Farm Blog Finals Week: So What? What Now?

     Throughout this semester I and hopefully others have learned what farming means in the world, how it affects daily life for people from all different walks of life, and learned information on a specific topic. My topic that I chose to write about was Vermicomposting. Throughout this course I learned what farming means to the rich and to the poor. I learned what is was like from people from different countries and different walks of life from me. We have watched videos and witnessed research that is done. Today I hope to share a bit of what I learned. 

    During the course of this class I chose to study about vermicomposting. Which at first I thought would be rather boring and would not teach me a lot. But to my surprise I learned a lot from research but also from family about how this process works in a backyard garden. Vermicomposting is: "is the process of using worms to break down discarded food and other organic wastes and convert them into compost and liquid fertilizers." Vermicomposting is something that can be beneficial for many backyard gardens, and is one thing you and I can do to make our mark on the environment.

    We learned from people such as Crevecouer, who came from France! He stated: "We are a people of cultivators, scattered over an immense territory communicating with each other by means of good roads and navigable rivers, united by the silken bands of mild government... we are all animated with the spirit of industry... because each person works for himself." We learned through his lens just how good American farming was. We took a step back with William Kettredge about the originators of the land, and his respect towards the Native Americans and his passion for making us aware of the land we are on. We researched propaganda, laws and regulations, and dove deep into literature.

     Overall, we dove deep into the world of farming. In 14 weeks, I learned how to garden worms, I learned where farming originated from, I learned politics about farming, but most importantly my eyes were opened to farming in a very new light that helped me to gain a very different perspective that I didn't think I would gain. I took this class to fill a credit so I could graduate and instead I learned to love agriculture a whole lot more. 

Kinkead, J. A., Funda, E. I., & McNeill, L. S. (2016). From Letter III, What Is an American? In Farm: A multimodal reader (p. 56). essay, Fountainhead Press.

  University, U. S. (2021, October 21). Vermicomposting. USU. Retrieved April 18, 2022, from https://extension.usu.edu/yardandgarden/research/vermicomposting

Folklore in Gardening

Plants grow better when you talk to them. We might have heard this from our mom, grandma, great aunt who knows. A long known piece of folklore that is used a lot when it comes to gardening and taking care of plants. But yet some people really do talk to, sing to, or even dance with their plants. They treat them like pets, people, and will gently murmur to their plants about their problems, or offer words of encouragement to grow. On a recent google search that popped up when I typed in: "plants grow better when you talk to them", I found it quite interesting that one of the suggested websites had a question: " Do plants respond when you talk to them?". In this article it states: "Outside of the obvious de-stressing benefits to you, plants also experience several verified responses. The first is the response to vibration which turns on two key genes that influence growth." This article goes on to talk about and state that in a study female voices particularly helped the plants to grow even more. This was something I found to be interesting. Is it true? I'm not sure but I think that the fact that is labeled as folklore might be an indicator. 

This was something that I thought was interesting and could apply to Vermicomposting easily. This is something that is not just relevant to the plants in our garden but it is something that can be used when it comes to all things growing and living in our garden regardless if they are green and growing up or if they are worms slithering around in our compost. Whether talking to our worms about our problems, or encouraging them to do their job properly we must also learn to take care of them, we must learn to do the research beyond the folklore, and find ways to better improve our gardening skills to make the most of the garden. Sometimes it will be trial and error and other times we just won't find success but it is important to continue to farm and continue to try to get the most out of our vermicomposting. There are many benefits and whatever approach we take to this and whatever we believe will help the most must also be backed by proper care. 

Read more at Gardening Know How: Plants And Talking: Should You Talk To Your Plants https://www.gardeningknowhow.com/garden-how-to/info/should-you-talk-to-your-plants.htm

Governing Agriculture

 When it comes to governing agriculture there are a lot of rules and regulations that we might not be aware of. While doing my research on the topic of Vermicomposting and some possible regulations that we could run into in Utah I came across Title 4. Utah Agricultural Code. Some of the codes that could possibly affect Vermicomposting in your Utah backyard garden are: Code 4-2-013 which states that the state has the right to: "inspect any nursery, orchard, farm, garden, park, cemetery, greenhouse, or any private or public place that may become infested or infected with harmful insects, plant diseases, noxious or poisonous weeds, or other agricultural pests." There is also Code 4-3-102 which defines specialty fertilizer: ""Specialty fertilizer" means fertilizer distributed primarily for non-farm use, such as home gardens, lawns, shrubbery, flowers, golf courses, municipal parks, cemeteries, greenhouses, and nurseries." The last one that I could find that could potentially affect your backyard garden is Code 4-6-201 and 4-16-201 here is a snippet of that code: " A flower seed packet of one pound or less prepared for use in home flower gardens or household plantings or flower seed in preplanted containers, mats, tapes, or other planting devices shall be labeled with the following information" This code goes on to state that you must label your vegetable seed packets and that you must label the flowers and what is in them such as the actual flower or vegetable, who prepared the seed, and the other components in the fertilizer.

These codes are something that we must be aware of because it states what is important even for your backyard garden. It is influenced by the legislation and requires that your backyard garden be up to a specific code and standard that is determined by the state. It is not often that these things will be checked but if called in and reported you can face a fine or a warning about the state that your current garden is in. It is important that you keep your garden or farm well maintained and well groomed. Doing so will not just result in the lack of getting fined or a warning, but it will also help you hopefully produce the backyard garden of your dreams, one that you and your family and maybe even neighbors can benefit from. 

Title 4. Utah Agricultural Code this title is known as the ... (n.d.). Retrieved April 6, 2022, from https://le.utah.gov/xcode/Title4/C4_1800010118000101.pdf

 Manpower and Worm Farming

What manpower is involved in worm farming? Upon research of this topic I talked to my family who has a worm farm in their backyard garden in Syracuse, UT. This family member stumbled upon the idea of worm farming when looking for ways to improve their backyard garden. They were looking to get their plants growing healthier and longer. They have looked at many ideas such as composting, using coffee grounds, manure from cows, and much more. The worm farm they have used is something that is small and just for their backyard garden. Not much manpower is involved besides this family member setting up the garden for the worms. They have used the coffee grounds for the worm farm and have taken those from other family members. 

According to Green Matters worm farming is: "A worm farm is a contained compost space where live worms feed on household food scraps. The benefit here is that they leave behind waste of their own, which makes for incredibly nutrient-dense fertilizer." There isn't much involved in worm farming, other than choosing a supplier for the worms, because specific worms are needed for worm faming, and having the compost necessary for the worms. The biggest "manpower" behind this getting the supplies for the worm farm and then getting the necessary food scraps for the worms. 

For my family member they have been composting for a long time so this is nothing new to them. The only thing that is new is the worms and doing the research to make sure they will get the most out of the fertilizer. They looked up what would be most beneficial for their compost and what would get them the most from the worms. They have used their "manpower" to produce a wonderful backyard garden. This backyard garden is beneficial to them and many other family members with their produce. Backyard worm gardening is becoming more and more popular and is something that is used with families and individuals.

Brierley, K. (2020, August 27). Worm farming 101: How (and why) to get started. Green Matters. Retrieved March 18, 2022, from https://www.greenmatters.com/p/how-to-start-a-worm-farm#:~:text=A%20worm%20farm%20is%20a,vermicompost%2C%20as%20Modern%20Farmer%20shares. 

 

In the picture posted you will see the author is portraying a popular meme image with their own words to support worm farming or vermicomposting. The author of this meme Paul Piccirillo has written books on gardening, has a free worm farming guide, a YouTube channel, has published other memes, and has a website where all this can be accessed. 

The intended audience for this is people who garden or those who grow produce. The author of this image is arguing that with the help of worm farming that you, just like them, can grow big produce. They have used many affective tactics to grab the readers attention. Some of the tactics the author of this meme used was the color of the words, the size of the words, a picture that is well known, and a large red bell pepper to back up the claim that with the help of worm farming that you can have big produce. I will go over in more depth the tactics this author of this meme used. The first thing I noticed was that this writer used red writing in all caps for the word "big". Another tactic he used was that he also put "wait" in all red letters to capture the attention of the reader, in hopes that you would notice the importance of the word wait. This author used a popular meme image and meme text to also try to grab attention of a broader audience, this meme was very popular for it's use of the text "I don't always but when I do". The idea behind using a popular image is important because this could pop up in a google search of the meme, which leads to more people seeing it and can then cause a ripple effect. The last thing I noticed about this meme was that the author has the man hold a large red bell pepper that is larger than his hand to back up the evidence that worm farming can lead to big produce. Using this image by itself simply would not have been enough, using the proof in the picture will make the picture much more powerful.

Priccilo, P. (n.d.). Worm farming revealed. WormFarmingRevealed.com. Retrieved February 24, 2022, from https://www.wormfarmingrevealed.com/

 What is red worm gardening? What is the purpose? How can I do it or how can it help my garden? Where did the worms come from? Why would I want to do this? These are all questions most of you would probably be asking and to be honest before I did the research these are questions I asked myself. So we will start with the what and go from there!

What is red worm gardening and what is the purpose? According to USU's Yard and Garden extension: "Vermicomposting, or worm composting as it is more commonly known, is the process of using worms to break down discarded food and other organic wastes and convert them into compost and liquid fertilizers."  (Utah State University Yard and Garden Extension, 2021) What is the purpose? The general purpose of worm gardening is to enhance your soil. It adds to the fertilizer and makes the soil much more suitable for use in your garden. 

Why would you want to do this? There is one big reason and that is it can improve your local community's environment by reducing the waste. "Worms will reduce your waste production by reusing food scraps and recycling nutrients. The U.S. generates more than 34 million tons of food waste each year (EPA 2011). Prevent this unnecessary waste from ending up in landfills." (Utah State University Yard and Garden Extension, 2021). 

Where do the worms come from? How can I do it and how can it help my garden? "Composting worms, such as red wigglers, are a non-native species preferred for composting; they process large amounts of organic waste daily, can handle disturbances and thrive in confinement, whereas earth workers do not." (Utah State University Yard and Garden Extension, 2021). There are some specific worms that you could buy that would be beneficial and those are the eisenia fetida and the eisenia andrei. These worms can be purchased from worm farms in person or you can even order them off of Amazon! Then once you get the worms what do you do next? The first item you are going to need a place for the worms to be in so grab a container, something that is clean and free from anything that could kill the worms. Then you're going to need something for them to be on- things such as newspaper scraps will work. Now this one is vital you are going to need water. When do you most often see worms crawling around on the cement? After a rain storm! So you are going to need water to keep them alive, but not too much or they'll drown! Grab some dirt and grab some old food scraps such as banana peels, potato peels, the ends of tomatoes, egg shells, old coffee grounds. 

Then you're set! You should be ready to start your worm garden!

University, U. S. (2021, October 21). Vermicomposting. USU. Retrieved February 10, 2022, from https://extension.usu.edu/yardandgarden/research/vermicomposting