Visit thefieldtrip.wordpress.com to follow my new adventures around the good ol’ U.S. of A., with a camper van and a cat.
The Field Trip is set to begin in November
I will visit farms, intentional communities, and all-around awesome places in search of hope!
Trash in the Soil Experiment
By Darci Pauser
This experiment will get students thinking about the breakdown (or lack thereof) of materials that humans produce. It also explores the concepts of organic and inorganic matter, as well as the presence of agents of decomposition such as moisture and microorganisms.
You will need:
One large yogurt container for each student
Soil from the ground (not potting soil! no microorganisms!)
All about 2cm by 5cm or so of:
Pieces of plastic (cut up plastic bag, cut up plastic cup)
Pieces of metal (bottle caps, coins)
Pieces of paper bag
Kitchen food scraps
Introduce the experiment through a discussion of trash. What do we use? What do we throw away? What do you think you throw away the most? Where does it go? Do you recycle?
What things do you recycle?
The students will probably answer bottles and cans and paper. Write them on the board and ask them what these objects are made of. What are bottles made of? Next to bottles, write glass and plastic. What is used to make glass and plastic? Explain that sand and oil are the raw materials used to make glass and plastic and write sand and oil on the board. What is used to make paper? Trees.
(the recyclable material “cootie-catcher” may be incorporated into this lesson)
Explain that trash items fit into two categories of organic (paper and food scraps) and inorganic (glass and plastic). Organic means “living or once living,” while inorganic is “nonliving”—it never lived at all.
You may show the students the book “Tracking Trash: Flotsam, Jetsam, and the Science of Ocean Motion” to prompt discussion on the ways in which scientists study trash.
Explain that you would like to see what happens to trash in the ground and in a landfill. Ask the students how they would do this experiment.
Suggest that the students bury different kinds of trash (organic and inorganic) in soil. Pass out the containers, and small cups filled with soil. Pass out a piece of each trash material to the students. Have them write down the materials in their experiment under “Organic” and “Inorganic” columns. Next, distribute another cup of soil to the students, covering all the trash materials. Finally, the students should moisten the soil with water, just enough to get the trash damp.
Ask the students what they think will happen to the trash. Will anything change in any way in one month? Will there be a difference in what happens to the organic and inorganic material?
Explain that in a landfill, there is a lot of trash and not a lot of soil, so the trash does not get much air—particularly oxygen, and this is called “anaerobic” (the soil provides an aerobic environment). Ask the students how they can perform an experiment that will show what happens to trash in an anaerobic environment. Suggest that they put the same trash in a sealed jar.
Distribute jars with lids, some soil, and trash material to each student. Have them record the items in their experiment and predict what will happen to the materials.
Water the open-air containers every week for 4 to 6 weeks.
At the end of the experiment, have the students dump out their containers to see what happened to each material. The plastic and metal should be generally unchanged, while the paper and food scraps should be decomposing.
Do not open the jars, but have the students observe what occurred in the jars compared to the aerobic environment of open-air soil. Discuss with the students the formation of methane gas from the rotting of organic material in an anaerobic environment, and the inability of nutrients from organic material to return to the soil in landfill environments.
Reflection Questions:
Why did the organic material break down? What helped it? (water, microorganisms)
Did you see any organisms in the soil? (can’t see microorganisms, but they may have seen bugs)
How long do you think it would take for the inorganic material to break down?
How can our landfills be improved? (compost organic material, recycle as much as possible)
Do you think we could live without landfills completely?
If a farmer wanted to grow food on an old landfill, what problems do you think she would run into?
Trash in the Soil Experiment
By Darci Pauser
This experiment will get students thinking about the breakdown (or lack thereof) of materials that humans produce. It also explores the concepts of organic and inorganic matter, as well as the presence of agents of decomposition such as moisture and microorganisms.
You will need:
One large yogurt container for each student
Soil from the ground (not potting soil! no microorganisms!)
All about 2cm by 5cm or so of:
Pieces of plastic (cut up plastic bag, cut up plastic cup)
Pieces of metal (bottle caps, coins)
Pieces of paper bag
Kitchen food scraps
Introduce the experiment through a discussion of trash. What do we use? What do we throw away? What do you think you throw away the most? Where does it go? Do you recycle?
What things do you recycle?
The students will probably answer bottles and cans and paper. Write them on the board and ask them what these objects are made of. What are bottles made of? Next to bottles, write glass and plastic. What is used to make glass and plastic? Explain that sand and oil are the raw materials used to make glass and plastic and write sand and oil on the board. What is used to make paper? Trees.
(the recyclable material “cootie-catcher” may be incorporated into this lesson)
Explain that trash items fit into two categories of organic (paper and food scraps) and inorganic (glass and plastic). Organic means “living or once living,” while inorganic is “nonliving”—it never lived at all.
You may show the students the book “Tracking Trash: Flotsam, Jetsam, and the Science of Ocean Motion” to prompt discussion on the ways in which scientists study trash.
Explain that you would like to see what happens to trash in the ground and in a landfill. Ask the students how they would do this experiment.
Suggest that the students bury different kinds of trash (organic and inorganic) in soil. Pass out the containers, and small cups filled with soil. Pass out a piece of each trash material to the students. Have them write down the materials in their experiment under “Organic” and “Inorganic” columns. Next, distribute another cup of soil to the students, covering all the trash materials. Finally, the students should moisten the soil with water, just enough to get the trash damp.
Ask the students what they think will happen to the trash. Will anything change in any way in one month? Will there be a difference in what happens to the organic and inorganic material?
Explain that in a landfill, there is a lot of trash and not a lot of soil, so the trash does not get much air—particularly oxygen, and this is called “anaerobic” (the soil provides an aerobic environment). Ask the students how they can perform an experiment that will show what happens to trash in an anaerobic environment. Suggest that they put the same trash in a sealed jar.
Distribute jars with lids, some soil, and trash material to each student. Have them record the items in their experiment and predict what will happen to the materials.
Water the open-air containers every week for 4 to 6 weeks.
At the end of the experiment, have the students dump out their containers to see what happened to each material. The plastic and metal should be generally unchanged, while the paper and food scraps should be decomposing.
Do not open the jars, but have the students observe what occurred in the jars compared to the aerobic environment of open-air soil. Discuss with the students the formation of methane gas from the rotting of organic material in an anaerobic environment, and the inability of nutrients from organic material to return to the soil in landfill environments.
Reflection Questions:
Why did the organic material break down? What helped it? (water, microorganisms)
Did you see any organisms in the soil? (can’t see microorganisms, but they may have seen bugs)
How long do you think it would take for the inorganic material to break down?
How can our landfills be improved? (compost organic material, recycle as much as possible)
Do you think we could live without landfills completely?
If a farmer wanted to grow food on an old landfill, what problems do you think she would run into?
How was the jar experiment different from the open-air one?
Why did we use sealed jars? (anaerobic environment)
What’s wrong with organic material breaking down in an anaerobic environment? (anaerobic bacteria produce methane)
How was the jar experiment different from the open-air one?
Why did we use sealed jars? (anaerobic environment)
What’s wrong with organic material breaking down in an anaerobic environment? (anaerobic bacteria produce methane)
My friend, Jessica, works in the office at Chez Panisse. A tour of the farm that raises Chez P’s meat chickens was organized for the employees and their guests, so, naturally, I went. I had never seen a chicken farm before and although I normally abstain from the said meat, it is because I have a tremendous reverence and respect for the animals. Therein lies my interest in attending the tour.
I peeled myself out of bed on Sunday morning, stopped at Genova’s (an old and locally famous deli in Temescal) to get sandwiches for lunch, and met with Jess at her house in El Cerrito. Her and her partner, Russ, have an awesome container garden in their backyard. El Cerrito switched from small recycling bins to large cans, so Russ goes around retrieving the old bins for use as planters. They come complete with drainage holes and everything, and provide enough room for several little rows of seedlings.
Then, Jessica and I were off to Vacaville, where the fog does not make it in the hot sun. Our little East Bay selves were roasting (just like the fate of them chickens).
Soul Food Farms is owned and run by Alexis and Eric Koefoed and lies just a couple minutes from the 80 freeway, but is flanked on one side by oak-speckled hills that give the feeling of seclusion. Alexis studied viticulture (raising grapes for wine), and bought the land for that purpose. Soon after, however, grapes took a downturn on the market, and Alexis and Eric sort of “fell into” chicken raising. The niche was there, and they reshaped to fit it.
Now, they have 3000 laying hens and 10,000 meat birds, as well as a couple llamas and dogs.
Alexis showed our group around, starting with the meat chickens. They come as chicks in the mail from a hatchery in Pennsylvania– the only hatchery in the U.S. that breeds this special French variety. The chickens were separated by age, which is calculated in weeks. At nine weeks, the chickens are “harvested” and sent to buyers, including Chez Panisse. A Sept. 2007 SF Chronicle article (“Raising Poultry the New-Old Way”) reported the chickens were harvested at 12 weeks. During our tour, Alexis emphasized the importance of harvesting at nine weeks, noting that this was the prime age for the best taste.
The same aforementioned Chronicle article discussed the balance between intimate, small-scale arrangement and industrial-like organization: “streamlining will help, but they’re wary of heading too far down the road toward higher production and efficiency.” Indeed, the chickens seemed much more organized than those at Green String, which, I think, is good for the chickens. Although, the structure did seem to highlight the purpose– these are for eating. It was slightly disturbing to hear people on the tour joke about how tasty the chickens were going to be, and about naming them before eating them. Like I said: reverence and respect.
And nine weeks does seem like a short little chicken life, but, you know, those chickens looked good— happy, I mean. Olive trees were planted for the double use of shade for the chickens and the fruit for pressing into oil. They obviously had no diseases and there were no sore, featherless spots that are the indicator of pecking and fighting.
The laying hens wander about the property and have a significantly longer life than the meat chickens. Alexis and Eric search about the property daily to look for eggs that have been laid in bushes and under trees— the prototypical Easter egg hunt. The llamas and hens hang out together under a big tree. There are no roosters, as Eric and Alexis said they cause too much drama and tension amongst the hens. Although, once, someone abandoned a little Bantam rooster on their property, and the humor of this one little rooster crowing everyday and surveying his harem of 3000 prompted Eric and Alexis to keep him.
That is, until the day he disappeared– a predator must have snatched him, Alexis said. Well, we’ve all gotta eat.
