Photo Documentation

Chickens at the farm lay eggs and eat bugs and pests.  Their droppings also help fertilize the soil!

Two happy volunteers

Straw is used to cover some of the growing beds during the winter, over the course of the season,
and breaks down and gives it nutrients back to the soil! For part of our project we fluffed
out LOTS of straw bails!

Planting garlic without taking out the old tomato roots serves to leave the most valuable part of the soil
available to the new garlic plants!

One of our projects out at the farm was pulling crab grass out of the planting beds, the grass
sucks up nutrients that would otherwise stay in the soil until new crops are planted. We used out
hands and pitch-forks to weed in order to cause the least amount of disturbance to the soil.

A Soil's Tale

A wall of water one hundred meters tall, moving at one hundred miles an hour - One of the biggest natural events in the history of the North American continent, the Missoula Floods, is where the soil in this area originated, fifteen thousand years ago!  When an ice-dam on the Clark Fork River broke it released a torrent of water which scoured the plains of Washington and made a lake out of the Willamette Valley.  This lake eventually drained and left the Willamette River and all of the well-sorted, fertile soil stolen from Washinton.  The well-known river has not always been where it is now, however.  It is continually shifting and traveling west, leaving soil in it's wake that is ideal for agriculture, the most fertile in Oregon.  The Organic Farm's Chehalis Silty Clay Loam, located just a few hundred yards east of the Willamette River is one such soil.  The river having moved on, it has been given time to sit, to age, to sort itself into horizons, and most importantly to become a habitat for soil organisms that make it possible to do agriculture there.

Soils Map and Series Desription

Soil at the farm:

OSU Student Farm: 100% Chehalis Silty Clay Loam

OSU Student farm and surrounding area:

44.3% Chehalis silty clay loam

11.9% Colquato silt loam

 8.5% Wapato silty clay loam

 .

CHEHALIS soil characteristics:

The Chehalis series consists of very deep, well drained soils that formed in silty and loamy mixed alluvium. Chehalis soils are nearly level to undulating flood plains. The mean annual precipitation is about 50 inches and the mean annual temperature is about 52 degrees F.

TAXONOMIC CLASS: Fine-silty, mixed, superactive, mesic Cumulic Ultic Haploxerolls

GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: The Chehalis soils are on flood plains at elevations of 30 to 1,600 feet. They formed in silty and loamy mixed alluvium. Slopes are 0 to 3 percent. These soils occur in a climate having cool, dry summers, and cool, wet winters.

RAINAGE AND PERMEABILITY: Well-drained; slow runoff; moderate permeability. Chehalis soils are subject to occasional flooding for brief periods from November to April.

USE AND VEGETATION: These soils are used mostly for cropland, hay and pasture.Native vegetation is Douglas fir, red alder, grand fir, western redcedar, bigleaf maple and Oregon oak with an understory of vine maple, trailing blackberry, western swordfern, western brackenfern, Oregon grape, wild ginger, violet, and western rattlesnake plantain.

Click here for larger image of surrounding area

Click here for larger image of farm area.

 

2011 Revenues From Farm

Date	Products	Revenue
4/22/11	Hoo Haa t-shirt sales	$439.00
5/3/11	Ag Days Veggie starts and t-shirts - toms, onions, lettuce, broccoli	$620.00
5/6/11	Tomatoes, onion starts, lettuce starts, Lettuce heads and lettuce mix	$457.00
5/13/11	Tomato Starts! - lettuce heads, salad mix	$222.00
5/20/11	Tomato Starts! - lettuce heads, salad mix	$229.00
5/27/11	Tomato Starts! - lettuce heads	$111.00
6/3/11	ORGS lettuce heads	$26.00
6/10/11	Lettuce heads, chard, kale, spinach, pepper starts, t-shirts	$231.00
6/17/11	Lettuce heads, collards	$31.00
7/1/11	Lettuce heads, collards, kale, mustard greens, fennel bulb, garlic scapes, strawberries	$89.00
7/8/11	Fava beans, Fennel bulb, raspberries, peas, kale, kohlrabi, beets, basil, parsely	$246.00
7/15/11	Fennel, raspberries, fava beans, peas, summer savory, parlsey, basil, summer squash, Broccoli	$198.00
7/22/11	Fennel, raspberries, fava beans, peas, basil, summer squash, Cauliflower, tomato sauce	$278.00
7/29/11	Raspberries, beets, turnips, pepper, beans, broccoli, peas, chard, parsely, summer squash, tomato sauce, cherries	$369.00
8/5/11	Raspberries, onions, garlic, beets, pepper, beans, broccoli, peas, summer squash, tomato sauce, basil	$395.00
8/12/11	Onions, garlic, beets, peppers, summer squash, tomatoes, cukes, tomato sauce, turnips	$324.00
8/19/11	Onions, garlic, beets, peppers, summer squash, tomatoes, cukes, tomato sauce, turnips	$323.00
8/26/11	Onions, garlic, beets, peppers, summer squash, tomatoes, cukes, carrots, basil	$379.00
9/2/11	Onions, beets, peppers, summer squash, tomatoes, cukes, carrots	$226.00
9/9/11	Onions, beets, carrots, tomatoes, potatoes, peppers, shallots, green beans, chilies, eggplant	$514.50
9/23/11	Onions, Brocolli, tomatoes, peppers, leeks, melons	$325.00
9/30/11	Onions, Leeks, garlic, TOMATOES, PEPPERS, Herbs, Eggplant, Brocolli, Cauliflower, Hot chilis, cukes, melons, cherry tomatoes	$371.61
10/7/11	Potatoes, Leeks, Basil, Peppers, Cauliflower, Eggplant, Shallots, Brocolli	$473.00
10/14/11	Pumpkins, w/ squash, pabalnos, peppers, eggplant, Leeks, potatoes, broc cauliflower, Fennelbulb	$345.00
10/21/11	Pumpkins, w/ squash, pabalnos, peppers, eggplant, Leeks, potatoes, broc cauliflower	$361.50
10/28/11	Leeks, pickles, peppers, t-shirts, brocolli	$297.74
11/4/11	Pickles, t-shirts, some peppers	$64.00
11/11/11	19 jars of pickles and mark-up on winter squash	$226.00
	Total:	$8,171.35

Tenets of Organic Agriculture

Some Basic Tenets of Organic Agriculture:

-Crop rotation - to control nutrient levels and imbalances in the soil
-Enhancing habitat for natural enemies - So no single population of pest can become prevalent
-Barriers - So invasive species can't spread
-Cover cropping - To control weeds during the off season and let the soil regenerate
-Minimum tillage techniques - To preserve soil aggregation which protects against erosion and gleying
-Mulching - To retain soil moisture and water
-Drip irrigation - To lose less water as runoff
-On-site fertility - To add no more than is taken from the soil system
-Composting - To conserve and recycle soil nutrients
-Approved insecticides and herbicides - Only as a last-ditch effort at control

Minimum Tillage

Student Farm Crop Rotation

1: Legumes- peas, beans, legumes

2: Brassicas- broccoli, brussel sprouts, cabbage, kale (these are all forms of mustard that have been bred throughout the years, creating different vegetables.

3: Heavy Feeders- corn, pumpkins, summer/winter squash, melons

4: Light Feeders- carrots/ all carrot family, lettuce, greens, herbs

5: Solanaceous- tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, potatoes

6: Alliums- onions, garlic, leeks, shallots.

This crop rotation adds for the best soil fertility and structure, as seen that the heavy feeders are followed by a cover crop to replenish carbon and energy, as well as legumes which  replenish the nitrogen in the form of nitrate.

Click here to view the complete slide show on the crop rotation.

What Did We Learn?

I learned through this project the importance of rotational crops.   I previously thought that farms could just plant a crop, harvest, then the next year plant a nitrogen fixer and rotate like that; the organic farm rotates seven crops that have seven different uses to the soil.

-Matthew

One thing I learned about soils was just how interconnected and essential it truly was to supporting the ecosystem and life itself. Granted, I had been told similar things before, but being able to see and touch it added tremendously to the experience, like seeing the connection between the roots and the soil in the rhizosphere (the most biologically active part of the soil). It was truly amazing how even the grass weed still had such an extensive root system beneath ground key to its survival. This goes to show the concept of a diversity of organism survive because of the diversity of habitat that soils provide.

-Rylan

        Picture of the Rhizosphere

One thing I learned is the importance of trees to gardens! Tree drop leaves or cones or needles, and leave behind precious organic matter, which the soil can take and turn into humus. The strawberries planted under the ash tree produced more than all the other strawberries from the rest of the garden because of the added nutrients, the different environment, under the tree. And one or two can be a habitat for important soil managers: birds! They take up little space; an efficient addition to any garden.

-Patrick

During this project I learned that by just adding water to a row of soil, amazing local vegetation will grow. All sorts of seeds from plants are just waiting in soil for the right conditions to grow. The benefits of local vegetation around growing crops are many. For example at the farm a tree sprouted up right next to a strawberry patch. This particular variety puts nitrogen back into the soil. The strawberries from just around the tree yielded many times over what the rest of the row did. This natural vegetation also helps to give a habitat to the good bugs that help to reduce the pest population.

-Gavin

            The most interesting thing I learned during this project was about how the farm uses a seven year rotation of crops in order to keep and restore nutrients in the soil, as well as help keep pest populations down. Each bed goes through a seven-year cycle of crops, including a year with nitrogen-fixing plants and a cover crop year. By changing the crop that is in each bed every year, it makes it difficult for one type of pest to get established, because pests tend to be specific to one crop, so each pest only has a year to sprout up and then the crop is likes is gone the next year.

-Hannah

Connections to Soil

Sunday Skool!

Organic growers club, Sunday organic farming!

Where we were:

In our days at the OSU student organic farm, we learned the importance of soil structure to successfully growing vegetables.  For example, when planting garlic the first Sunday, the tomato plants were not uprooted from the ground because if they had been, the macro-pores that occur from the tomato roots rotting would fill in.  The rotting tomatoes would provide carbon and energy to allow the garlic to grow better.  On the second Sunday, we weeded to prevent crabgrass from taking all the nutrients and water, the way we cleared the grass from the soil beds (with forks and by hand while not stepping on them) was done so intentionally in order to preserve the soil structure, not harm the organisms living there, and avoid compaction.  We also put straw over a bed so that in a year, the straw will have drained all its nutrients into the soil to help nourish future plants.

Everything about the farm is centered around the soil – the entire organic farming technique and techniques of crop rotations based on a seven year plan are all directly connected to the desire to enrich and preserve the soil. The OSU organic growers' club is all about crop rotation. This means using the plants in one area of the garden to prepare the soil so it will be perfect for the plants that come next in the rotation. In this way, the soil is not drained of any nutrients without being replenished later, and no minerals are added year after year to the point where they could build up an imbalance in the soil. It's a careful soil management system!

Soil is the reason that farming exists!  Without soil, specifically the isomorphic substitutions in clay particles, which allow for nutrient retention, plants would not be able to uptake nutrients such as nitrogen, phosphorus and calcium by simply breathing and making a more acidic environment, thus creating an osmotic gradient to create fruit and leaves.

Extensive research shows a direct connection between well-managed soil and the ability to increase agriculture productivity. To illustrate, soil compaction, while beneficial in moderated amounts, has a direct correlation with loss of grain yield because of the prevention of root exploration, reduced aeration, damage to soils water flow and storage (see here to learn more from the University of Minnesota) . The farm is funded primarily by crop sales. By increasing the yield the farm can continue to grow and prosper. There has been much research on this topic and the consensus is that the cause of the benefits of organic farming is not just one factor. Instead it is the synergistic effect of many factors that lead to better crop yields, and soil integrity. A great source is