The Basics Of Organic Food Production

The Basics of Organic Food ProductionDr. Elaine Solowey3 weekly lecture hours, 3 credits. UndergraduateCourse descriptionThe purpose of this course is to present information about small scale organic foodproduction, its potential and its problems. In this course we will explore the social andeconomic aspects of producing one's own organic food and engage students inpracticing soil enrichment techniques, composting and vermin-composting, containergardening and keeping small livestock as well as seed saving, food storage, foodpreparation, slow food movements and the active preservation of heirloom fruitsvegetables and animal breeds.The semester includes a guest lectures and workshops on building greenhouses,cloches and chicken coops.Grade components:Final exam 40%Project35%Students choose an aspect of organic food production to investigate independently, presentingat the end of the semester a report or demonstration project with a written component .Assignments 20%Attendance 5%Students build and keep compost piles, plan and plant a garden, practice mulching, learningbasic pruning techniques, construct a greenhouse from scrap material and design a chickencoopLesson OneCourse Introduction and issuesDr Elaine SoloweyGrowing food is only half of the process Oldest Prepared foods what came first, bread or cheese?Lesson TwoGardensKingsolver, Barbara. Animal, Vegetable, Miracle, The Year of Eating Local, 2009Logsdon, Gene. The Economics of Small Scale Grain Production.2009Hands on in the gardenAssignment –what do you want to grow in your vegetable garden?1

Lesson ThreeBringing Food Production Back HomeDr Elaine SoloweyReadings: The staff of Life? Bread making and use.Astyck, Sharon. How Much Did the Green Revolution Matter? Energy Bulletin Jan. 7,2007Lesson FourRogers and Alexander. Saving Seeds, How Gardeners Protect and Preserve SeedDiversity, Storey Publications 1991Hands on in gardenAssignment: A seasonal garden or all year around?Lesson Five3: Good Food Starts with Good SoilDr Elaine SoloweyReadings. Jeavons J. The Intensive French Method of Growing Vegetables,What about containers?Adapting to your area: 3 methods, which is for you?Lesson SixCSAs, Seed Saving and Agricultural DiversityDr Elaine SoloweyReadings: Altieri, Miguel. The Ecological Impacts of Industrial Agriculture, 197-199,Fatal Harvest, Island Press, Corvelo, 2002Hands onHow do we save seeds?Lesson SevenBreeding your own vegetables, possible?Lesson EightUrban Gardening and Community GardensDr Elaine SoloweyReadings:Astyk, Sharon. What the Victory Gardens Produced, Depletion and Abundance, NewSociety Publishers, 2009Compost piles hands on in the gardenLesson NineCampbell, Stu. Let It Rot! Composting and Vermiculture for Successful Gardens, StoreyPublications 1998Assignment: very small livestock2

Lesson TenTreesDr Elaine SoloweyReadings: Smith, J. Russel. Tree Crops, A Permanent Agriculture, pages 3-19, Harperand Row, San Francisco, 1950Hands on in the gardenAssignment: Do I have room in my garden for trees?Lesson ElevenReadings: Solowey, Elaine. Small Steps towards Abundance, Chapter 3 Broadening theBase of the Pyramid, Thistle Syndicate/Bibliobooks, Acco, Israel, 2003Lesson Twelve: Wise AgricultureDr Elaine SoloweyReadings: Sauerkraut and Kimchi, traditional ways to achieve high vitamin food.Hands on in gardenAssignment: How to plant a treeLesson ThirteenLuttman, Gail and Rick. Chickens in Your Backyard, Rodale Press 1976Flottum, Kim. The Backyard Beekeeper, Rock Publications 2005Assignment: Two kinds of hivesLesson Fourteen Field Trip to Kibbutz Neot SemadarLesson FifteenPermaculture, Biomimicry and the One Straw RevolutionEdible LandscapesDr Elaine SoloweyTaking a page from Bill MollisonIs permaculture a possibility?Kingsolver, Barbara. The First Month of spring, Animal, Vegetable, Miracle, HarperPerennial, 2008Mollison, Bill. Permaculture, Chapter 8, Urban and Country Strategies, Quantus Press,Cairns, 2000Assignment:Harvesting from wild zones. Is there something to eat even down here?Lesson SixteenHike to organic orchardsDr Elaine Solowey3

Lesson SeventeenChickens in the Backyard-How animals can make your food garden moreproductiveDr Elaine SoloweyReadings: Flottum, Kim The Backyard Beekeeper, Rock publications, 2005Luttman, Rick and Gail, Chickens in the Backyard, 1976 Rodale PressAssignment: What can chickens do for me?Design a coopLesson EighteenSustainable agriculture: cultivating rural/urban linkagesDr Elaine SoloweyReadings: Wendell, Berry. The Unsettling of AmericaBarbara Kingsolver, A Matter of Motherhood-raising an Heirloom Breed, Animal,Vegetable, Miracle, Harper Perennial, 2008Assignment: Growing what is legal to growLesson NineteenExtending the growing season (Greenhouses cloches row covers shade housesand active mulching)Dr Elaine SoloweyReadings: Freeman and Bellaca, Building Your Own Greenhouse, Stackploe Books 1992Hands on in gardenAssignment: Is a greenhouse something I need?Lesson TwentyFood from the Garden throughout the year; Workshop on drying, freezingcanning, root cellars and other storage methodsDr Elaine SoloweyReadings: Green, Janet, Putting Food By 1992, A Plume BookCostenbader, Carol. On Preserving the Harvest, Storey 1992Assignment: Let's dry some foodLesson Twenty OneDr Elaine SoloweyTreasures in the Backyard, Small Steps Towards Abundance, 2003Berry, Wendell. Hope, pages 373 and 374, Fatal Harvest, Island press, Corvelo, 2002Are there local plants I should add to my garden?Lesson Twenty twoIntegrating larger livestock Goats from the Homesteading handbooks by GehringAbaigailAssignment: Design a goat pen, think of cows or other dairy livestockLesson Twenty ThreeReview4

Lesson Twenty FourStudent PresentationsLesson Twenty fiveStudent PresentationsFinal ExamRequired Readings:Ableman, Michael, Urban Agriculture, pages 357- 360, Fatal Harvest, Island Press,Corvelo, 2002Mittal, Anuradha, The Growing Epidemic of Hunger in a World of Plenty, pages 303305, Fatal Harvest, Island Press, Corvelo, 2002Astyck, Sharon, How Much Did the Green Revolution Matter? Energy Bulletin Jan. 7,2007Astyck, Sharon What the Victory Gardens Produced, Depletion and Abundance, 2009Berry, Wendell, The Gift of Good Land,, Chapter 5, Chapter, 7 and Chapter 8 ,NorthPoint Press, San Francisco, 1984Berry, Wendell, Hope, pages 373 and 374, Fatal Harvest, Island Press, Corvelo, 2002Campbell, Stu, Let It Rot, The Gardener's Guide to Composting Storey Publications,1998Costenbader, Carol, On Preserving the Harvest, Storey 1992Flottum, Kim The Backyard Beekeeper, Rock publications, 2005Freeman and Bellaca, Building Your Own Greenhouse, Stackploe Books 1992Green, Janet, Putting Food By 1992, A Plume BookGehring Abigail Goats Skyhorse Publishing 2011Goering, Norton-Hodge and Page, Chapter 11 and 12, From the Ground Up, ZedBooks, New York, 1993Jeavons, John, How to Grow More Vegetables Ten Speed Press, 2006Kingsolver, Barbara, Animal, Vegetable, Miracle, Harperprennial, 2008Kirchenmen, Frederick, Fatal Harvest, pages 91-95 Scale Does it Matter? Island Press,Corvelo, 2002Logsdon, Gene Small Scale Grain Production, revised 2009, WorthIt PublicationsLuttman, Rick and Gail, Chickens In the Backyard, 1976 Rodale PressMollison, Bill, Permaculture, Chapter 8, Urban and Country Strategies, Quantus Press,Cairns, 2000Nabhan, Gary, Enduring Seeds Chapter 6, New Ways of Saving, North Point Press, SanFrancisco, 1989Pollen, Michael All Flesh is Grass from The Omnivore's Dilemma, Penguin, 2006Rogers and Alexander Saving Seeds, How Gardeners Protect and Preserve SeedDiversity, Storey Publications 1991Salatin Joseph Pastured Poultry Profits, Dunaway Paperbacks 1996Solowey, Elaine, Small Steps Towards Abundance, Chapter 3 Broadening the Base ofthe Pyramid, Treasures In the Backyard, Thistle Syndicate/Bibliobooks, Acco,Israel,2003Smith, J. Russel, Tree Crops, A Permanent Agriculture, pages 3-19, Harper and Row,San Francisco, 19505

Bringing Food Production Back Home Dr Elaine Solowey Readings: The staff of Life? Bread making and use. Astyck, Sharon. How Much Did the Green Revolution Matter? Energy Bulletin Jan. 7, 2007 Lesson Four Rogers and Alexander. Saving Seeds, How Gardeners Protect and Preserve Seed Diversity, Storey Publications 1991 Hands on in garden