Pathway Horticulture and Science

inertia broken, seeds are on the way

noreply@blogger.com (Wayne Stratz) — Tue, 11 May 2010 23:25:00 +0000

After a few weeks of off and on examination of seed catalogs this past winter had created a huge list of possibilities. I delayed and delayed and delayed...

And truth be told we had plenty of seeds from years past to start a variety of tomatoes, peppers, chiles, eggplants, and herbs. We started marigolds, dahlias, calendula, snapdragons, rudbeckia, and more flowers. The room and now greenhouse are filled with seedlings.

Why the delay? oh probably this and that and some more of the other thing. But finally I was faced with a need for my favorite zucchini and cucumber seeds, both of which I will start directly outside in a week or two along with the green beans and swiss chard.

anyway, this is what it is all about... all from Pathway's Garden last year.

views of the world

noreply@blogger.com (Wayne Stratz) — Sat, 08 May 2010 13:49:00 +0000

As my first year of using Conceptual Physics comes to a close, I am happy with my choice. The man won huge points in the first chapter, About Science. Near the end of that chapter he has a section called Science, Art, and Religion. He sees them as different ways to view the world and thus can complement each other.

I explained to my class that we were there to learn about physics, not disprove God. I have had a decrease in negative religion comments this year.

This all came back to me this week. On Wednesdays we have been quickly reviewing a concept then applying math to solve related problems. A question came up asking the students to determine which had a greater gravitational pull on a new born baby, Mars or the doctor standing 1.5 feet away. Turns out the doctor. The question started with the claim by astrologers that the pull of the planets at our birth will influence who we become as adults.

We did not prove that the planets have no influence, but we did see reason to have doubt. And while I believe science is not the business of disproving God, I also don't believe science is the place to ignore unscientific claims about the reality of nature, such as the age of the planet or evolution of life.

and by the way, I'm a Christian, a Leo, and a Rabbit who loves science... if that explains anything I have written above.

of Echinoderms and tomatoes

noreply@blogger.com (Wayne Stratz) — Sun, 02 May 2010 20:16:00 +0000

The zoology class spent the week exploring the world of echinoderms; and what a wonderful example of what can evolve out of basic characteristics, which in this case are 5 part radial symmetry, tube feet, and an internal skeleton.

The earthworms of the sea floor, sea cucumbers, have a few swimmers in their midst...

The students imagined large alien sand dollars (imagine a cousin of the urchin with short spines) being responsible for crop circles...

and then I was much pleased to find this new post on sea stars.

Looking at echinoderms proved no different than looking at mollusks, which include clams, snails, and squids, or mammals which include bats, dolphins, and lions.

Tis a cool world.

In horticulture we are prepared to take on orders for our tomato plants. On Friday an e-mail informed the entire school of the varieties for 2010, and my car is filled with the ingredients to mix soil for the pots (all are in deep plug tray for now). As the orders come in we will harden off the plants in the greenhouse and by mid-May tomato plants will radiate out from Pathway to many home gardens, like mammals radiating out to all their shapes from their point of origin.

Unwanted plants...

noreply@blogger.com (Wayne Stratz) — Mon, 26 Apr 2010 21:25:00 +0000

Saturday I returned from leading a crew of comcast volunteers into the school's veggie garden, and ventured into my own backyard.

I weeded, appreciated the return of perennials, cut of dead flower stems from last year and pondered a certain plant.

Later in the day, I showed the new blooms and the mystery plant to my wife. We decided it was a weed. Being foolish I examined it a bit. Later, I would be glad I didn't taste it.

No, I don't taste strange plants and after this experience I will think twice about not wearing gloves.

My wife tracked down the plant and informed me that I had a thriving poison hemlock in my garden.

Sunday, she took the action photo that leads into this post, when I removed the plant. In the evening I searched out videos on plants that are winning the chemical war with humans, well, I could have used chemicals to kill the hemlock.

So, today I told my students to not be like me and be cautious when encountering a strange plant, and we reviewed the plants I normally speak of when I speak of the dangers of gardening. This is the hippest informative video found...

By the way the comcast volunteers did a great job helping out in our garden and across campus.

...

kudos to the Mighty Assistant... dried, fresh, and blooming flowers

noreply@blogger.com (Wayne Stratz) — Sat, 24 Apr 2010 01:32:00 +0000

above you see some of the bookmarks we made this winter. I had my hand in gluing the flowers down, but my wonderful assistant worked the flower press with many a student last summer and fall. The other day she made an arrangement of of Azalea blooms which led to...

a student saying,"Can we dry those?" and off I went with students to gather spring blooms and the Mighty Assistant and the other students got out the microwave press. We came back and then back again with blooms of Blue Bells, Dogwoods, Cherries, Apples, and Pansies. Not what I had planned, but a wonderful day to capture spring in our midst
On Tuesday, our supervisor came in to observe my teaching and saw the flower arrangements. Today my supervisor called to thank the Mighty Assistant for the arrangements she made this morning for a luncheon, which celebrated the success of some of our students.

This morning as I worked on the computer, the Mighty Assistant, saw something that no one had seen. One of our mystery aloes had decided to put on a show. And as my work week ended, I took some photos of that discovery...

David Attenborough, a celebrity, takes us into Earth Day

noreply@blogger.com (Wayne Stratz) — Wed, 21 Apr 2010 00:15:00 +0000

In my classroom, there resides a few DVD's of the amazing nature films starring the David Attenborough. If nothing else, my science students will leave my school knowing that this man has lived an amazing life during which he has brought nature's mysterious ways into our homes again and again and again. They all know his name, and how cool is that. He makes us smile, and how cool is that.

20 years ago it was The Living Planet that emerged for us to see. After planning out a week of exploring the echinoderms in my zoology class, I changed plans Monday morning. We are watching, taking notes, and discussing the final segment. It is here that after exploring all the habitats of the Earth, Attenborough takes on how humans have changed the planet. So, we watch and discuss, and then I am sending the students to go to our new Wiki and update the planet's story. In the last 20 years, what has happened to those animals, plants, and places that Attenborough so cares about, that at the age of 83, he has reached the North Pole as he films his new series about life in the frozen realms.

Here, is the final message that my students will watch tomorrow...

entering the world of wikispaces

noreply@blogger.com (Wayne Stratz) — Sun, 11 Apr 2010 20:49:00 +0000

I have an experiment going on at work. I have set up a wiki to use in my science classes. We will see where it leads and soon I will let the world in to see it, but for now the students and I are constructing it.

I let the students on last Friday and I learned a few things before the second class logged off. It will be like that, failures and successes guiding us on to a new teaching tool. My main mistake was having too many students editing the same space and student work was loss.

I want the students to be actively involved in teaching each other, not just a list of assignments. We will see.

This is the a wikispace by a presenter I saw at the NSTA conference... Why Wikis and see how he has applied it... his class wiki

Are wiki's happening in your district or are they blocked?

If you have a wiki for your classroom... I would love to see it. I'll let you know when we unveil ours.

many more examples of wikis

In horticulture we had plenty of weather to be outside this past week and our flower garden has gotten a spring cleaning. We scattered lettuce and broccoli raab seeds. We even ventured into a bed we don't usually touch, but I got tired of seeing all the dandelions. Here is a photo of myself and a portion of our flower garden as it appeared in August of 2007...

it just isn't right outside

noreply@blogger.com (Wayne Stratz) — Thu, 08 Apr 2010 00:40:00 +0000

well, I think so.

6 weeks ago when piles of snow were massive... if you had told me that we would have several upper 80 degree days during the first week of April and that Spring would be several weeks ahead of schedule... I would have told you that you were confused.

I was giving a tour of our flower garden to a group of students who are sampling horticulture for the final quarter of the school year and I was trying to point out how strange things were in the plant world. A record warm March followed by more excessive heat has things racing ahead of schedule.

We had gotten to the Bee Balm and a student pointed out that it was overwhelming this... (photo taken in a previous year)

and it showed my point... the Bee Balm should not be so high. I am curious what such an early Spring will lead to...

viewing the microscopic and living plants for big changes

noreply@blogger.com (Wayne Stratz) — Sat, 03 Apr 2010 21:49:00 +0000

The day I returned from the National Science Teacher Association Conference, I had lots of ideas floating in my head. I started with this one: understanding the relative size of the microscopic world.

But first I had the students write down the name of a huge, large, medium, and small... human made objects in Physics and animals in zoology. Then I had them take their scraps and in groups place them in order.

Then I gave them the slips of paper that had 17 objects, the largest being a coffee bean, the smallest being a carbon atom. It was interesting to see the strategies used to place them in order, but there was plenty of frustration. How can you size things that you can not see? Then I showed them this on the the smart board...

FROM COFFEE TO CARBON use your mouse to slide the button under the pictures to zoom in. Which they found as cool as I did when I saw it at the conference.

Teacher resources for this and other units created at the University of Utah can be found here (scroll down on your left). Use the link at the top left to flip back and forth between Teaching and Learning.

My horticulture classes are gearing up for spring which came suddenly after a very snowy February. March proved to be very warm and wet. I am glad that we were asked to provide flowers for a celebration of the residential program at our school, which is sadly closing come graduation in June. For most of the tables we chose to have living flowers...

all the pansies that weren't flowering when we bought them, are now flowering in a bed outside my classroom.

...

Gratitude for time off and for...

noreply@blogger.com (Wayne Stratz) — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 22:06:00 +0000

Gratitude and grace are linked by where they emerged from in the history of our language.

Three guys named Dave who I claim to be their mentor, but truly am just glad to have their friendship

students who moved plenty of leaves and whose eyes light up when I say. "lavender brownies."

seed catalogs bringing color when grays have taken over the landscape, someone once told me that Pennsylvania's hills in the winter time look like an angry wolf, however, ...

the mighty assistant went out as I prepped for my science classes on Tuesday morning and 30 minutes later walked this over to the education office. She never knew she had this skill, but she sure can make a wonderful arrangement.

rain stops the mass movement of leaves

noreply@blogger.com (Wayne Stratz) — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 13:59:00 +0000

Not down to the ground that is.

So the veggie garden is down to broccoli raab, lettuce, and leeks ... things were getting a bit slow. Then the leaves began to fall on campus.

It brings on the season of comments like

"raking again!"

"a leaf blower would be easier"

But I see it as my personal mission to get some exercise into the lives of my students. Two beds planted with garlic have a nice cover of leaves. And three giant piles a spread about the garden and soon we will cover all the beds for winter. It does much for the garden in my view.

nutrients for one, organic matter for two, and thirdly ... weed control till we plant in the spring time. All free, if we work hard. The piles seem to show we have done some work. Weather permitting we will be busy moving leaves till Thanksgiving break. Will get some photos when the rain stops.

taking a break gets out of control

noreply@blogger.com (Wayne Stratz) — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 10:50:00 +0000

It was springtime some eleven years ago, and I had just been assigned to start a horticulture program in the fall. I decided to take a break from haircuts while on summer break. Eleven years later I have developed a program, but have only cut my hair twice. On 8/25/09 I announced that I was taking a break from the blog, now the first quarter of the school year is about to end...

Maybe I would have to admit my lack of passion for gardening at home. Spring is when I love gardening. The return of colors to a Pennsylvania landscape rich in grayish browns. The sun, the colors, the emergence of life draws me outside. This year, not only the heat of summer but the tiredness of Lyme disease kept me inside.

Then there was the rain. The rain. The rain. It has been a bit wet here and when it was no longer too hot, it rained many a weekend.

But mostly it was a greater passion. The day after the 25th I went on my annual 8 day silent retreat with Jesuits. I emerged with a desire to spend time in my stained glass studio ( a small but sacred place in my house). So since September, I have been trying to be there as much as possible. Prepping for my physics and zoology classes, stained glass, and time with my wife have ruled over the home garden. It would be a lie to say I have done no gardening. It would be the truth to say the garden has never been such a mess.

At school I have gardened. But maybe my lack of gardening at home made me feel unworthy of writing a garden blog post. So there are things to blog about here, and this blog is not about my home garden. Horticulture at Pathway has been happening at the school.

Do you have a hard time getting back to something if you take a break?

The end of summer

noreply@blogger.com (Wayne Stratz) — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 23:46:00 +0000

So the ESY program at the school has come and gone and I would certainly tweek some things next year...

give up on afternoon horticulture clubs... just too darn hot and humid half the time.

have greater success with cucumbers, just a pitiful year????

change my schedule a bit, if possible.

no Lyme disease taking me out of the action for three weeks.

But...

keep the mass of students that flowed through my classroom and our gardens.

and whatever I did with the eggplants... do it again. Best year ever. Covering with row covers from the start really kept insect pests away.

keep cooking and baking...

Keep up the hope we will learn from our mistakes.

keep making flower arrangements.

So that's a really quick review. probably won't be blogging about the school garden much for a week or so. But I am excited by the prospects of the fall season. Feeling healthy and cooler weather could make for one tired teacher/gardener.

rebound

noreply@blogger.com (Wayne Stratz) — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 00:23:00 +0000

about a week ago I noticed a bounce in my step. It told me two things...

how bad I had been feeling fighting off the Lyme disease, and

that it wasn't the antibiotics that were making me feel so ill.

I still had several days of antibiotics to go, so while I pushed myself a bit harder, I did avoid long periods of sun and thought rest was still in order.

Today with a few drug free days behind me and a small class, I sent the students selling (fingerling potatoes, peppers, garlic, eggplant, zucchini, and a single cucumber) and I went out into the heat and sun to weed two 20 foot beds of green beans... our fall harvest. Later in the day we baked rosemary bread and ate it with oven roasted veggies.

It was wonderful to come home exhausted from working hard.

I have been overwhelmed with paperwork at school and doing a craft business newsletter at home, but hope to get caught up on all my favorite garden blogs this weekend and early next week.

harvest photos

noreply@blogger.com (Wayne Stratz) — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 21:23:00 +0000

need energy

noreply@blogger.com (Wayne Stratz) — Sun, 09 Aug 2009 17:11:00 +0000

I am looking at another 7 days of antibiotics and I am waiting to feel energized again. With two weeks left in the summer session, I will try to keep some hope, but it may not be till we come back in September before I can garden as I was gardening a month ago. Hope is there.

The job also requires much energy to be aware of what is happening with the students and with how I am responding to them. By the end of the day I am reflecting on where I need to focus my energy.

Blogging has not been one of them as well as weeding my home garden. The weeds are getting stronger, while the blog waits.

And just when my blog was featured in the parent's newsletter for the school. Since I began this blog I have always listed my URL in my blurb. This time it caught the eye of a parent who was editing the letter. She asked if she could use my photos and words. Since getting this blog to parents has been my hope, it was a great thing. Great things are energy producers. I need to keep a look out for more.

state of the union e-mail and a very cool thing

noreply@blogger.com (Wayne Stratz) — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 01:07:00 +0000

at work I sent out this e-mail...

The need….

plastic grocery bags

The bad….

The cucumber plants look great, tons of flowers, tons of fruit forming… then what???? Who knows… rabbits? And the zucchini … maybe now that it is hot we will get some.

The good…

we harvested one bed of fingerling potatoes this morning and I am quite happy with our yield. Info on fingerlings check out this web site. And now we have an empty bed for a fall crop (our four varieties of winter squash are also thriving and taking over their space quite nicely)

The hope…

the eggplants are taking off in the heat that has finally arrived. No bugs. Tons of flowers.

The unintended neglect…

If you have not had our garlic, onions, peppers, green beans, and/or Swiss Chard. Send an e-mail

the very cool thing...

as we were harvesting the potatoes (OK, I was outside in the sun for a few more minutes than I have exposed myself to since being diagnosed with Lyme disease), we were visited by two fine folk from the department that keeps our students fed. During the winter they had expressed an interest in serving the garden veggies in the school cafeteria. Not really swamped with what I had expected, zucchini and cucumbers, I had not approached them. But by the time the school day had ended, a bag of onions had been passed their way. very cool, if I have to say so myself.

Sunflowers red and great experiment

noreply@blogger.com (Wayne Stratz) — Sun, 02 Aug 2009 00:53:00 +0000

The first year we planted sunflowers at the school, they were in the vegetable garden. I don't even know if we had taken charge of the flower bed, which most now know as the space we have deemed our place away from the veggie garden (and deer). The second year we planted, I decided to fill a 20 foot bed in the veggie garden. I had this image that anyone driving into the lower parking lot would be met with a billion suns. We planted on a Friday and by the time I drove down that drive way, all had been eaten by a mammal of some sort. I wonder if that is when I tried to get a deer fence, which never happened???

The next attempt was in our flower bed. The home has been behind the day lilies. So as they fade out, as they are now, something towering and beautiful would catch the eye, instead of the dying lilies. This year we planted some on the other side of the garden, and there is one with a red tint to its leaves and much red to its flowers, and you are looking at the only opened sunflower bud as of 7/31/09. Moulin Rouge is its name and it is the first red sunflower I have grown. My wife is already imaging a mosaic in its honor.

But why two beds you ask? What motivated me was our involvement in The Great Sunflower Project which I wrote about back in March. And those sunflowers are growing and prospering behind the day lilies. Any day we will be watching for bees and sending data to the scientist running this experiment. we just need to be patient and let the flowers emerge...

...

diseases... of bee balm and men

noreply@blogger.com (Wayne Stratz) — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 22:44:00 +0000

Certain plants seem to attract powdery mildew, and bee balm seems to be one of them. It still manages to attract hummingbirds even when diseased. Here is some info on the fungus, and what can be done when it shows up. I have used the 1 tablespoon of baking soda per gallon of water approach to control its spread in the past and I am using it again this year.

Friday night I thought a mosquito had gotten me. Saturday morning thoughts of worse things crept in to my head. Helping my wife at a craft show this weekend kept me busy, but by Sunday morning I was checking out the CDC's info on Lyme disease and by Sunday night I had my Monday planned out. I did not call out sick, but I did call in to say that whenever my doctor could see me, I was leaving work and heading for antibiotics. I am not usually as reactive to bodily woes, but this one was serious enough that I moved on it. My hope is that my quick response will have me not experiencing any more symptoms than the rash. I knew that working in a garden frequented by deer put me at a high risk so I am far from shocked, if far from happy.

But a new challenge has arisen. The doctor and the info that came with the meds were real clear... stay out of the sun. My mind is already racing towards solutions to this problem.

sorry, no photo of the diseased man.

deer protection which is not perfect but does float

noreply@blogger.com (Wayne Stratz) — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 10:11:00 +0000

I wish my garden at the school did not look this way...

But this does keep the deer away and it also does what it is meant to do... keep insects pests away and in the fall--- some frost protection. Air, sun, and rain pass through the floating row covers and except for a failed attempt at growing radicchio, the deer have stayed on the other side. The onions and the leeks in the foreground have yet to be bothered by pest. Since I took this photo three more "tents" have appeared in this area.

plants that tend to vine, will find there way out and since I took this photo the tip of this cucumber plant has been nipped....

and then there are peppers. For several years no mammals had a taste for them, but apparently those tender leaves at the top of the plants are approved deer chow. Here is a look at the peppers under cover....

Calendula for the first time

noreply@blogger.com (Wayne Stratz) — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 02:09:00 +0000

This past week at the school, I was surely smitten by something I tend to not adore... a "doubled" flower emerged from our first ever attempt at growing Calendula. "Look at this," I said and directed many a student eye toward a flower that amazed me. Friday afternoon I grabbed my camera as the work week was coming to an end and first headed to the flower I wanted the world to see. And there was one on the far left of the five Calendula plants we had put into the ground...

Next to it another of the plants was beginning to have some flower buds unfold into a double, but appearing to be a different color...

I went over to the far right plant because I wanted an example of the first Calendula to bloom this year, all that was there was a flower ready to be deadheaded...

But I knew where I could find one. Earlier in the morning my students had helped me make a flower arrangement which we took to the good women in the education office who assist all of us...

the bright yellow flower at the bottom is what I was expecting from all the plants. Now if I had a memory I would not have been shocked, but what fun would that have been. I dug out the seed packet: Calendula Flashback Mix from Johnny's Selected Seeds.

I just glanced and found some recipes in which the petals of this plant are listed as an ingredient. Now I am curious, what would the Human Suggestion Box, who despised lavender brownies think of Calendula Corn Muffins? And does anyone put them into brownies??????????

9/35 through summer

noreply@blogger.com (Wayne Stratz) — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 23:11:00 +0000

I am wondering about how very little we have harvested so far this summer and I have some theories as to why it is so...

and while my age certainly has slowed me down, and while teaching two science classes has taken time away from horticulture, and while we spent some time planting beds of raspberries and blackberries, and then the potatoes took two beds...

it was the weather... those 11 straight days of rain and all the other cool rainy days this past spring which is the main reason for the slow harvest.

But things are happening and the garden looks great to me these days. We have weeded and watered. We fertilized with the fish fertilizer which claims on its label to not smell. We have made a late but hopeful attempt to grow zucchini, and we have planted two beds of green beans for the fall. We harvested a tray full of onions (many more in the garden) which sold except for one, which then went into my dinner. We have deadheaded a few times and we have started drying flowers, a new project this year. We combined bags of Right Dress, compost, and top soil to make a mulch for around the peppers, eggplants and berries.

The plants are thriving and the harvest is near.

Today I took some of my basil to the school and in a major group effort we made pesto the old fashioned way... with mortar and pestle. The fresh garlic was a bit "hot" but all the students ate it and none gagged, though some gagged at the sight of it.

and I am so grateful that 8/9 of these days were around 80 with low humidity. Sometimes the weather gets you, sometimes it helps you out.

...

a truly once a year event--- garlic harvest

noreply@blogger.com (Wayne Stratz) — Sat, 11 Jul 2009 11:40:00 +0000

After three straight days of pulling weeds at the school, it was time to do something a bit more fun on Thursday, if not a bit more stinky... The annual garlic harvest. There is different opinions on how brown/green the leaves should be when you harvest the garlic. Some years I have gone to the browner end of the spectrum, but I like doing it at the greener end.

At the greener end the students are less likely to find rotted bulbs and are also less likely to snap the connection between bulb and leaves.

The students are shown the technique then I for the most part step back only to rush back if help is needed. I wait for the bundles to be tied up, at which point I venture into our cart garage to hang them for drying.

For the next few months it is a place one is not likely to find any vampires. However, if you chose to hide out in there, the smell will very likely permeate your being. In two weeks or so, we will begin selling it.

2/35th gone already... summer school

noreply@blogger.com (Wayne Stratz) — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 23:15:00 +0000

Two days of summer school completed and here are some thoughts:

1. I have given up on finding the bed of zucchini. Clearly it was stolen by elves. The bed of patty pans had poor germination. I am thinking it is not too late

2. The weeds that were among the flowers, Swiss chard, cucumbers, peppers, yellow wax beans, onions, leeks, eggplants, swiss chard, winter squash have been asked kindly to get out.

3. a handful of sweet peppers harvested and will be used in the cooking club later this week. Onions will be also harvested for this.

4. garlic had some weeds but will be harvested real soon.

5. Potatoes were largely free of weeds.

6. The Mighty Assistant was handed a book on using a microwave flower press. I am expecting some cool things to emerge from this.

7. Lavender harvested, dead headed, cleaned up.

7. Yesterday I saw the director of admissions of the school standing with someone up a hill where my classroom is located. They waved. I waved back. They walked down to our veggie garden as my class was cleaning up. The visitor was the wife of a dear friend who passed away recently. I asked her if she had seen the Day Lilies which I had dug out of her garden and added to a bed of monotone tiger lilies at the school. She had. Here are some of Dr. Ed's loved lilies...

Phlox emerging

noreply@blogger.com (Wayne Stratz) — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 00:55:00 +0000

I went out to take photos of the Phlox buds because I adore them and what caught my eye was stage between bud and flower. emergence. Tried to search out the label for this plant but could not find it, so the variety is a mystery. Below is a photo of the buds which I love, in focus...

tomorrow summer session starts, so the focus will go back to the school garden.