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Lincoln Garden Soil Microcosm

Caleb McMurphy Samantha Dishon Cedar Kaplenk “The nation that destroys its soil destroys itself.” – Franklin D. Roosevelt. Lincoln Garden Soil Microcosm. Constructing A Soil Microcosm 1. Goals.

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Lincoln Garden Soil Microcosm

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  1. Caleb McMurphy Samantha Dishon Cedar Kaplenk “The nation that destroys its soil destroys itself.” – Franklin D. Roosevelt Lincoln Garden Soil Microcosm

  2. Constructing A Soil Microcosm1. Goals • Goal #1: To construct a miniature model of the process of soil decomposition at the surface level. • Goal#2: To educate children local community children on the benefits and construction of composting and healthy soil, while planting fast growing seeds to observe physical evidence of growth. • Goal#3:To motivate children to scientifically observe organisms involved in the systematic decomposition of soil.

  3. We also decided to intermittently add microorganisms, and Vermipods®, small capsules of Worm larvae, that would later grow. Constructing A Soil Microcosm2. Pre-Process • Extrapolating information from Toby Hemenway's 2001 book Gaia's Garden: A Guide To Home-scale Permaculture, we decided that the following order of soil construction was optimal to our success: • soil • food scraps • slashed vegetation • lime • manure • newspaper • manure • hay/leaves • compost • mulch

  4. Constructing A Soil Microcosm3. Planning • Met with Candace Russo, our community partner, and Mary Kohl, the Garden Project head, to approve our project. • Working with Ms. Kohl, we established a plan- visit Lincoln Elementary School four times, each visit would have a different focus: • Day One: Construction, outlining our project to the garden club • Day Two: Examine and record soil life • Day Three: Further documentation of soil life • Day Four: Dependent on soil development: if the soil is well

  5. Constructing A Soil Microcosm4. Preparing • Gathered supplies from our homes and Vermipods from the OSU soil sciences department • Picked up food scrapes from Lincoln Elementary School’s lunch room

  6. From “The Conqueror Worm”By Edgar Allen Poe Out- out are the lights- out all! And, over each quivering form, The curtain, a funeral pall, Comes down with the rush of a storm, While the angels, all pallid and wan, Uprising, unveiling, affirm That the play is the tragedy, "Man," And its hero the Conqueror Worm.

  7. Observation and Process1. Day One Lesson Outline Introduced our project Explained the Food Cycle Assigned buckets to each of the children Added each of the soil layers to the terrarium Added the Vermipods interspersed in each layer Asked discussion questions about composting and responsible soil us

  8. The Gardeners The Garden Cedar and Caleb do heavy lifting The Head of Garden Club

  9. Observation and Process2. Day Two Lesson Outline • Reviewed the previous meetings events • Dug one cubic meter from the topmost layer of soil • Handed out cups and plates for each kid to count macro-invertebrate in. • Had a closing discussion about the things they learned

  10. Organism Count

  11. Observation and Process3. Day Three • In between day 2 and day 3 we revised our goals • Shifted from a focus on soil decomposition to a focus on soil education Lesson Outline • Dug 1 cubic meter from the tank by sampling each layer • Performed another bug count, and discussed the change that the aforementioned changes had upon the experiment.

  12. Organism Count

  13. Observation and Process4. Day Four • On the Fourth Day, we gave each child a potted plant, using soil from our experiment as the potting material. • We used this to discuss the importance of home gardens and composted soil.

  14. “What greater folly can be imagined than to call gems, silver, and gold “noble” and earth and dirt “base”? For do not these persons consider that, if there were as great a scarcity of earth as there is of jewels and precious metals, there would be no king who would not gladly give a heap of diamonds and rubies and many ingots of gold to purchase only so much earth as would suffice to plant a jessamine in a little pot or to set a tangerine in it, that he might see it sprout, grow up, and bring forth such goodly leaves, fragrant flowers, and delicate fruit?” -Galileo Galilei

  15. Reflection • This was a very interesting project to work on, we got to learn both about the basic conventions of soil science and the means of educating children in and about an increasingly environmentally progressive world. We faced several challenges, and at one point had to reorient our goals, but our experiment and service learning project was ultimately successful in achieving our three goals.

  16. Bibliography • Hemenway, Toby. Gaia's Garden: A Guide To Home-scale Permaculture. White River Junction, Vermont: Chelsea Green Publishing Company, 2001. Print. • Darwin, Charles. The Formation of Vegetable Mould through the Action of Worm. London: John Murray, 1881. Print. • Hubbell, Sue. Waiting For Aphrodite. New York: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1999. Print. • Poe, Edgar Allen. "The Conqueror Worm." About.com. Graham's Magazine, n.d. Web. 10 Mar 2013. • McDowell, Forrest. Home Composting Made Easy. 6th Ed. Eugene: Cortesia Press, 2009. Print. • Gallelei, Galleleo. "Quotes." Sun. 6 2013: 24. Print.

  17. Special Thanks • Mary Kohlm • Candace Russo • Donna Paloi • Beth Russell • Marc Rosegold • Michael Kaplink • Peg Cornel • Lisa Harlan

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