Little ones are Growing up

Much can happen in three weeks. Our starts are doing well. We put fluorescent lights over top of them because they were starting to get leggy reaching for the window. The basil plants have taken the longest to pop up and say hello, but now they are arriving en masse. We ordered some nutrients for our soil and they arrived today!
Bone Meal- Phosphorus.
Coffee Grinds- Phosphorus, potassium, magnesium, and copper.They also release nitrogen into the soil as they degrade.
Lime Pellets- Increase the PH of acidic soil.



Baby Basil!


Infant zucchinis poking out of their shells






Kale Toddlers






Kohlrabi Teenagers

Exploring Indigenous Eating

Check out the complete route on our Trip Map.

A century ago people began gardening in the Hoonah area. Corn, potatoes, and other hearty plants were put into the ground and left to grow over the summer. The Hoonah FEA Club (Future Educators of Alaska) headed up to the head of Port Frederick to explore an indigenous garden site and collect fertilizers for our garden.

Trees are growing in an old raised row. The garden was located near the beach on a slight downhill. This layout allowed for nice drainage. The garden plot was North-facing which kept the soil from getting too much sun and drying out.

Living quarters and smoke house.

We encountered lots of Culturally Modified Trees (CMT). Pitch was chipped away to use as fire starter for the smoke house.

Shells are rich in calcium, so we collected crushed shells to add to our garden soil.

Starfish are an excellent source of phosphorus, they can be cut up and buried with the plants when transplanted outside.

Seaweed and Kelp are high in potash. We will work seaweed into the soil and use it as mulch in the fall to protect perennials from winter weather.

We checked out some old fish traps. Rock walls were built to trap fish swimming upstream at high tide and when the tide went out fish would be easily plucked from the pools.

This seal blind is located next to the beach and was used for hiding behind to hunt seal.
Complete Trip Photo Album

Sprouts

Kohlrabi

Cabbage

Photo Album

Click HERE to peruse the complete collection of garden photos.

GERMINATION STATION!

Our little seedlings are showing signs of life!!!!

Planting and Playing in the Dirt

Yesterday we planted Kohlrabi, Cauliflower, Cabbage, Broccoli, Kale, and Basil.



We planted one see per plug tray. Each seed was placed in a shallow hole we poked with a pencil, then covered with dirt.






Today we started to prepare the soil.

Getting rid of rocks and grass was our main priority.



We commissioned the kindergartners to come and help us find earthworms!


We saved our earthworms in a little earthworm habitat to return to our finished soil. Earthworms move around in the dirt and make space for the roots to get air and moisture.

Sorting Starting Seeds

We sorted our Vegetables by start dates.




We created plastic labels for each type of seed- Plastic is better than cardboard because cardboard/paper can mold.





We packed our plug trays with soil and began planting!

Hoonah Garden Grant

According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, two of the leading preventable causes of premature death and disability in the U.S. are obesity and tobacco use. The Association of American Indian Physicians (AAIP) is a national non-profit organization that supports communities who are putting obesity prevention to work. Hoonah City School applied for the AAIP Healthy Active Native Communities Grant that was created to fund 10 lucky communities in implementing healthy, sustainable, obesity prevention strategies. The AAIP received over 130 applications and of 10 grants awarded, Hoonah’s School Garden project was chosen!

In the upcoming weeks I will be keeping a garden log on my blog. Gardening is a trial and error process so keeping track of information, dates, failures, and successes will be useful in the future and possibly inspire other classes to start growing vegetables of their own!