Q2 Week 5 Dec 9-13

We are heading into the dead of winter with December 21 being the shortest day of sunlight of the year. That will be happening next week.  The students are currently maintaining vegetables that were planted last spring and some winter crops that were begun in October.

We planted onion, carrots, a variety of lettuces, peas, celery, chive, and different mints. We are maintaining some corn, tomatoes, a variety of hot peppers and some bell peppers.

Our challenge is that many of the chickens are capable of flying over the five-foot fence we have around the garden and love to nibble on the plants.  Most hit are the strawberry plants.

The students continue to maintain and monitor the four compost piles we have. The largest compost pile has been at or above 124 degrees for the past month.

Q2 Week 4 Dec 2-6 Hawk Attack

We had rain on Wednesday, Dec 4th and Friday - Sunday, Dec 6- 8th

On Thursday we had a hawk attack, The hawk killed one of our October chicks that was outside the coop during the day.  It was after football, and I was going to lock up the goats when I saw a hawk on top of one of our chickens. I  shewed the hawk away but the six-week-old chicken was dead.

We are Back!

With the Thanksgiving holiday now behind us we will be concentrating on getting the farm prepared for the winter season. The winter season is the time of the year with the least amount of growth due to the angle of the sun in the southern hemisphere at this time of year.

We are reunited with rain again on Wednesday!
In class we watched the movie The Biggest Little Farm.  Here is a link to an intro of the movie.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=evRZx-YSBSc

Thanksgiving Break

Thanksgiving break  Nov 25-29

Animals, Composting, Garden, Recyling....

Q2 Week 3 November 18-22

Upcoming Items

Wednesday - RAIN
Friday - Last day before break.... Waffles and O.J.

Farm - Get the area ready for both rain and the break.

Garden - Ditto.

Recycling - Get it all bagged up and turned in.

Composting - Get it turned. We have been running at 130 degrees +

 

Things happening around the farm November 11-14 Baby Goats, chickens....

Include photos of baby goats.

Q2 W2 November 11-15

Farm

Goats - The baby are now two weeks old and becoming extremely active.

Chickens - The baby chickens that were born between October 23 and October 28 are becoming very active. They have been in the second phase chicken coop, a small looking home outside room #1. They are about ready to move into a pin in the outdoor chicken coop.

Garden

Exterior Garden Planting - Working on a design for a small greenhouse attached to room #1. In this greenhouse, we will house the newly planted seeds. This was done indoors the past two years, and unfortunately, we encountered nature inside the classroom.

The newly created raised gardens have been planted with the plants received from the LA County fair farm and seeds. The onion seeds began to sprout.

Interior Garden Planting - We continued to monitor the lettuce seeds that were planted indoors two weeks ago. The seeds were placed outside next to room #1.

Recycling

Compost - This week we began a 20'x 20' compost pile behind the farm. We have a commitment from the district facilities group to place all of the new green waste into the area. HHS farm students will keep the pile watered and we will monitor the moisture and temperature of the pile.

Photos taken Sunday, Nov 17

Recycle program - The art department made four posters for the recycling program. Two of the posters were posted today in the quad area. Thank you, Miss Garcia.

Composting Additonally...

On Wednesday, November 6, UUSD district personnel gave us a 20' x 20' area in the back of the campus lot to start a larger compost pile. The district has been dropping off green waste for the past month all over various parts of the area in the back. But with no central drop off point, all the greens were drying out in the wind. The district personnel would then throw it all into a 10-yard dumpster and pay to have it hauled away.  We are hoping to modify this activity. We hope to turn what was a money-losing proposition into a sustainable way to provide our own mulch for the various gardens in the Upland USD.

photo

Composting

Last week or maybe the week prior we established two compost bins and loaded them up with brown and green leaves that were being dropped off in the area behind the farm. Today the temperatures of the piles each reached 110 degrees.  Our goal is to get the internal temperature of the piles between 130 to 160 degrees for three days. After three days we will then turn the pile to start the process over three more times.  After this process, we will then place the compost into a pile and cover until spring ( when we are ready to plant) We are doing this because of the use of chicken bedding and poop that has been mixed in as part of the composting process.

Baby Chicks Moved....and Baby Goats Videos!!!

The baby chicks born on or around October 23-28, a total of seven chicks were placed outside in the Pomona hen house in front of room 1. The heating lamp is still on at night.

Just in case I did not write about it earlier, but we moved the six Silkie chickens that were in the Pomona coop into the main coop in one of the smaller coop rooms.

The August 27 and Sept 11 chicks are now free-ranging with the regular flock.

I also received word from the young lady who took care of Felicia over the summer and who took 19 of our chicks that were hatched in early August that 9 of the chicks are roosters. Yipes.  We will be rectifying this problem.

The baby goats are moving around the pen.


Goats November 3, 2020

Quarter 2 Week 1 November 4-8

Things to do on the farm this week.
1. Cont. planting plants received from the LA County Fair Farm last weekend
2. Begin monitoring compost pile temperature, moisture content and, the daily temperature at the time of reading.
3. Add irrigation lines to the new raised garden planters.
4. Add plywood tops to new cages inside the coop.
5. Repair new fencing  wire in middle cage
6. Start a recycling program. Come up with a way to separate food/plates/recyclables. Use existing box made a couple years ago.
7. Start plants insides.
    Build something to hold trays
    Purchase more lighting
8. Label plants outside..
 9. Cont. labeling chickens

FALL FESTIVAL

The chickens and goats were on display at the Fall Festival held on Wednesday, October 30th.

We have TWO new Goats from Moon Shower

The goats were born on Sunday, October 27, 2019, around 4:45 PM. It appears we have one boy and one girl.

On a side note, we had three baby chicks hatch over the weekend bringing our total since last Wednesday to 7 chicks. I expect to have more tomorrow morning.

Week 10 October 28 - Nov 1

Last week of Quarter #1. I will be the first to say it, Wow the first quarter flew by!

Picked up plants from the LA County Fair Farm on Sunday to plant in our garden

Label chickens. We found the wing of what I thought to be one of our baby chicks, but all of the chicks are accounted for. Now thinking it could have been from a dove. The coloring would be right. We did have a pair of doves hanging around the farm. The labeling of the chicks would be done with a plastic ring that goes around the chicken's leg with an identifying number.

Farm Updates. Chicken killed, 4 new Chicks hatch.

This week we went full circle. On Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday we had chicks born, 4 total. On Friday we found the remnants of a hen we lost last night to a predator. We found a portion of a wing in the garden near the sink. It turns out it was not a chicken. All of our chicks are accounted for. WE have had a couple of doves hanging around the garden lately. It may have been one of them.

We also observed bizarre behavior from Moon River, she was attempting to hump Felicia all day long.  We are wondering if her hormones are changing due to her pregnancy and imminent delivery of some babies. We hope real soon.

Week 9 Oct 21-25

This Week.....

Cont. Filling the 6 raised garden planters students built.
Add irrigation to planters.
Repair irrigation lines to various parts of the garden where lines are broken due to turning the soil.
I found some good pricing on lumber at Lowe's that can be used for another raised garden bed. Purchased 27 pieces of 2x6x 12' DF.

Week 8 Update

Week 8 Update:

This week the main emphasis was getting the new planters filled with soil! WE came close.

Mrs. Haver was attending a farm conference in Sonoma CA. Can't wait to see what she brings back!

Mrs. Haver brought her Silkies to HHS fo us to babysit while she was gone to the conference.

Door handle to Chicken Coop was repaired.


We let the August 27 chicks (6) out during the days to join the coop. This group of chicks are very friendly.

We still have Rock Star in a cage, with a Plymouth Bar rock.  The new black rooster and Rockstar do not get along.

We also are still housing the 8 chickens that Jamir Bravo brought us last week. I still do not know what kind of chickens they are.

Some of the chickens

Week 8 October 14-19

Fill new raised planter beds.
Repair broken irrigation lines.
Install new irrigation lines.
Repair Door in Chicken Coop

Raised planter construction completed

Today we finished the installation of the wood planters. The planters were leveled and attached to one another with3" long screws. Next we will be filling the planters with garden soil!

 

Goat Update Moon River

Our newest goat Moon River is expecting, her utters are beginning to swell. We are preparing for the birth of her kid. We anticipate the birth between Oct 7 and Oct 14th.

Work Continuing on Raised Planters

The students have built six raised planters for the garden. The planters will be completed on Wednesday, October 9th. As of today Tuesday we have all but three completely framed. The remaining two just need two support pieces installed each. Once all of the raised planters are individually made we will fasten them each together and level all as one.

Work Continues.....on Farm. Putting together the last Raised Planter.