Friday, March 20, 2009

Monday, March 16, 2009

The Stein Family Farm

On Saturday my husband Eric and I visited the Stein Family Farm in National City. It is a historical sight and a still-working farm run by volunteers. March is "Farm Days" for the farm and all month the volunteers dress up in outfits from around the turn of the century and give tours and put on exhibitions of life on an American farm in the early 20th century.

There was a troop of Boy Scouts present who were digging up some fresh garden beds and some representatives of an organization representing early American engines that modeled how engines were run during the hay-day of the Stein's farm (there is a video of a couple of them at the end of the photo stream below.) Students - get your volunteer hours up by volunteering at this farm. You can show up any Saturday from 10:00-4:00 and they will assign you something to work on. You do not need to call or contact them in advance!

Next week we'll be visiting the Ocean Beach Farmer's Market in ongoing visits to local sites that encourage and promote sustainable living. Maybe we'll see you there on Wednesday!

Friday, March 13, 2009

Data Blog - Homework Extension


Hello! Tobi had a great question about the data blog. I have posted it and my response below. Also, I'm extending the deadline for this blog post until Monday evening. Enjoy!

Tobi's question: "I was curious as to how you wanted our data posted. Would you want me to link it to our survey monkey or write out all responses?"

My response: Great question. I purposefully left the directions ambiguous because I wanted to leave room for people to do their own thing (since so many students are doing different types of surveys/interviews.) If you do include a link, please still describe your findings. You can generalize the big findings (you don't have to include every last detail), but make sure you touch on the trends and patterns you find and why you think those are important.

Enjoy your weekend everyone!

Tuesday, March 10, 2009

Take our Surveys!

My students are currently doing research on why people don't live more sustainably. If you have the time to take one or more of these surveys it would be very helpful to them.

Many thanks!

Thrift Store Survey #1

Solar Energy at Home #1

Conserving Water #1

Recyling #1

Upgrading Home Computers

Thrift Store Survey #2

Why don't you Garden?

Vegetarianism

Thrift Store Survey #3

Recycling #2

Ocean pollution

Friday, March 6, 2009

Path to Freedom - the Urban Homestead


Our blogs have been featured on the Dervaes family's own blog! The internet really does connect us. Check out your classmates' blogs on their site here: http://urbanhomestead.org/journal/2009/03/06/hgr-goes-to-school/

Setting up our class herb garden was quite an adventure today. I was so impressed with how smoothly everything went. Special thanks to my brother Rich for coming in to help us get it started. I can't wait to start cooking with our basil and cilantro! Here are some photos of what we did today. Enjoy!

Tuesday, March 3, 2009

Everything's awesome and nobody's happy

A sweet little commentary that ties into what Annie Leonard was saying in the Story of Stuff about our declining national happiness.

We rock the par-tay that rocks the par-tay



Oh yeah! Ice Ice Baby!