Fall Homeschool Program at the Living Classroom - Nature, Sustainability and Permaculture

This fall, the OEC took on a new pilot program servicing a niche market for education: homeschool students.  Every Friday, for 8 weeks the Living Classroom had 8 students aged k - 3 that were an absolute delight!! In our regular science camp programming, we get an opportunity to work with a child over the course of 2 - 4 days, and then sadly we often don't see them again.  Having students come consistently brought on a new element of familiarity, camaraderie and fun for both us the instructors and the students.

Every Friday had a theme for the day: 

• the sun, its purpose, photosynthesis and solar cooking
• changing of the seasons, harvest time 
• decomposition, composting, vermiculture and recycling
• water cycle and water footprint
• citrus investigation and integrated pest management
• bees and pollinators
• native animals to our region, trip to the OC zoo

We knew from the beginning that we wanted our students to be able to see the progression of their own garden at the OEC.  We devoted one of our raised beds to this program and upon our first meeting the children remediated the soil of their beds and planted their own seeds.  Each week they tended to their garden, watering, pulling weeds, organic pest management and discussion on the process of growing plants.  They were absolutely thrilled each week to see their little seeds sprout and grow into healthy plants. 

There was also an element of art for most of our activities, adding the concepts of STEAM to our curriculum.  STEAM incorporates art into science, technology, engineering and math which is an excellent way to help relay technical words or concepts into a more creative understanding.  Water - bottle rockets, seed mosaics, ephemeral art in nature and many more activities are examples of STEAM in the classroom.

We look forward to our next homeschool program that will begin next spring!

Easy, Fun and Organic Citrus Pest Management using Ladybugs

 Organic pest management techniques are easy, educational, and can be a fun experience for adults and kids. Releasing Ladybugs (aka Vedalia beetles) is one of the many ways we, at the Life Science Program at the IROEC, keep our Living Classroom and citrus orchard healthy.  Releasing Ladybugs on our 180 tree Citrus Orchard generously donated by Grifith Farms will help by adding beneficial insects that naturally cutback the amount of harmful bugs like aphids and varieties of scale.  This technique doesn't use pesticides that harm other plants and won't depress our local ecology by killing other beneficial insects.  Kids also get super excited to get involved; to see, touch, and experience Ladybugs in action!  Even California's citrus history and our 1889 importation of the Vedalia Beetle to combat Scale has proven that it's,

 "applied ecology established the practicality of biologic control making it the preferred pest control method of the Entomological Society of America" (1).   

In an effort to bring more diversity into our orchard and help combat some pests we are dealing with (cotton cushion bug, mealy bug and red scale) we ordered those sweet little Ladybugs and this is the process in which we took to bring them to their new home: 

Get your Ladybugs from your local organic nursery or online.  Once they arrive place them in a refrigerator.  Placing them in the refrigerator encourages them to go into a dormant state, utilizing their protein stores from the rich diet they were given before shipment.  Some Ladybugs will survive underground, under the snow for months at a time!

While we wait, we gather our WWOOFers.  They're usually pretty close by eating Kale or reading a guide on permaculutre.  Make sure they're well fed, rested, and happy.  

Once your Ladybugs and WWOOFers are ready, head on out to your garden, in our case, the Orchard.  You'll need a watering pale, scissors, good shoes and your Ladybugs.  

 (Running in an orchard, dodging ripe oranges, covered in Ladybugs, and with the bright lights of Orange County make the experience feel like a dream.  A bit surreal but super fun!)    

Release your Ladybugs in the evening and spread them over the course of several days.  So about 1/3 of your supply of bugs Monday, 1/3 on Wednesday, 1/3 on Friday.  Something like that.  You also want to spread your Ladybugs out depending on the size of your space.  We have about 2 acres and ordered about 4,500 ladybugs, spreading them out every 6 trees for each day.  

To get ready, cut a small slit in your bag of Ladybugs and pinch it closed.  They come out fast so be ready and careful not to crush any.  Lightly water each tree or space where Ladybugs will be.  Water will help them recover after a long travel and hibernation.  

Here's where the good shoes come in.  Water the tree, release a small amount of bugs, then hurry to the next tree.  Once you let go of the pinched bag they crawl out non-stop.  Avoid re-pinching and killing ladybugs by hurrying to the next tree! 

Continue that process over the course of several trees until you've used about 1/3 of your supply.    

Vedalia beetle attacking the cotton cushion scale

biocontrol.ucr.edu

(1) Caltagirone, L. E., and R. L. Doutt. "The history of the vedalia beetle importation to California and its impact on the development of biological control." Annual Review of Entomology 34.1 (1989): 1-16.

Baker Creek donates to the Living Classroom

Baker Creek Heirloom Seed Company generously donated a big box of Heirloom seeds to the Living Classroom!!! Christmas came early for us this year!!!Thank you Baker Creek!!

Check out their products at:

http://www.rareseeds.com/

WWOOFers and Fall

Waking up to the cold in my room, peering out my window, and seeing the sky dim with low lying coastal fog, I realize I didn't bring enough cold weather clothing to Southern California.  I shuffle across the crushed gravel to the staff commons room and kitchen and wait for the Keurig to heat up my tea.  I feel special to see the fleeting instant of morning when a fog covered sun rises over Koll Mountain. You can almost feel the earth rotating.  Strong enough to hit the purple strands of California Oat, the dim sunlight creeps down the hill and onto the Great Lawn.  Life is good and seasons here at the IROEC are changing.

Along with three others, I am WWOOFing, volunteering in the citrus grove and organic garden in exchange for a room and good organic food (http://www.wwoof.net/).  Every Monday we have a community dinner where staff and wwoofers get a chance to come together and hangout.  We pick from the garden and each make a dish to share.  Dan's roasted butternut squash soup is incredibly rich and flavorful while Tony's garden fresh pesto goes well with almost anything you can think of and Anna Maria has mastered the pasta.  I round out the table with a curried sweet potato concoction and Jane is currently scheming of a vegan dessert.  I can't wait! We go one by one and talk about what went in our dish.  Suddenly what we thought couldn't get better becomes richer and sweeter when we know about the care and energy put in!  While we eat we plan for the upcoming week, review the past week, get input from different perspectives, and share ideas.  It's a good time to reflect.

Dan and Tony chowin down!  

(sorry guys) 

Since arriving in mid-May I've had the chance to see the sun scorched scrub turn green again, get caught in and feel the cold of my first large Californian rain, witness the benefits of our homegrown dining-hall-fed compost on our plants, and mostly to recognize the potential we have for our community.  Tomorrow is Monday and I can't wait for dinner!   

Check back for updates on our space, the Ranch program, and the IROEC.  

Cheers, 

Matt