Sunol Agpark Experience Week 3

Hello everyone!


           News Flash. If there is there one thing you should eat before you die, it should be ground cherries aka poha (well that's what Kristie said. I think I ate the Hawaiian kind). The scientific name of these ground cherries are Physalis. It's sweet, small, cute, delicious, and addicting. Really addicting since I ate like fifty of them; I don't think I'm exaggerating on that fact. They're so GOOD!

Enough of my cravings for such exotic food, moving onto my reflection over the past few days.

The Poha Berry

The Wrapping of the Poha Berry shapes as a flower

July 13, 2015 Monday

 8:00 am to 12:00 pm.

              Today I walked over to Kristyn and Will's Korean farm at the end of the Agpark. I came just in time for the tour that she was giving to her friend Steve. They shared something interesting stories about Korea and some of the plants to all of us. I got to learn about different types of herbs and veggies as I learned about their characteristics and their link to the Korean culture. I also got to try out some long beans, special herbs, ground cherries, and nightshade (not the deadly kind, the edible kind that tastes sweet and delicious. I already read the deadly nightshade symptoms and I have not experience any of them since I have eaten them). Kristyn also showed me the burdock which inspired Velcro. As we see the farm, Kristyn continue to show her crops like peppers, beans, okra, sorghum, winter melon, squash, etc. They all look wonderful and delectable.

Burdock

             When the tour was over, we come over to the longbeans and continued to build trellis for them to grow on. I already experienced building trellis for the MSJ garden, so the job was simple for me. You take a long piece of string, tie to a horizontal string at the top, and tie to the next string below until you reach the bottom. Meanwhile Kristyn and Will placed the longbeans on the string, making sure they have ample space to grow.  To pass the time, we share some pretty interesting stories with each other. I started off with interesting questions like so.

"If you have one last meal on earth, what would it be? It can be like what my friend said of having crab with butter on top and a steak and such," I asked.
"Are desserts included?" asked Steve.
"Yes, desserts do count," I replied.
"Well, what would you have?" asked Kristyn.
"炒麵! (aka the chow mein)" I quickly said.
"Wow, that was quick," replied Kristyn.
"Hmm. I would have to say corn dogs," answered Steve.
"Really, huh. Corn dogs. I never knew that. We're been friends this long and thanks to you I now know that," replied Kristyn.
"What would you have, Kristyn?" I asked.
"Umm. I go with rice, like the one I have when I was little," replied Kristyn. ( She specified the dish, but I can't remember what she said exactly.)
"Nice choice. I like that one too," commented Steve.

And we continued to talk about random things especially noodles and movies, ranging from the ones that made us cry and the ones that made us leave the movie theater. Meanwhile we play with B.B. Kristyn's Chihuahua. Her original name was Beyonce, but when Kristyn adpoted her B.B. responded to B.B. more. After a while, we had a snack break and Kristyn made a herb tea drink for everyone and it was minty and delicious. Also she shared some more poha berries and I ate the rest of them. I also mentioned to Steve some business ideas for his Ramen shop: have a wax mannequin of himself, invent a phone that allows it to grow plants in it and harness its photosynthetic energy, and place a poster of his face on the shop's window if the latter two are expensive.
He-he-he...

B.B. lying in a pile of dirt

July 14, 2015 Tuesday

8:00 am to 12:00 pm

             Today I walked over to Kristyn's farm again and met her other friend Will Santiago. She told me that Will and her had noodles in the honor of me, since I'm a noodle fanatic. Yet when I came, I heard some news came that the energy company next door are planning to take over three more acres of the Agpark so its workers would "work more." A bit suspicious, I may say. Matt and Helena were taking with Kristyn about what they should to fight back by contacting their supporters and the organizations they work with, the mayor, and more people. I suggested they could refer to The Grapes of Wrath as historical and literature backup. Still I'm worried about them, but they are strong.

              After Matt and Helena walked back to their Happy Acres Farm, I followed Kristyn who showed me the activity today which was weeding. But how she and Will weed are different from simply pulling it from the ground or using a knife to cut the roots. What they do is they use a hoe-trowel tool to to break up the soil by prodding the trowel up and down close together. Later we pull out the weeds and then smooth out the soil flat around the plants. With the hoe-trowel, the soil uplifts the little weed sprouts and letting them be exposure to the intense sun. It's slow but it prevents future weeds from growing and puts off more weeding in the future. The soil felt smooth, crumbling and fine.
However I did some thorns in my right hand and Kristyn applied some homemade balm on it. It eventually came out and as I waiting for the pain to subside, Kristyn showed me a tub of eucalyptus branches and told me that these branches have a growth hormone that can give a boost for young plants not just for eucalyptus. o.0
(I'm thinking of those eucalyptus trees near my home...)

Later we took a lunch break as the sun continues to rise. I ate my Nutella sandwich and we all chat with each other. And I recommend Will South Legend Szechuan Cuisine's Dry-Braised Fish with pork in spicy sauce as a dish he should try as his last meal on earth, or this week. :P
And Kristyn gave me some spicy Korean garlic. Yummy.

Row of Beans!

July 15, 2015 Wednesday
8:00 am to 12:00 pm

            Today I walked over to Will and Kristyn's farm and helped them weed the sorghum beds as they prepare the beds adjacent to sorghum and mulch them. Kristyn told me that she felt happy when I said the soil feels so good and have a lot of bugs inside. She said she have been irrigating the soil for months and covering the bed with mulch so that there's least possible exposure to the air and sun for the soil. A healthy soil has bugs inside, air equally disperse, moisture, and life. Kristyn explain that instead of using only chemistry by providing the minerals the soil lacks, she and Will use biology by helping the bacteria grow and provide the nutrients for the plants. Their process is slow but worthwhile since the soil is amazing♪.
 
             Anyway I continued to weed out the Amaranth, nightshade, morning glory, and thistle with dandelions. It took me a while clear out the area but it does take perseverance to continue and finish the job. I see that determination in Will and Kristyn and it motivates me to weed on even though I have been weeding almost every time at the farm. I don't blame any of the farmers since there are numerous weeds growing everywhere. During our lunch and water break, we were discussing random topics like choosing rice or noodles.

I replied, "Well it's like choosing between air or water. You need both. "
Kristyn replied, "Thank you, that's exactly what I mean. You know what. I'm going to say that next time someone asks me that questions. "
We all later talk about how common Filipinos like sing karaoke ( I still don't why), the existence of K-rage (which does apparently), which led on to K-pop which also sounds like cake-pop. I then told them that my friend made cake-pop of pink piggies' heads for his English project, which is based on Lord of the Flies. 

I said,"That's a scary book. I mean those British kids lost their innocence. They like killed like two people. I imagined my two friends would be on island with me and them and I would like choose to tell what the kids to and have my friends as my bodyguards or die. I think death is a better option."
Kristyn commented, "Huh, so you can choose to enslave everyone and have your friends as your bodyguards or die. I don't blame you. Like being in traffic makes me want to kill someone."
I look at my watch and realize I have to go.
"Uhh, bye!"I shouted as I quickly walked away. Will and Kristyn started laughing out loud as they waved goodbye.
'I'm okay if you kill Will, Kristyn. Bye!" I said as I walked all to my mom's car.

Fun times.
And I grabbed a few poha berries on the way. They're okay if I do that.

July 16, 2015 Thursday
8:00 am to 1:30 pm

             I came to the farm around 8 to work on Emily's farm, Root and Bloom. But I couldn't find anyone except for Kristyn, Will and Vinnie (Helena and Matt's dog). I waited at Emily's farm as I pet Vinnie like he's my kitty. Later he followed me as I looked over the farm and reviewed a bit of my Pre-calculus notes. Yes, math. I then decided to walk over to Kristyn and Will as Vinnie slowly followed me. I waiting for B.B. to bark out loud, but it turns out that it was her day off. I greeted Will and Kristyn who were preparing to transplant some eggplants and squash, I believe. I watched as I checked my text message from Aspen and realize that I messed up the time, which was 9:00 am to 1:00 pm. Whoops. I spent the last 15 minutes studying math and snacking on some poha berries. Later Emily came and so did Aspen who came to check up on me.

Aspen Kvicala, Emily Finkel and me, Deborah Chen
(left to right)

                 Aspen then left to help guide a cooking camp of kids around the farm. Emily and I then went over to her peppers and tomato beds to remove all the weeds that have growing there. I borrowed her trowel to remove the deep-rooted weeds and it was rewarding to remove the weeds that almost suffocated the peppers and tomatoes. While we were weeding, Emily gave a quick shout and asked me to come over. I walked over to where she was pointing and I thought it was garden snake. But instead she pointed to a caterpillar. We couldn't figure out what kind of caterpillar it was so we walked over to Aaron (after we took a lot of pictures of it). Aaron then said it is a tomato horn worm  as Emily was reading some description of it. I so decided to name the moth caterpillar with seven V's  shapes on its back Emily. And as a surprise, Aaron called over to the camp of kids to come over and look at the bug. So I was surrounded by little children who were petting the caterpillar and want to touch it more. Good thing it lasted for a minute because I don't like being crowded. Afterwards, we took pictures of the worm and placed it in a coffee cup of tomato leaves.

A Tomato Horn Worm named Emily
(Whoever finds the worm should have the worm/caterpillar named after her.)l仁,l什麼?分

             Later we fixed some of the hose that are part of drip irrigation system used at the farms with some electrical tape. And then we weed the flowers and some eggplants until we have a water break. But I got to say "茄子" to one of the supervisors named Jiang Chi. After our break, Emily decided to make another bouquet and cut some sunflowers, stasis, cosmos, and more types of flowers as I stripped the leaves of the flower stalks. Later I arranged the flowers and have Emily tied it up with chicken wire. She then cut the stalks to make sure they're level to make sure they get enough water if they are placed in a vase full of water.

My bouquet

Deborah Chen with my bouquet

To pass some time, we took some pictures like the horn worm and the swallowtail who visits her arm.

Flowers in a flower

Swallowtail
(I named it after myself since I knew the name.)

A Dahlia

                 By the time it was 1:00 pm already, so we all walked near the entrance. I talked with Aspen who was chatting with one of the cooking camp counselor, Caroline. I like her Camp Half-Blood T-shirt. Go Percy Jackson! (or Perseus Jackson if I'm a monster...) We already brought Emily the horn worm and Emily said, "Deborah gets to be the beautiful swallowtail and I got to be the ugly tomato horn worm. Thanks."
I said, "Well whoever find it and find the name of the bug should name the bug after herself."
Later I told Aspen and Emily a joke that the horn worm can go to the great beyond by being eatien by a bird which will fly to the great beyond. We all laughed and Aspen told me," I don't know if its's the school or the people but you guys are amazing. Once I see someone from Mission applies, I'm like yeah a Mission student." She later asked me about the previous interns who went to Mission like Stanley Gu and Samuel Sze and where they're going to college. Such a small world. Later I ate some yellow watermelon (the inside is yellow. Wow.) and some quinoa and salad made from the little kids and it was delicious. I wish to go to this kind of camp and I go to to this kind of cooking camp when I was little.
Fun.

Aspen and Emily admiring Emily the tomato horn worm.