To celebrate Earth Day, April 22nd, the
OSU Organic Growers Club hosted the annual
Hoo Haa at the OSU Organic Growers Farm. The farm is located on OSU property off HWY 34 east of the Willamette River.
The Hoo Haa is an event where people gather to celebrate agriculture, food, music, community and ecosystem services. The main purpose of the Hoo Haa is to provide an fun yet educational experience where people learn how to prepare soil, plant seeds, and learn about sustainable agriculture.
At the Hoo Haa they had a solar panel vehicle that provided all the electricity needed for the event. A big focus was to be sustainable, making sure that all the trash that was compostable was being used for that.
If it could be recycled it was. Very little was actually thrown in the trash at the event.
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| Baby chicks in a chicken "tractor" |
There were baby chicks there to demonstrate how animals benefit the soil. The chickens kick up the soil, providing aeration, reduce the bug/weed population, and provide excellent fertilizer for the soil. They were kept in a "tractor" that allows the chickens to be in a safe secure environment while easily movable to make sure the chickens hard work wasn't being wasted on a small space.
The Ogranic Growers Club's Secretary Brooke Getty said, "We couldn't
have done this without all the hard work from our
volunteers."
Besides the volunteers, the
OSU Human Services Resource Center set up a table highlighting services they provide. "It [Hoo
Haa] was a success, we got four people to sign up to volunteer with us",
said Shanti Kriens HSRC office associate.
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| Krien and her OSU HSRC info table |
Other fun activities that
could be indulged were disc golf, music, and face painting. They also
had more informative tables that discussed how to improve agriculture
such as building bee houses. The OSU Student Apiary club even had active
beehives on site. Soil pits were dug to show people the different soil
types and where they rest.
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| James Cassidy intoducing the live bands |
The event is mostly financed through donations provided by local businesses and ran by volunteers.
James Cassidy,
OSU Professor and Organic Growers Club adviser, plans the event every
year with the goal of getting people in the community thinking more
about the earth.
"It's all about the soil, man", said
Cassidy. He explained that the atoms found in soil are recycled over and
over again "Billions of times". He talked about how the soil's atoms
are used by plants to produce food that we then eat, those atoms are used by us and then returned to the soil, in one form or the
other. The cycle
constantly repeats itself.
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| Volunteers helping prep and plant onion starts at the Farm |
When Cassidy was asked how
attitudes towards agriculture have changed compared to the past he said
it is completely different than in his father's day. It used to be that
people didn't really think about the soil besides dumping fertilizer on
it. Run-off, soil derogation, and pesticides were widely used and no one
really thought about making it sustainable. That's what the Hoo Haa
aim's to change, people's view on soil and sustainability.
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| Composting soil at farm |
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| Demonstration on building small bee-hives |
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| Transportation to the event provided for free |
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| Chicken Tractor |
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| Volunteers help plant onions |
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| Info board for OSU's HSRC |
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| Bee-Hives |
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| Info sign for on-site bee-hives |
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| James Cassidy serving free organic food at the Hoo Haa |
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| Chicken "Tractor" |
At a glace-
Hoo Haa by OSU Organic Growers Club
OSU Organic Growers Farm
Earthday April 22
Learning about soil and sustainability or volunteer
http://oregonstate.edu/sustainability/organic-growers-club-hoo-haa-friday-april-22
Soil !!!
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