Hope you all had a great break and are getting settled back into university life for the winter quarter. Most of us were gone for a few weeks over the holidays, including myself, and the garden was left to its own devices for that time. Over break there was a bit of rain and several days of very cold temperatures, along with the fact that during the winter months little sunlight penetrates the garden, the growth of the garden has slowed considerably. There has also been an uprising of weeds and a few gophers that have been wreking havok on the brocolli and brussel sprouts. That being said there is plenty of maintenance to do in the garden. Hopefully we will have a great turnout this Saturday, at 10am, for our welcome back Winter Garden Party. We will be doing lots of garden maintenace, including sheet mulching and pruning, as well as planting more winter crops, an asparagus bed, and strawberries. As if that wasn't enough we will be firing up the old cob oven and cooking some pizzas along with some other tasty treats for lunch. The weather is supposed to be great. It should be a blast. Tell your friends and I hope to see everyone there.

The Bulbs!!!!!!!!!!

2008-11-13T08:40:00.000-08:00

As many of you remember, there was a fatty crew of people, several Saturdays back, working behind building B1. What were they up to you might ask? Why planting bulbs of course! Hundreds of bulbs, mostly narcissus, were planted behind B1 to provide its residence with a beautiful surprise come springtime. The bulbs were planted in most of the space between B1 and the hillside; however, a middle row was left unplanted to provide a space for walking. The area where the bulbs were planted were then mulched with wood chips to help keep weeds from recolonizing the area. The goal is to also get a bunch of flower seedlings started in the greenhouse very soon and then be able to transplant them in amongst the bulbs when they start to emerge next spring. It's going to be an amazing space. Thanks to everyone who worked so hard on preparing the space and getting those bulbs in the ground.

What can I harvest from our garden?

2008-10-23T20:41:00.000-07:00

Things to harvest in the PICA garden as of October 23, 2008

Beans (green, yellow purple) in Beds 6b and 8b
Collard Greens in Bed 9a. Note on harvesting *Thin out plants to approx 6 inches spacing in between plants and leave the rest to continue growing to full maturity. When harvesting young plants at this stage, pull entire plant from the ground cut off roots and use the whole thing in a stir-fry or salad. Later when plants are mature leaves are harvest from the stalk from the outside/lower section of the plant towards the inside leaving at least 1/3 of leaves so plant maintains productivity throughout the season.
Tomatillos in Bed 2b Note on harvesting *Harvest when fruits are firm inside the skins
Tomatoes 5a and 6a
Leeks in bed 5b Note on harvesting *Pull plant from ground, cut roots, and use lower portion of plant up to the greener leafier portion. Use in stir-fry’s, soups, or salads.
Fennel in bed 5b Note on harvesting *Roast root or use upper growth as seasoning in anything.
Eggplant in bed 5b Note on harvesting *Fruits are mature at approx. 6-12 inches in length.
Kale in bed 7a Note on harvesting *Harvest in same manner describe for mature collard greens. Harvest leaves from lower portions/outside of plant, leaving newer younger growth in center to mature (leave approx 1/3 of leaves to maintain productivity)
Pumpkins in bed 7a, 12b, and hanging/sitting around arbor located at front corner of garden.
Raspberries along perimeter
Persimmons towards back right perimeter of garden
Figs at both back ends of the garden

*Remember to harvest with care. Be good to the garden and it will be good to you.

Winter crops and STRAWBERRIES

2008-10-14T15:25:00.000-07:00

This Saturday we took care of business and got a bunch of things done. Multiple bed were double dug, and prepped for planting, some have been cover cropped, others will be used for the planting of winter vegetables very soon. The winter crops we have already got in the ground are broccoli, cauliflower, leeks, collard greens, and endive. Soon those will be joined by spinach, more lettuce, more chard, mustard greens, garlic, chinese cabbage, brussel sprouts, winter peas, and more. The garden is looking great and what I'm the most excited about from this past weekend was getting our new strawberry bed planted. We planted both Chandler and Quinalt berries and hopefully these new plants will really get established and take off so we can have healthy plants and booming strawberry production come next spring/summer. We will also be building another strawberry bed this winter, so if you didn't get to help out with this first one, not too worry, there will be more strawberryin to come.

Welcome to the PICA garden

2008-10-07T16:21:00.000-07:00

It's Fall 2008 and we're looking forward to a great year of living and working together. We've gotten off to a great start with two productive Saturday workdays, potlucks on Sundays, and the beginning of community meals. As winter approaches we are beginning to transition from our summer crops to our, more cold weather friendly, winter crops. Our community has made it clear which crops they prefer by voicing their opinions on the garden chalk board. Soon there will be a list of projects on the garden chalk board where people can go to see what needs to be done, and have at it any time they feel like it. Hopefully we can keep the energy level high, keep on getting things done and having a great time.