New Organic Baby!

Pruning Tools!

Apprentices still in the area: If you are interested in acquiring pruning tools--loppers, saw and long arm pruners--please contact me at casfs2008@gmail.com, I will give you all the details. We are hoping to place an order in the coming weeks.

Pumpkin Carving

Click on the image below to carve a pumpkin!
HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!

Mmmmm... Organic Fertilizer

Researchers in Finland have just published results of a study showing that farmers can substitute human urine for conventional fertilizer and get a notable increase in cabbage yields.

BIG GREENS. Surendra Pradhan shows off big cabbages that owe their superior growth to experimental fertilization with human urine.

Surendra K. Pradhan of the University of Kuopio and his colleagues grew cabbages using a conventional fertilizer, human urine that had been stored for 6 months, or no soil amendment at all. In an upcoming issue of the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, the researchers report that the urine treatment yielded cabbages that were bigger and carried fewer germs than those grown by either other approach.

Although the nutrient content of urine depends on what someone has eaten, analyses of the urine used in these experiments showed that its nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium contents were comparable to those of commercial fertilizer.

Urine collected from one individual over the course of a year could fertilize a 90-square-meter plot, yielding more than 160 cabbages, the team calculates. The data indicate that a urine-treated plot would yield 64 kilograms more cabbage than one fertilized conventionally.

Earlier this year, the Kuopio scientists reported that cucumbers benefit from the use of urine as fertilizer.

Apprenticeship Graduation!

You are invited to celebrate the graduation of the 2007 CASFS Apprentices!
The graduation will be held on the evening of Friday, October 19.

The schedule will be tentatively as follows:
6:15-7:15pm Social hour/appetizers in the farm center and on the farm center porch
(*dinner will not be served)
note: if you choose to drink alcohol, please restrict alcohol consumption to the area in the farm center and
farm center porches. alcohol will not be served. thanks!
7:30-8:30pm Graduation Ceremony at the stage by the equipment barn
we'll start out with a few words from farm director Patricia Allen, followed by some performances and
appreciations, ending with the distribution of certificates in Ecological Horticulture to apprentices.
8:30pm Slide Show at the stage by the equipment barn
9:30pm Dance Party! in the farm center

We would love to see you there!
Love, the 2007 Apprentices

Harvest Festival! This Saturday, Oct 6th, 11am-5pm.

The festival will take place at the UCSC Farm on Saturday, October 6, from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Admission is free for kids 12 and under and for members of the Friends of the UCSC Farm & Garden; adult admission is $5; UCSC students pay $3 with ID. Check out the link for more info and a schedule of events.
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