Hydroponics Washing & Harvesting Packet (Copy)
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Food Cultivation Basics
Definitions
Hydroponic System Overview
Harvesting Station Design and Materials
Harvesting Flow
Harvesting Tips
Harvest Washing
Sanitation Station
Education and Reflection Guide
Open Note Taking Space
Living For Today Garden Training
Hydroponic Systems, Harvesting, Washing & Prep Station 1: Lessons 1, 2, and 3
Good Neighbor Gardens
We are making real food accessible and affordable by empowering and educating individuals of all ages to participate in the production and distribution of their food locally, collectively, and sustainably in order to create a more thriving earth-connected and interdependent community.
Our Partnership with Living 4 2 Day
At Good Neighbor Gardens, we have a demonstrated history of cultivating food as well as inspiring others how to grow their own food at home for their own consumption. Over the past 12 years, we’ ve administered our own self-written garden curriculum in schools to teach children how to grow their own food and become dedicated service members in their communities. Through this partnership, we hope to enhance the Living 4 2 Day clients’ daily mental and physical wellness by helping them develop the independent skills of food cultivation, preparation, and distribution in order to foster healthy, contributing individuals who are capable of self care and service to others. We want everybody to get in where they fit in, regardless of ability, because every person should have the right to be a healthy and contributing member of society. Cultivating and consuming good food is paramount to that goal.
FOOD CULTIVATION BASICS
What are the five things every living thing needs to not just survive but thrive on earth?
Water
Sun
Air
Nutrients
Love
We cultivate happy plants and good food by keeping these factors in mind!
What is a seed?
Grows under pressure
Above and below the rhizosphere
Darkness into light
Establishing relationships with the microbes, which keep the soil alive
The garden shows us how to be in a relationship with abundance and how to maintain that connection.
DEFINITIONS
Channel
The long white structure with holes that the plants grow through and worm tea flows in.
Tote
What the harvest will be collected in as well as the waste. Totes will look different depending on their purpose.
Dual-Purpose Tables
These tables will be used for both harvesting and sanitizing the channels and should be considered unsanitary.
Drain Tubing and Connectors
The tubes that bring water into the channels. You will be plugging and unplugging these as you go through the harvest cycle
Worm Tea
The liquid that goes in the channels to provide nutrients for the hydroponic garden.
HYDROPONIC SYSTEM OVERVIEW
What is hydroponics?
A method of growing plants without soil, using a nutrientrich water solution instead
This technique allows for controlled environment agriculture and can be used indoors or in greenhouses
Why grow food using hydroponics?
Year-round food production
Fast growth
Reduced water
Reduced pests and pesticides
Greater control over growing conditions
What is vermiponics?
A method of growing plants that combines hydroponics with vermicomposting (using worms)
This technique allows for zero-waste nutrient cycling without the use of synthetic nutrients
At Living 4 2 Day, the hydroponic system operates using worm tea as the growing medium to grow food.
