Blog post number 1
Agriculture, the means of which people obtain the food to survive. As humans have developed since the caveman era, one of the major tasks we have been faced with is how to feed our population. I asked this seemingly random questions, with regard to agriculture to some friends of mine. After the slight confusion/ridicule, I managed to pull an answer from the two ladies who currently were eating a pleasing-to-all-five-senses meal of frittata.
“I mean there are large scale farms, and some local farmers. I thought it was kind of like, there is some farmers who make the food appear? I’m mean obviously not magic, but it seems that there is some kind of curtain for me.” Faith Robbins comments.
After her comment it kind of got me thinking. What do I really know about were the things I eat come from? Do I eat locally or industrially? What is it that I am putting into my body? With these swirling thought stewing up some sort of deep life agricultural question, I sought to commemorate this blog to my experience in understanding how the local food of Austin and how it appears to us in stores or cafeteria. This blog will be broken up into three distinct pieces, 1) Our Agricultural Landscape 2) How does local food come into being in our Agricultural Landscape 3) What does local farming bring into or Agricultural Landscape and our community as a whole. Some, such as Suzanne Labry argue that agricultural sustainability is one of the most key aspects in is educating students to the birth of “ UT’s Green Fee Committee and [managemdng] by student teams like Fertilizing Team, Pest-Control Team and Blog Team (Labry). It mentions that only organic and sustainable farm practices are used on the farm,” producing stewards of the future. What is it that makes agriculture sustainable, in our region and as a community? Even more so, what role does a sustainable food source play in a stable community.
So the first question I had to ask myself, “Where do I start with this whole project?” Why not at the roots (yes, in fact I did capitalize on that pun, expect plenty more). The first way to tackle these questions is to approach from the most inductive way possible. If we are first able to understand the how our local geographical area handles agriculture, perhaps we could then understand how our urban area produces crops, and how these local crops play a role in the sustainability of this community.
Soil is arguably the most important aspect when considering the complex science of agriculture. It kind of surprised me personally how much hard science composed this wildly diverse field. To begin our analysis of our little biome of Austin, Texas, I had to dig up (pun count 2) some information on the geology. According to Hurst, one of for authors on the article Late Quaternary landscape evolution, soil stratigraphy, and geoarchaeology of the Caprock Canyonlands, Northwest Texas, USA, much of south Texas houses a great deal of granite and calcium carbonate (Murphey). This is due impart to the fact that, where we currently sit, once housed the bottom of an ocean. The granite, being mostly silicon, oxygen, and trace metals, formed from volcanic activity (presumed formation of this granite), and the calcium carbonate was accounted for through organisms leaving behind their bones or shells. I was skeptical, as any blogger should be, and I put on my sneakers and hit the road.
For my location I chose Wild Basin, a St. Edward’s maintained area of preserved native area of Austin ecology. When I first arrived at Wild Basin I again raised my eyebrow, wondering how this seeming hilly region could have possibly been the bottom of an ocean. It wasn’t until I applied my field of study chemistry until I fully understood the elements (pun 3) of our geology. I took a small sample and did a highly simple litmus test, which analyzes pH (Lin). When I freed the minerals into solution, I found that the soil was slightly basic. A calling card of a calcium carbonate mineral in soil that is slightly basic. Because of it’s mild ability to deprotonate, remove hydrogen atoms, from other molecules, anything that is home to calcium carbonate is “slightly basic.” This in mind, it was to my surprise that the ground I stood on could potentially have been the resting place of a coral reef. Kind of cool right?
Okay okay, cool all fine and all, but what effect does that have on agriculture? Well by being able to spend a few hours over the span of a month at Wild Basin, I was able to better gauge the growing foundation that our local region, Austin, Texas (Zhou). By being able to apply basic chemistry tests to look at the properties of the soil, I could then begin my next step for my thesis question. “What types of food grow best in slightly basic, and thin, soil?” I popped back to the library.
After my observations of our local surroundings at Wild Basin, my next hurdle to tackle was to know what type of food production is best in these conditions. One of the major key findings was the Love to Know-Home and Garden, a website that emphasizes it content on helping the basic, thin soiled habitants grow food (Shelton). Perhaps what is ever more helpful is that the crops that are encouraged to be grown, help morph the chemistry of the soil to help produce an effective and multi-faceted garden. Crops such as asparagus, carrots, leafy greens, parsnips and radish are all crops that are predisposed to growth in slightly basic soils. On my next trip to Wild Basin, I came not equipped with any sort of science-y-mumbo jumbo, but rather with a hunch. A hunch with a pattern of the type of crops and soil type. Was the reason that these vegetables were so successful were the root-type properties? As I strolled through Wild Basin, my hunch was slightly reaffirmed, many of the plants that grew on this hilly region were either blatant taproot plants that sunk deep into the crumbly exterior of the Earth, or were fibrous roots that just sat atop of the landscape. It is this type of “getting to know your Earth” research that opened my eyes to a little bit more of the agriculture of Austin.
By scratching the surface of agricultural science, through the observations of Wild Basin, I was able to get more substance when it comes to our local farmers. By first understanding the areas in which we plant, and some simple testing, I was ale to better gauge how the soil and crops are intertwined.
Sure, in theory this works, but everything in theory is, typically, wildly different than application. So my next blog entry will be about going to a local farm, checking out how the crops are actually grown, and how these theories of the soils are brought to life (pun count + 1). Make sure you stay tuned for some growth in the blog (forced pun # 5).
WORKS CITED
Murphey, Laura R. “Late Quaternary landscape evolution, soil stratigraphy, and
geoarchaeology of the Caprock Canyonlands, Northwest Texas, USA.”
Quaternary International 342 (2014): 57-72. Print.
Lin, Brenda R., Stacy M. Philpott, and Shalene Jha. “Review: The future of urban agriculture and biodiversity-ecosystem services: Challenges and next steps.” Basic and Applied Ecology (2015): 107-21. Print. Shelton, Renee. “Vegetable Gardening in Austin, Texas.” Love to Know. Home and Garden, 4 May 2014. Web. 28 Feb. 2016. <http ://garden .lovetoknow. com/vegetablegarden/vegetable-gardening-austin-texas>.
Zhou, XiuLan, Tiao Jiang, and Bin Du. “Effect of organic matter and calcium carbonate on behaviors of cadmium adsorption–desorption on/from purple paddy soils.” Chemosphere 99 (2014): 41-48. Print.
Labry, Suzanne. “Micro Farm at the University of Texas.” Texas Gardener 34.3 (2015):
24-28. Print.