WOW. Week 3, done. That all just happened.
What happened?
…
Well,
IT WAS AN AMAZING WEEK!
Here is what made it awesome:
The week, in short (scroll through for some photos too):
- Weeds? Toast
- Water problems? Solution – siphon that bad boy
- Can you move around Milwaukee as fast as a car, on a bicycle? So far, yes.
- What? You have an enclosed fence around your garden that you want soil in? – Okay. We don’t need wheelbarrows, we’ve got buckets.
- COMPOST is serious at the Concordia Urban Gardens.
- I work with cool/awesome/nice/inspiring/diverse/thoughtful/(insert positive adjective) people
The week, in detail:
So, above were some of my duties/tasks for the urban farm this week.
Lets clarify, though. I regularly intern two days a week, Tuesday and Thursday 8am-5pm, with a team meeting on Tuesday, and the rest of the time farming at the Concordia Gardens. Every so often, I get called in to do fill in work, like compostable item pick up and build sites.
Tuesday:
The challenge of the morning was to get about 1 yard (a full truck bed, about 1 ton) of soil over a 3 ft fence enclosing a garden space. Wheelbarrows are out of the question. Cue 5 gallon buckets. Thanks to Jeff’s great guidance, Montana and I were able to hook a nice Bostonian elderly woman with some high quality organic soil. She was very thankful, very witty, and had a great sense of humor. Honestly, ladies like Laura are one of the major reasons this internship rocks.
The joy of the afternoon was farming. The highlight was connecting with community gardeners and helping them establish their beds, now that weather has been more favorable. Of course, part of this was weeding some pretty overtaken garden beds (see below).
On top of double digging, I had cultivate (disturb growing weeds with some tools) the rows of crops we have growing. This weeks harvest has been radishes, lots and lots of radishes.
The evening was an adventure as I hung out with Cullen, Concordia Gardens farm coordinator. We spoke about ideals for keeping one’s head straight / put together with many things happening at once, like for Victory Garden Initiative (VGI) and Concordia!
Bonus for the evening:I met “The Dublin-er,” a man Cullen nicknamed because of his heavy Irish accent. Oh, and he arrived from Dublin yesterday. HOW COOL IS THAT?! Okay, maybe not that cool, but I’m still excited about it…
Thursday:
Talk about a day jam-packed with awesome. 8-5, serious farm work and seriously great fun with other interns, VGI staff and volunteers.
The morning:
We did lots of much needed weeding and cultivating today in the morning. (You’re going to hear a lot about this in the future if I stay true to at least mentioning my activity) Anyway. I got to connect with another intern, Soumya (“So”mmm-ya ; yes, Soum-ya). Soumya is cool, with a passion for studying access to resources, social voice, and opportunities. As we ripped, dug, and cultivated our way through rows, we shared what drew us to VGI and what we want to do here.
Lunch (this was an epic one):
We went to Fuel Cafe in the Riverwest neighborhood of Milwaukee. Hugh and I got the same thing, the Super Burrito. Imagine a big ol’ burrito stuffed with beans,rice, a bit of sharp cheese, “Awesome Sauce” (whatever that is, thanks Fuel), lettuce, tomatoes, etc. Maybe it sounds like a normal burrito. False. I didn’t mention yet… It had mashed potatoes in it! Talk about nice texture. The chips that came with it all were actually great, too. Locally produced chili lime tortilla chips. Yes, this was a large meal, but this whole “work on an urban farm and commute via bike thing” has made all of my meals large meals. Bottomline, if you’re in Milwaukee and want a quick, well priced, filling, and healthy (with the right menu choice)) meal – go to Fuel Cafe.
The afternoon:
We had to do some puzzle solving on Thursday. The puzzle?
– How does one get water out of GIANT water collection barrel, that has had the faucets stolen out of?
Imagine a cylinder, filled about 1/8th the way up with water. Just above waterline are holes (where fauctets should have been).
Its been hot, we need water for our urban farm. There is still lots of water in that barrel, but how do we get it out?
At first, a bucket tied with a scrap electrical cord works, but that is slow and energy intensive.
Siphon? Yes, genius. How I tried to do it? Not genius. Remember those two little holes right above waterline? Those things that would have been easy to shove a hole through to pull a siphon? Yeah, I didn’t think of that. I tried to pull a siphon vertically up 5 ft or so. Nope, didn’t work, tried my damndest until Montana offered a better idea.
Siphon from the hole. Its easier. It definitely was, below you can see the result.
Pull a siphon, pour into jug, then pour into wheel barrow to move water to plants. Genius, Montana. Genius.
Anyway. What about the kind volunteers of the day? Three people, a mom, a daughter, and a son showed up on Thursday to help out. Alongside us, they more than doubled the human-power Soumya and I had on the farm and helped knock out a bunch of work before lunch.
What about Hugh and Montana? Hugh rocked the weed whip and left piles like the ones below all over the community gardening area, meaning people could garden more effectively now and the community gardens looked much better (note to all project doers, take before and after photos). Montana commanded a wheelbarrow with finesse as she helped establish our food forest at Concordia Gardens that consists of fruiting trees and bushes, thus far.
Cullen went ahead and secured grocery store bundles of cardboard (yes those giant things that sit outside the grocery) for our operations. Composting and weed suffocating takes tons of paper product, what better than plain old cardboard as it will become nutrients in the long run as it suffocates out weeds, and nutrients sooner as it decomposes in a compost heap. Now, thanks to him and Montana’s + Hugh’s follow up with the grocery, we now have a secured source of cardboard, for the time being. booyeah.
WHAT ABOUT COMPOST?!
Well, it was great success. We received tons (seriously) of coffee grounds and roasting chaff (the outer skin that comes off unroasted coffee, as it roasts) from Colectivo Coffee, a Milwaukee-based coffee roasting, cafe chain. Formally Alterra Coffee. Anyway, not to get into a history lesson (but if you’d like I’d say look into them if you don’t know them). Anyway, what did all this look like? Look below. Boom.
So. It has been awesome.
Some loose ends:
What about those neat meets posts?
A: I’ve thought a lot about this, and I’ve got ideas. But, honestly, I struggle to find time. But, I will do my best to make it happen.
What about those “food and culture” posts you said you’d make?
A: I’ve kept those in mind. I’ve realized that I had to really get a better feel for the Milwaukee food scene to appreciate it. I’ve been able to visit a few restaurants and cafes so far. I’ll post within the next week.
Thats about it. I’ll leave you with this photo. This was taken about a 10 days ago. I’ll take another from the same place tomorrow, post it, and we can all see if any superficially noticable
changes have occurred.
Cheers,
-Alex
ajstenner 