This is the end. It was a good run, though.

The Dirtbag brigade and the earthen greenhouse was a great experiment; we learned a lot along the way and we had a lot of good times as well.

Since my last post, father winter hit Saginaw and our little greenhouse didn't trap any heat or sun rays. The new roof held up well through the winter weather, however. Luckily, I didn't have the time to replant the buckets--they would've froze. We kept the temperature log and it reported very cold temperatures in the greenhouse, so we didn't have a lot of experimental data for the project, but hey, we went out with a BANG.



I checked on the greenhouse last Sunday and, to my surprise, found about 6-8 inches of green, half frozen water inside. I'm not sure how that much water entered as we didn't have a lot of precipitation during the week before and I had checked it the previous Sunday and it was pretty dry.
I thought maybe groundwater was seeping in because the hole is over 4 feet deep. Dr. Thomas thought maybe because the nearby corn field was recently cut, the groundwater level became higher; which makes sense.

Anyways, I had to devise a way to retrieve the thermometer which was hanging in the center by a string. I was going to just tough it out and step in the half-frozen water but I like to avoid hypothermia at all costs. I decided to make a bridge with the dirtbags, that worked well and I felt a little like Indiana Jones for a bit.

Although the greenhouse didn't thrive well, it was still a good experiment.


Alyssa and I learned a lot from it:

• First and I think most importantly, we learned how to make quick decisions on our own without the direct guidance of an instructor...It truly was an independent study.


• We learned how to make our own experiment, what the most important factors to measure with the plants (plant size, plant count, etc.) (I didn't get to do a lot of that because the experiment was ruined during the first spell of mother nature's destructive fist.)


• We learned how to improvise which is important when something is unplanned (like our roof collapse.)


• We learned a lot about building roofs and our patience. Carpentry, haha.


• And we also learned that this model of farming is probably not something an urban community would take the time to implement. It takes a lot of manual labor and it simply didn't work like the huge earthen greenhouses in China do.


• Also, Taco Bell is real tasty after filling dirtbags at midnight with Dan and Alyssa.

It was a good learning experience and although it seemed to fail; it really wasn't a failure. That's what experiments are; it will go one way or the other, either way you gain some kind of knowledge.

I look forward to more urban farming project in the future. Adios.

Weeks 5 and 6: In Repair

After the depressing news of the collapsed roof, the Dirt Bag Brigade built a new, sturdier roof. Alyssa and I spent last Saturday building a roof (attempting to build a roof, really.) Our plan was to build the roof with making 2 squares of 8 foot 2 by 4's. Somehow, even with measurements, we over-estimated the size of the greenhouse. We finished with only making one square which was placed on the poles left over from the first roof.

Alyssa and I quickly realized that we are not carpenters. Even growing up in households with handy-men for fathers, we could not build sturdy squares, and the one we did build took over an hour. So we gave up and decided to head to the greenhouse on Sunday and use the cordless drill, which we thought for sure would be much easier. Well, it wasn't.

The screw-driver had old, stripped

bits and we are both pretty incompetent when it comes to drills (we had the drill on reverse for a good 10 minutes.) After some time we finished the second square. at this point we felt pretty defeated so we decided to wait for another student (Dan) to help us stretch the plastic.

Thursday morning the three of us; Alyssa, Dan, and I were ready to finish the roof. We had a set-back, our two squares fell apart over the previous 4 days. This may have been a blessing because Dan thought of a better idea, a sturdier idea. We built one square with one board through the center to keep it level and sturdy. Dan is much better at building things than Alyssa and I, thank god Dan was there. Then we stretched the plastic tight and nailed it in to the dirt bags. We also used a staple gun. It looked much better, much more taunt than before.

Now we are going to see how well it holds up, and with-in the next couple of weeks I will re-plant some buckets and see how those do. We are going to keep a digital thermometer in the greenhouse to record the temperature so we have some data from the project.

Week 3 and 4: Uh-Oh

Well, a lot has happened to our little experiment since my last post.

Saginaw had some terrible weather last week (winds up to 40-50mph) and our dirt bag walls did a great job withstanding it, however, our plastic cover (or roof) didn't do too well.

It seems that, like we expected, the plastic sheeting pooled a lot of rainwater and the weight of the water was too much. The roof fell in along with a half-dozen dirt bags that were holding the plastic roof down. It is unclear at what time this happened, we do know it happened on the weekend after I had watered the buckets which were doing excellent at the time. The next week, a greenhouse employee informed us of the problem.

I took a look at the greenhouse expecting it to be collapsed (as the e-mail made it sound so) but was surprised at the little damage I saw especially with the high winds the area was facing. It was mostly daunting because the greenhouse was filled with water but I was impressed that our walls didn't collapse.

So, the greenhouse is still intact but the global bucket study will no longer continue. The buckets were subjected to the elements including the freezing temperatures during the time the plastic fell-in and that will have an ill-effect on the study.

However, with the enduring spirit of the Dirtbag Brigade, the roof will be replaced! We are going to build a roof using 2*4's. We will stretch the extra plastic sheeting over the wood and use scrap wood to nail the plastic in place. In case there are more attacks by mother nature we will keep the roof secure by lining dirt bags on the edges. Hopefully this new design will keep rain water from pooling as the plastic will be stretched tight.

Once the roof is built, I will re-plant some of the buckets and continue to study plant growth inside the greenhouse during cooler temperatures, mostly for kicks. However if there is a harvest, we will use the basil to make pesto sauce and sell it for an organization that I am the co-president of, Taking Education Abroad at SVSU.

I will continue to post about the new roof and the buckets throughout the semester. Stay tuned.

*Note I took the pictures after the pool of water in the greenhouse evaporated, so it looks better than it originally sounded, which is good*

Week 2: spinach is winning!

A little soggy

We're on week two of the earthen greenhouse with global buckets study.

Saginaw had some windy and rainy days last week so we were excited to see how our little greenhouse would do, and it held up pretty nicely for the most part. Like we had expected, there was a pool of water on the plastic sheeting. However, inside the greenhouse it wasn't much more damp than it had been before the storms, so that's a good sign. But as I was pushing the water off the sheeting from the inside, some of it spilled into the greenhouse, which was a bad move on my part. I will be more careful next time. I cleaned upas much of the spill as I could and that helped a lot.

Spinach
As of now, it appears that the spinach is beating the basil in a growing race. Almost all of the Spinach plants have sprouts and Basil isn't too far behind. The Spinach buckets have grown considerably since last week. The Basil buckets aren't growing as quickly.

Basil

The greenhouse is staying warm despite the freezing temperatures the area has recently faced. We're in the market for a digital USB thermometer so we can track the temperatures in the greenhouse throughout the weeks.

This week, on average the Spinach buckets took about 2.5 Solo cups of water as the Basil took about 2 Solo cups.

I had the opportunity to talk to a couple of greenhouse visitors about our earthen greenhouse and the global buckets. Spreadin' the word.

I now have designated "mud clothes" that I wear every time I go to the greenhouse. It's a muddy time but I look forward to it.

Buckets through the plastic

The Buckets are in their new home (It's a muddy one)

We were pretty excited when the greenhouse was finished

The greenhouse was finished last Wednesday with the help of our wonderful volunteers. On Thursday, Alyssa and I planted the buckets with basil and spinach, 10 of each. We then moved the buckets from the shed to the earthen greenhouse. We used a golf cart to load the buckets and drop them off next to the greenhouse, we had to use the golf cart because the shape and weight of the buckets is awkward and our fingers would have fallen off otherwise. Then, I stood in the greenhouse as Alyssa handed them to me. During this process we lost a lot of water through the over-fill holes and the corner soon became a mudslide. Once the buckets were all

in, we both watered them, we put about 2 Solo cups of water in each bucket.That process took about an hour.

We were pretty muddy by the end, which we didn't mind.

Global buckets inside the earthen greenhouse

Today (Wednesday) I went to water the buckets again. AND WE HAVE SOME SPROUTS!

Which is exciting. The greenhouse is keeping pretty warm through-out the day and the plants dig that.

There is a problem with venting, however. It is pretty damp inside the greenhouse and when the sun hits the plastic covering it creates a lot of condensation, so it's a really moist environment which could cause problems later.

Also, the buckets aren't on a complete even ground, so some are sideways which causes water to escape the overfill holes on

one side of the bucket. I tried to make them as level as possible. With that said, the amount of water for each bucket varied from about 2-3 Solo cups.

Both of these have small sprouts but you can't really see them in this picture. (Just Imagine)

The buckets are ready for a home!

The Global Buckets are ready for their new home in the earthen greenhouse which should be complete this Wednesday after the volunteer day.

I went to the greenhouse yesterday (Sunday) for a few hours and assembled 14 of the 20 Global or "Dirt" buckets. It was a beautiful day to do so, cold but sunny, which beats just cold. The process took a little less than 3 hours, which wasn't too bad at all.

I had to make new wicking cups, soak the soil, scoop the soil into the buckets, and place a garbage bag cover on the buckets. I was going to use duct tape to secure the bags in place but remembered I had aquired some zip-ties. I didn't finish the buckets because I wanted an excuse to go to the greenhouse and get my hands dirty today. So, today I will finish assembling the 6 buckets and I will also bring my zipties to secure the garbage bag covers.

I will plant the buckets with spinach and basil by the end of the week and place them in the greenhouse! They will grow for 6 weeks.

Reminder: Dirtbag Brigade Volunteer day is THIS Wednesday the 6th from 4p-7p at the SVSU Greenhouse! We Hope to see you there!

Green News Network story

Thanks to Julie and Lisa Luce for covering our effort as part of the Green News Network!



Don't forget to be there on October 6th when we finish the greenhouse!

Dirt Bag Extravaganza 2!

Wednesday, October 6th

4:00-7:00 PM

SVSU Greenhouse

We need help to complete our first prototype earthen greenhouse! The first volunteer day was successful and we would love to see everyone from the last volunteer day plus some new faces!

It's ok if you can't make the entire time, we appreciate any help during the 3 hours!

It's a great opportunity to get involved and meet new people. Snacks and drinks will be provided.

If you have a shovel, please bring it!

Hope to see you there!

¡Hola, Mis Amigos!

(Hello, my friends!)

I'm Caitlin Cooper and I'm a dirt bag!

My goal is to keep all of our followers informed on the status of The Dirt Bag Brigade! I am doing an independent study this semester with the Global Buckets and will make at least weekly posts(literature and pictures) during the Fall '10 semester about those and the earthen greenhouse(s).

A bit about me:

I am a third year at SVSU and became interested in urban farming during my first year of school. Before this year, most of my urban farming interest has involved the hydroponics system in one of our residence halls at SVSU, Living Center South.

However, my interests expanded during the Winter '10 semester when professor Dr. Brian Thomas proposed a new farming idea to SVSU. He wanted to construct a prototype earthen greenhouse similar to a Chinese model. The purpose: to extend growing season during the cold Michigan months as it has in China . (I won't ramble too much about the greenhouse as he explained it in earlier posts)

Anyways, Alyssa Tarrant and I latched onto this idea and with the oversight of Dr. Thomas we wrote a grant to fund the project. The grant was funded and construction began during the 2010 summer months with Dan Klarich as the student worker. We haven't completed the greenhouse yet but we expect it to be finished within the next 2 or 3 weeks.

Dr. Thomas stumbled on the idea of "Global Buckets" online. Global Buckets or Dirt Buckets are an easy way to grow produce. As our followers know, Alyssa had an independent study during the summer and monitored the growth of the buckets for 7 weeks. I have an independent study this semester and will be monitoring the growth of the buckets inside the earthen greenhouse and compare results with Alyssa at the end of the study.

I will not be planting the buckets until the 2nd week of October- once the greenhouse is finished and will grow with the same soil Alyssa used during her study.

Last week Alyssa and I went to empty out the buckets from her study. There were a lot of slugs.

Coop out.

Method

We figured out that the best method for filling the dirt bags was to have one person hold the bag and the other person fill. It takes a 5 gallon bucket of dirt to fill 1 dirt bag. Normally we would have to take some of the dirt out of the buckets with out hands and then we were able to pour the rest of the bucket right into the dirt bags. We also experimented with using some water to help pack the dirt in the bags and it seemed to work really well. We had no exact measurement on the water. We did try to put enough water in to keep the dirt moist throughout the bag.

For actually building the wall we were able to tamp the bags with a couple of bricks we found. We did out best to stagger them so that they will make a sturdy wall. We put down barbed wire in between the rows in order to lock the bags into place with each other. on the sides we started tapering the wall so that it will be in a downward slope.

Dirt Bag Extravaganza!

Thanks to all of our wonderful volunteers we had a huge turn out for our Green House raising!

We were able to finish digging the hole which ended up being about 4 ft deep and also build up!

The walls are about three rows high with dirt bags. This gives us about a foot and a half to two feet. I also think we have enough dirt bags filled to build another row on top of that. One more volunteer day like this and we should have a running underground greenhouse!

Here is a picture of all the extra dirt bags filled that we still need to build with.

Before and After

This is the hole. At it's deepest point it is about 4 foot deep. It is not fully dug out yet but it is very close. The front corner will not be dug as deep so it serves as a step to get in.

Digging what we have so far took around 9 hours with 2 people. It will probably take another 2 to 3 hours or so to dig with a single person.

Our big event is Tomorrow!!!

Hopefully we will be able to put up at least one of the walls.

Dirt Bag Extravaganza August 18th!

The Dirtbag Brigade is attempting to build our first prototype Chinese Green house. The goal of the Green House is to help grow wholesome food for cheap during the frigid winter months of Michigan. The event will be 3:00 PM to 7:00 PM at the SVSU Greenhouses. Come help fill dirtbags and give this great project some life! There will be free food and tee-shirts for anybody who comes to help out. Stop by for part of the time or the whole time!
Be there at 3:00 on Wednesday August 18th! It's sort of like a barn raising, except with dirt bags!

Rest in Peace Basil 10

When I went to post for this week, I realized I skipped a week. So I will start with week 4.
Last week watering took about 25 minutes. Basil bucket number 10 is the most unhealthy looking bucket. I thought about thinning out the plants. I didn’t because most of the plants were growing really well and there are only two weeks left to grow. I made note of the buckets that had plants that looked a bit on the weak side. The number of healthy basil plants outweighed the unhealthy ones 70:15. I left the unhealthy ones to see if there was any hope.
The spinach plants do not look very healthy. Aside from spinach bucket number 7, most of the basil plants are small and beginning to wither. My only thoughts about spinach bucket number 7’s success is it is placed in an area that receives a smaller amount of sunlight. Even so, other spinach plants in the same area do not share 7’s health.
This week is pretty much the same story as last week; some plants are looking extremely fruitful, while others have died all together. Luckily there are definitely more healthy plants than dead ones. Basil bucket number 10 is completely dead. Basil bucket number 1 though is looking excellent. This week I pulled 16 basil plants because they were completely withered or just entirely too small to be worth harvesting next week.
The spinach is the same as last week. The spinach harvest will be very minimal. The plants for the most part are small and some are browning at the ends. The spinach is taking about half the amount of water as the basil.
The plastic bags covering spinach bucket number 9 and 10 came off. I was thinking about replacing them, but decided against it seeing that I will be harvesting early next week. The purpose of the bag is to prevent weed growth and I am not too concerned with weeds commandeering the buckets in a week.
Watering this week took longer, obviously because the plants needed more water because they are bigger. I spent about 35 minutes watering compared to the 20-30 minutes I have spent in previous weeks. No complaints though, 35 minutes a week to raise roughly 100 plants, not too bad.
Finally I made some tomato basil soup with my dad this week. It was incredibly delicious. If you have lots of tomatoes I can give you a taste bud exploding recipe. If you need the basil, you know where to find it: the SVSU greenhouse where basil flows like worm tea. Hold off until I can measure the harvest though.

Uh Oh

Houston we have a problem....................

Our old dirt bags are ripping. I think this is because they are not made to be sandbags but we where hoping to use them and cut costs. The bags we built the test wall with where old feed bags. The problem with them now is that they are ripping. We believe that this could be the due to the fact that they do not have "sun screen". Most of the bags that are used for sandbags are coated with some kind of spray that helps protect them from the sun. With out it the bags dry out and become brittle. I found this out when i was building the foundation of the green house with the bags from the test wall. I would pick them up and they would rip. I hope the new bags hold out to the sun.

Testing the Test wall

I would say the test wall is a success! I am about 225 lbs and i could not knock down the wall by simply running into it. This is without the barbed wire and without sealing the bags. I'm sure once we are able to build a foundation

(Which i am working on now) the walls will be much stronger.

This is how it went down.........

Test Wall

This is our first Test wall for the Green house.
It took about 40 dirt bags to make this. It is a very sturdy wall. I kicked it a couple of times and even ran into it and it did not tip. This wall is also built without the barbed wire binding in between the bags. I feel like it will be much more sturdy once the other walls are up and we have our barbed wire binding in between the bags.
I will post the video of me attempted to knock the wall over soon!

3 Ring Circus

So overall this project has turned into a huge obstacle course. Our underground green house is not going to be underground anymore. We found out that there is a large possibility for there to be water problems if we dig there. However if we double stack the dirt bags we think we can maintain around the same amount of heat on the inside. I also went and filled 20 more dirt bags with the assistance of a tomato cage bag holder. I cut some tomato cages so I can prop the bags on them. It does not save much time but it does save your back when filling dirt bags. The problem is I used all the extra dirt that was at the green house. I have been at a standstill for about a week. We asked around campus to see where we could get some dirt to fill out dirt bags and found out that there are some HUGE piles of dirt on campus that nobody is going to use. Today I was trained by the university to drive one of their vehicles. I am going to try to get access to one of their pickup trucks Wednesday so I can take a few loads of dirt from campus to the greenhouse. However turns out you have to turn in the paper work to rent out the truck at least a week in advance. Caitlin Cooper came to visit campus today and let me borrow her S-10 pickup for a few hours. I was able to take about three loads of dirt to the green house. This should hold me over until I can rent a truck.

Pictures

http://www.flickr.com/photos/52274582@N05/?saved=1

Plant Check Up: Week 3

All the buckets are still looking healthy. They used a bit more water this week than last, but not enough to affect watering time. Last week each bucket took on average 1.5 cup fulls of water (not exactly sure of the ounces, but I am using a plastic that I fill to a certain line), this week they took on average 2.5 cup fulls.

The singular buckets I planted last week don't look any healthier than the global buckets, in fact they look a bit worse. I added 2 cups of water to each of those. I am going to be giving each bucket the average amount of water that goes into the global buckets.

I may have planted the seeds too close. The plants still look good now, but I am afraid as they mature some will die.

An experiment I conducted on an indoor hydroponic system may prove helpful in the greenhouse mission. In the hydroponic system I planted tomatoes to see if they would produce fruit. At first they would develope flowers, but they would not pollinate and would just fall off. Using a fan and an electric toothbrush I successfully pollinated the tomatoes. The fan is blowing constantly on the plants and once a day I place the electric toothbrush on the stems of the flowers. I believe that pollination would prove a problem inside an earthen greenhouse as well. The method I used is not only successfully, but extremely easy and takes less than 10 minutes a day. If we decided to plant produce that flowers, I do not think that pollination would be a very large obstacle to overcome.

We Got The Plants!

Today I watered the buckets for the second time. They do not need very much water at all; most two cups or less.

After two weeks every bucket has sprouts. I replanted two spinach buckets because a few of the seeds in those buckets didnt sprout.

Today I also planted two single 5-gallon buckets. They are two weeks behind the others. I am going to give them the same amount of water as I give the global buckets and compare the growth.

How we formed

The Dirtbag Brigade was in essence the brain child of Dr. Brian Thomas, a professor of sociology at Saginaw valley state university. The idea derived from a trip that Dr. Thomas had taken to China. He was able to observe massive underground green houses. These green houses generally went about 6 to 8 feet into the ground and only built about 3 to 4 feet above ground. They work by keeping the heat from the ground in and using the ground itself as insulation. The only thing that really comes over the top of the green house is a sheet of plastic.

Caitlin Cooper who is Social work major, sociology minor was talking to Dr. Thomas one day about a hydroponics system that is located in one of the residence halls of our university. While they were talking Dr. Thomas was able to discuss the underground Green house idea with Caitlin. Caitlin told Alyssa Tarrant about the idea and they started writing a grant.

I was hired as worker/designer/ volunteer coordinator / journalist for the green house as a summer job to gain more professional experience in project organization. So far I am really enjoying what I am doing. People get so caught up in the technology of today that sometimes they just don’t realize that the simplest things can provide the most help to people.

On Tuesday Alyssa, Dr. Thomas and I got together with the Ed Meisel who is the director of the current green houses at Saginaw Valley State University. He gave us a tour of his facilities as well as showed us where the tools were so we could get to work. We were also able to pick a plot for our underground green house. We chose our spot because we were told that most other spots tended to have water trouble. We tried to pick a spot that was not in the way of other projects but had easy access to things such as electricity and a water reserve.

The next day Alyssa and I came back to get some work done. Alyssa worked on the global buckets and I started filling dirt bags for one of the walls of the green house. I want to staple the bags shut with a staple gun but I do not have access to one at this point. I simply just built a wall by butting the open ends of the bags together. You are also supposed to place barbed wire in-between rows in order to keep the bags from moving. Even without the barbed wire I was able to stand on top of the wall. I ended up filling 20 bags to make a wall about three feet high in about two hours. I can’t wait to see how sturdy the wall is once we seal the bags and use the barbed wire!

Global Bucket Planting Mission: Complete....finally

A global bucket is comprised of two 5 gallon buckets, about a two foot long piece of thin PVC piping, and a plastic cup. In one bucket, a center hole is made to fit the plastic cup. Another hole is placed near the edge of the bucket to fit the PVC pipe. Smaller holes (using roughly a 3/8 bit) are spread around the remainder of the bucket. I made 16 smaller holes which made for 18 total holes. Then place the 'holed' bucket inside of the untouched one. The PVC pipe is placed in its hole and can be held to the side of the bucket with a zip tie. Cut slits in the plastic cup (about 5-6 slits) and place it in its spot. Holding the bucket up to light, a line between the two buckets will become visible. Drill about four holes right under that line, these will act as flow holes for excess water. Finally wet the soil and pack it into the top ('holed) bucket. Once you have filled it to the top, some kind of weed deterrent can be placed over the top, such as a trash bag. Cut holes in the bag and plant the seeds. Fill the bottom bucket with water via the PVC pipe until water comes from the flow holes.

After 9 hours, 20 global buckets now grace the SVSU greenhouse lawn. Building and planting the buckets took longer than expected, probably because I was not figuring in the time it would take to find tools, ready the soil, and move heavy buckets and bags of dirt. It took 4 hours and 10 minutes to construct all 20 buckets. Construction included drilling the holes, cutting the PVC pipe, and putting all the pieces together. I spent 4 hours and 50 minutes planting all 20 buckets, 10 of which contain basil and 10 more which contain spinach.

I used Miracle-Gro Moisture Control Potting Mix for the soil. Before putting the soil in the buckets, I saturated it with water so it could be packed more tightly, focusing on packing the soil especially tight in the cup on the bottom of the top bucket. Having this area packed tight will help the water wick up into the above bucket.

After filling the buckets with dirt, I placed a trashbag over the top to prevent weeds. I then cut three holes in the buckets intended for basil and two for the spinach buckets. Four basil seeds were place in each hole, totallying twelve seeds in each bucket. I placed two spinach seeds in each of the spinach bucket holes, totallying four seeds in each bucket.

When purchasing the seeds, a man (also buying seed) told me that he has had little luck with seeds this year. He said he had tried various brands, but all lacked satisfactory germination. I purchased Burpee seeds (the same brand as the man), but if the seeds fail to produce, it may be because of poor seeds and not poor planters.

While planting the buckets I also wondered if plants would grow as successfully if I used only a single buckets and monitored the water intake. I think that planting in this way would prove even easier and would definitely be cheaper.

Who Are We?

We are the Dirtbag Brigade, A civilian group dedicated to the betterment of humanity. Our mission is to find an affordable way to grow food during the frigid winter months of Michigan. In order to accomplish this we are going to attempt to build an underground green house. This green house will be constructed mostly from the earth itself. We will dig into the ground about three feet and then use the dirt that was dug up to fill polypropylene bags or “earthbags”. The bags will be stacked in a pattern similar to how a mason would stack bricks. Barbed wire will be used to help bind the bags together between rows. We are also going to look into using sub irrigation planters or “Global Buckets” to grow plants with less maintenance. The green house will be 10’ by 12’. This is small in comparison to the Chinese greenhouses that we are modeling this project after. It will be interesting to see if they work the same due to the size change. Hopefully if this green house is successful it will allow for an affordable way to grow wholesome food in urban environments. This would also help bring down costs and allow local business to make food affordable for its consumers.