On Solid Ground

DOWN ON THE FARM:  The kids are involved in a social issues class that meets twice weekly. The group is focusing on hunger at home an abroad, and ways to combat it. That led to us volunteering at a food bank last week, and this week, it meant a field trip to a local farm that grows produce that is distributed to 27 food banks in the area, Marra Farm.

We gathered under this tree and learned lots about the farm from a worker. 

Located in the South Park area of south Seattle, once upon a time the Marra family, Italian farmers, worked the land from the early 1900s until the 1970s, when they sold it to King County. 

Today, Marra Farm is one of the last two remaining pieces of original agricultural land in Seattle.

Today, Marra Farm addresses community food security needs, provides a space for sustainable agriculture education, and engages community members in a myriad of ways.

Following is Annabelle's account of the field trip ...  

On October 20, I went to Marra Farms. Marra Farms is part of the “Lettuce Link” program, which is focused around getting fresh vegetables to those in need. Marra Farms is also part of the Solid Ground organization, which focuses on getting home, food and other necessitates for people in poverty. Marra Farms grows many different kinds of veggies, including chard, beets, asparagus, lettuce, tomatoes, and many more. They also grow a few fruits such as apples and plums. The amount of veggies the farm produces (about 15,000 pounds a year) 500 pounds of veggies could almost fill a van, but it could be used up at a food bank within less than a day. Some people also grow food in a p-patch to feed their own families. They also have a children’s farm where students from the school around the block come and use gardening to tie in with their classes (for instance, the science class could do an experiment where they watered one plant with water and the other with orange juice). They also raise bees and chickens on the farm, to produce fresh eggs and honey. The farm is a very interesting place to visit and I can’t wait for our next field trip, where we will learn more about the history of the farm.

 And here's what CJ had to say ... 

On October 20th, 2015, we went to Marra Farm, an urban farm, which, according to the Solid Ground website, is a historic urban community farm engaging people in sustainable agriculture and education while enhancing local food security. We went to Marra Farm as part of our field trip in our Social Issues Class at my school. Marra Farm is a part of Lettuce Link, a program dedicated to feed hungry people living in Seattle. Lettuce Link is a part of Solid Ground, an organization, that, according to the Solid Ground website, is an organization that fights poverty in Seattle.

According to the City of Seattle website, Marra Farm is inside the Marra-Desimone Park. At Marra Farm, we learned that the farm produces 15,000 pounds of vegetables every year. Marra Farm also has a greenhouse, which is where they grow plants during periods of the year that aren't very plant-friendly, such as winter. Marra Farm also has a hive for honeybees, and the primary reason they own honeybees is so they can pollinate certain flowers. We also learned other things at Marra Farm, such as the subtle difference between chard and beets, which are closely related, and we learned that beet leaves are edible. Overall, I learned a lot from our visit to Marra Farm, and I look forward to our next visit on the 27th.

Sources: http://www.seattle.gov/neighborhoods/p-patch-community-gardening/p-patch-list/marra-farmhttp://www.solid-ground.org/programs/nutrition/marra/pages/default.aspx

BACK TO THE FUTURE: If you were online today, likely you saw mention that it's *the day* that was pivotal in our history. Well, at least cinematic history. ... As a White House press release noted, "It's the date to which Marty McFly traveled into the 'future' in Back to the Future Part II."

The press release also noted, "We've come a long way in the 30 years that have passed since the original Back to the Future came out. Now, we're going to talk about where we're going in the next 30.  All day long, we're hosting a series of conversations with scientists and innovators across the government and the country. You'll be able to ask them questions, watch videos explaining their cutting-edge developments, and share your answer to the question above: What does 2045 look like?"

I thought I'd let the kids ponder that for a few minutes and come up with a paragraph about it. 

Here's what Annabelle had to say. ... 

30 years from now, computers will be one of the only sources of communication and information. Talking face to face will be replaced with "Skypeing", and YouTube will triumph over real-life stage plays and other entertainment. The video game market will boom, especially due to the rise in virtual reality. Video games will have become as immersive as ever, such as jumping and causing your character to jump. Gaming will even be a professional sport, with even more tournaments than there are currently. We can have robots do most of our work, but some tasks require human input. Even humans have been robotized, being quote-unquote “cyborgs”, where they have an ID chip implanted in them (much like a dog’s ID microchip). The chip would also offer wi-fi, no matter where you are. The entire world might even have internet connection. The internet will surely be a major part of our future, judging by the fact it’s already so large.

And here was CJ's take ... 

30 years from now, several different technological advancements will have been made. Multiple rich business-people around the world will own hydrogen-powered vehicles, and self-driving cars are beginning to be phased in. The virtual reality industry will be worth billions of dollars, and the third manned mission to Mars will have been launched. Several people have implants resembling the Google Glass and Apple Watch, but either surgically fused to them or placed internally.