STUDENT VIDEO LESSON ON SOIL

This is a sample video lesson from week 3 of Matt Powers' Permaculture Student K-12 Online course.

Matt interviews soil scientist Dr. Elaine Ingham about the different biological processes in the soil. Dr. Ingham explains how plants generally need two forms of nitrogen to grow.

These cannot come in the form of N2 which we get from the air. Neither can it be the kind of nitrogen that you get from the commercial "NPK" fertilizer mixes sold in big box stores.

Plants need nitrogen in the form of either ammonia (NH4) or nitrate (NO3) to thrive.

If you listen to video closely, can you figure out which form of plant-soluble nitrogen encourages weed growth?

• What unique nitrogen requirements do most of our veggies need?
• How do we ensure that we do not encourage weed growth in our garden beds?
• What should we introduce into the soil to make vegetable growing optimal?

Courtesy of the NRCS -USDA

HOW TO APPLY THIS IN THE CLASSROOM

I enjoyed listening to Dr. Ingham talk about how the Middle East was once the land of milk and honey and what happened to make most of it the desert that it currently is.  I am sure that those of you who are homeschoolers or Christian educators could tie a thing or two about stewardship of the land as well as stewardship of what God had given us in nature.

Incidentally, the topic of soil happens to be the first lesson I will be teaching a class of 4th graders at the start of the school year at Rolling Ridge. I plan to do this as the students  clear their garden beds of the tomatoes and crops that are currently growing in it.

Let us know below what you thought of this short clip and how you would use it to teach your kids about soil below.

Another idea to make this soil lesson more practical is to actually "build soil" by "Turning Your Organic Waste into Compost"

If you would like to view the 12-week Curriculum Outline that Matt Powers uses to teach permaculture to students around the world click HERE.

Student Lesson Video on Pickling

This is a sample video lesson from week 9 of Matt Powers' Permaculture Student K-12 Online course.

Here, Matt shows us how to sterilize pickling jars and pickle daikon radishes and carrots as a form of preserving our food for future use.

In the video above what is the ratio of water, vinegar and sugar that is used to correctly pickle these vegetables?

Jar sterilization is a necessary step in the canning process because your jar will be sealed tight and might risk the cultivation of anaerobic and pathogenic bacteria in your medium.

If you live by the sea, the recommended time for boiling your canning jars is (10) ten minutes. The higher your altitude the longer you must boil your jars and lids. Find out what your altitude is relative to sea level, and add 1 minute more for every 1,000 feet!

I don't think you need to buy any fancy equipment if you already own Ball Jars.  I have sterilized my jars in my Instant Pot and in a large stainless steel pot. But if you want to purchase a "canning kit" with nice tongs like Matt uses in the video, see HERE.

That is an affiliate link by the way.

How to Apply this in the Classroom

The first question I would ask my students would be, "Why do we need to preserve food in the first place?"

I think it would also be a good idea to go back in time and imagine what life was like without refrigeration.

If you are already growing crops with your children, you can ask them when they notice a surplus of food from the garden and what times of the year the garden is not as productive or not producing at all.

What would the consequences of not preserving any of the food that we eat be?

I'm sure you probably have even more questions to ask your class. Comment below and share them with our readers!

If you would like to view the 12-week Curriculum Outline that Matt Powers uses to teach permaculture to students around the world click HERE.

Student Lesson Video on Hand-Pollination

This is a sample video lesson from week 8 of Matt Powers' Permaculture Student K-12 Online course.

Here, Matt and his son show us how to hand-pollinate squash plants.   It is a good video to watch to familiarize oneself with differences between a female flower and a male flower.

From watching the video above how would you identify a female squash flower from a male flower?

Inside Permaculture Student K-12 Online, Matt teaches pollination by hand, not in usual the context of plant biology and reproduction (though it is commonly presented that way) but as a part of the broader permaculture concept of planning and observation.

One of the things that makes permaculture different than just any other organic gardening method, is that is holistic.  It involves thinking of designing your entire space.

Hand pollination is a small thing that you do within the broader context of ensuring food production when perhaps there are no bees currently found in your system.  It is something that you plan for in advance, especially when you are starting to garden for the first time.

How to Apply This in the Classroom

As mentioned above, it would still be good to introduce a refresher, plant physiology and reproduction segment when introducing this video.  Even if a child has heard this before, repetition is the key to mastery.

The portion of the male flower that contains all the pollen is called the anther and the pistil is the female flower's part that contains the stigma, style, and ovary or "bulge" as Matt points out in the video.

It might also be a good idea to have the student observe what the difference is between a female flower that has been hand-pollinated and one that intentionally hasn't.  Did the one that didn't get hand-pollinated form a squash in the end?  And if it didn't form one, what happened to the female flower?

In permaculture, the idea would be to do the least amount of work for the most amount of gain.  If this is the case, how can we improve pollination for our plants in the future without having to hand-pollinate them ourselves?

Wow!  This topic is so rich.  I think it is so appropriate that Matt put this right in the middle of the week on Observation and Planning because as students we need to be observing the small and big changes on our properties and even in our lives.

Yet, this is only a drop of water in the  big pond of permaculture education that is part of this life-changing student curriculum!

If you would like to view the entire 12-week Curriculum Outline that Matt Powers uses to teach permaculture to students around the world, click HERE.

If you purchase the Permaculture Student K-12 Online 7 days after you signed-up to receive the free Video Lessons, you also receive a

which includes:

• organic non-GMO seeds curated for your specific climate
• a sturdy seed-starting tray
• instructions on how to start the seeds

This whole kit is valued at $50​

PLUS!!

But you must email us your receipt so we can make sure you qualify for the bonus.