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