Einstein, seen here strutting around the pen, is one of the more interesting chickens in the Organic Garden.  Photo by John Abell, professor of economics.

Vegetables grown in the Randolph College Organic Garden.  Photograph by John Abell, professor of economics.

 We started exploring the concept of permaculture, an acronym for “Permanent Culture” and “Permanent Agriculture”. Even though more than 30 years old, this concept is blooming again all around the world as people are realizing that our industrial agriculture system is falling apart because of its economic and environmental non-sense.

 Most of the work done this summer was qualified as “ground work” because it is the very first year of the Organic Garden Internship and we needed to install all the basic infrastructure. Since we started this project, we have raised up a 6 feet fence around a 1-acre piece of land (in a slope!)  along with several gates, a 12×12 chicken coop that will host 45 chickens, a chicken tractor, and a chicken brooder.

Yes that’s right, 45 chickens, representing at least 9 different breeds! Of course, they need care (water, food, protection), but they will give us eggs, manure, meat, and feather (last 2 are optional), they are an excellent natural pest control, and they weed the land we want to plant on thanks to the chicken tractor. A chicken tractor is a structure containing a small coop (for 3 to 5 chickens), and a run (ours is 4×10 feet) that can be moved all around the garden at any time. The concept is simple: the chickens will prepare the beds (4×10 feet) for us! When the soil is weeded and fertilized, we move the tractor and we can start planting. It goes without saying that one of the best thing the chickens bring to us is their presence. They are really fun to be around!

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Additionally we have started different beds using different techniques (rectangular, keyhole, raised, etc), and we have grown a large diversity of crops in small quantities (we mostly experiment and learn new techniques of cultivation). These crops include but are not limited to: tomatoes, potatoes, broccoli, cucumber, yellow squash, zucchini, peppers, basil, dill, onions, garlic, carrots, beans, peas, pumpkin, corn, different native flowers and other plants, wild raspberries, wild blackberries, blueberries, hops, grapes, etc.

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The organic garden has been a success so far. We have already held a workshop (see below) and received the visit and the help from a nationally known fruit trees expert, Tom Burford, and several bees’ specialists.

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Several projects are under construction: pond, beehives, greenhouse, several compost piles, vermiculture, orchard, mushrooms, etc. The list can be long and expanded everyday!

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The overall goal of the garden will be to attract many local people and turn this project into a center for community building around the concepts of sustainable agriculture for a sustainable living.For more info about this unique project, or if you would like to participate, contact Mr Abbassi at sabbassi@randolphcollege.edu, or Professor Warren at kwarren@randolphcollege.edu.

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PS: a second workshop is coming! August 22nd is the date, and the time will be confirmed to all the participants. Please contact Mr Abbassi or Professor Warren to sign up!

This spring, Karl hatched an ingenious “adopt-a-chicken” program, and over 40 students and faculty members selected a chicken breed and named their soon-to-be baby chick. The chicks arrived shortly after, tiny and fluffy and cute as can be:

That was a while ago, and our not-so-tiny chicks just moved outside this week! There’s plenty of pictures, so take a look at their big day in the big new world (and if you’re a proud chick parent or if you’re just curious, come visit them in the garden)!

Moving out of the old carboard box house:

Timidly peeking out of the new house down in the garden:

The first chick brave enough to jump out:

And this is kind friend of Mr. Abbassi’s who volunteered to teach  swale construction at the workshop:

We’re planning another garden workshop for later in the summer… stay tuned for details, we’d love to have you!

We finally did it! After an intense strategy action plan against the wintry weather threatening our trip, we finally made it to D.C. on time for a tasty continental breakfast at the Ronald Reagan Convention Center where the 8^th Annual National Council for Science and Environment (NCSE) conference was held. The title this year was Climate Change: Science and Solutions.

Arriving on the second day of the conference, we were directly driven to the heart of the discussions… no time to lose.

The first couple of speeches and plenary roundtables were extremely refreshing, featuring famous climate persons like Bill McKibben, Stephen Schneider, Michael Crow, and Amb. Richard Benedick.

It was just perfect to boost our energy for the breakout sessions of the afternoon.

Ludo: I went to the breakout session called “Coastal Managers and Climate Change.” As a first year, I have not really a particular preference on an environmental area, and I choose this session because I knew how important the future years would be for the world’s coastal lands. It happened that I discovered a whole new range of perspectives in this domain, which motivated me to make further research in this field to make sure to explore every single subject that could interest me for a future internship or summer research. I’m so glad.”

Archana: My breakout session was titled “Adapting Technology to mitigate climate change.” The session discussed various issues related to implementing various kinds of technologies to mitigate the current “global climatic disruption”, to quote John Holdren. The most important sectors where technology could play a significant role in lowering GHG emissions were identified, as well as the road blocks impeding the implementation of these technologies. The issue of funding these technologies was also discussed which lead to an extensive debate about the policies governing such funds. Finally, a series of six recommendation were agreed upon by all the participants to

Himesha and Matea: We went to the breakout session named “Climate Change Adaptation for the Developing World: Expanding Africa’s Climate Change Resilience” to expand our knowledge in international development. Members of this session discussed ways to improve climate change resilience through enhancing education, data use, and further research areas. Some of the specific topics included, improving natural resource management infrastructure, promoting sustainable agriculture and food security, educating Africans on climate change science and mitigation, and enhancing the acquisition of climate data and their use to make future predictions.