Organism of the year! What are ants? Soil matters in many different ways. We depend on soil for our plants, which produce food and oxygen. Without rich and moist soil, we wouldn’t be able to eat fruits, grains, or vegetables. Soil is how most of our food grows and where our food comes from. Soil mixed with climate is the reason we have large forests all over the word today. Without these huge forests, we wouldn’t have wood or fuel. These forests are also the homes of a wide variety of animals. If these animals didn’t have a place to live, it would result in overpopulation in some areas and animals becoming extinct or endangered. Soil also gives support to many of our buildings and other structures. Topsoil loss or soil erosion is when the top layer of soil is washed or blown away. This is causing a major concern worldwide. What would we do without rich soil? This soil were talking about produces our food and oxygen, that keeps us alive. Without it, we won’t be able to sustain some necessities of life. Evidence proves that human activities are increasing the erosion. So we are the problem and the solution. What we can do about topsoil loss is to have less intensive farming, which weakens the topsoil's structure. Drum roll please!! This is what you have been waiting folks, and it’s time for the big reveal! Our featured organism this year is the ant. Now i know what you are thinking, what good is an ant, what’s so special about them? Did you know there are over 12,500 species of ants that have been classified? They evolved from their wasp like ancestors that lived in the mid-cretaceous era. The Cretaceous era was the last of the three segments of the Mesozoic era. So ants have been around longer than we have. Ants can carry over twenty times their body weight and run very fast for their body size. They have six legs and three main segments of their body. The three main segments are the head, the thorax, and the abdomen. Their feelers are there to smell their way around the colony, which can consist of 4,000 to 700,000 ants. What good are ants to soil. Not only worms help create healthy soil! Ants help turn over and bring nutrients to the soil. They also collect water to be brought to deeper parts of the soil. They can also increase the dispersal, germination and growth of plants by carrying and spreading them along different places. Think of them as very small armies of farmers!
Poetry of the Week! A god Whose flower’s petals have fallen Whose children laugh and throw rocks Whose rocks clink like wine glasses in collision Whose leaves are soft to the touch Whose bees tease each flower Whose bees are filled with color Whose blue rocks remind his children of brighter times Whose children suffer only to learn greater things Whose children explore their boundaries Whose children smell of rosemary and mint Whose children laugh and sing Whose body is what they play in, What they grow in, What they die in Whose body is in his own Morning children The crisp morning wind in my hair, Who is hard to imagine I look up at the sky. when even the simpler ideAbove me the clouds keep the light from being free, as while the birds sing to them. Are still so hard to comThere are only birds, prehend By Lucy
for as far as I can hear, chirping and crying in their own language. I feel the croaking and creaking of the wood holding me. But beyond it all I see our world. The world that the wind and the birds and the trees all came from. The world that we came from. So why do we treat our world as if it only belongs to us? -Phia
The Last Time Who made the world? Who made the mountains, and the trees? Who made the flowers? This flower, I meanthe one who sits perched on the stem, the one that is shaking against the wind, who is moving side to side instead of forward and backwardswho is sitting alone, with no one near. Now it sways gently and stops rocking. Now a single petal falls, and floats away. I don’t exactly know what Mother Nature is. I do know how to write essays, how to accomplish tasks for school, for family, how to be happy and carefree, how to jump with joy, which is what I’ve been doing the past summer. Tell me, what else could I have done? Doesn’t everything disappear, go away? Tell me what you would’ve done with your last shot of freedom? -Monika
Freedom I jump from my safe haven, Running past the trees I’ve grown used to, I will not return to my hole in the ground, Where we rule the world.
We stir up the soil, Helping others in the process, I shake my antennae to communicate, But they shake their heads and turn away.
I depart the hole to find the crisp air, Hitting me in the face, I won’t look back, Freedom at last! -Monika
Staying in the Soil Maybe we all want to leave something here on this earth we came from, in the air we breath, or on ground we walk. Maybe we all want to give back to the earth that gave us so much. To the soil. To the water. So what should we do? Nothing but what we can do. Give not only our minds, but our bodies back to the earth. To the soil. -Phia Oh Wait, He’s Dead It will be years before he is reunited with himself again! They preserved him and kept him from his soul his soul waits for him in the ground sitting by his casket every day he was painted on. They disrespected him! They disrespected what he stood for! His flesh rots with the silk he has to smell himself every day what is he supposed to eat? Oh wait, he’s dead -Lucy
And a Special Contribution from... Once There was... a seed that grew to a tree. a sick girl and a tree. a sick girl and a tall apple tree. a sick girl and an apple. a not-so sick girl who loved apples. a healthy girl who loved apples. a healthy girl and a sick boy, a healthy girl who gave the sick boy an apple. a healthy girl and a healthy boy. a healthy boy and girl who loved each other, a healthy, married boy and girl who had a baby, a baby who never got sick because she ate apples, a healthy girl and boy who died a child who buried their bodies next to that tree. a healthy tree a little town where no one ever gets sick, a town where everyone eats apples -Lucy
History of Arlington Garden Arlington Garden is at the corner of Arlington Drive and Pasadena Avenue, on the Caltrans site that stood vacant for 40 years before. Arlington Garden is one of Pasadena's only public gardens. It is a three acre botanical garden that lets people enjoy a variety of succulents and other plants while still saving water and teaching people how to have a drought resistant, Mediterranean climate garden. In 2003 Betty McKenney suggested to the City and Caltrans (who were talking about what to do with the three acre site that had been a vacant lot, home to only a couple of trees and plants) to build a water wise Mediterranean climate garden. People liked the idea, even though it took a while to get started, but once it did everyone wanted to contribute. The City, Pasadena Water and Power, and the McKenney’s came together and started moving forward with the plan. Pasadena Beautiful Foundation and the Mediterranean Garden Society gave great amounts of support, and neighbors began to donate money, plants, and garden furniture. To set up the garden they covered most of the property with mulch, installed an irrigation system, and in July of 2005, with people from the City and Pasadena Water & Power and neighbors, they planted the first trees and plants in Arlington Garden. Since then, the McKenney’s have planted about four hundred trees and a large variety of plants. There are also benches, tables and chairs with umbrellas on the property for visitors to relax; as well as pots, paths and a labyrinth. Their main goal is still to teach about drought tolerant gardening and provide a place for people to find peace of mind and calmness in our community. Due to the fact that California is in a drought, the garden is more important now than ever.
Written by: Phia
Dear Readers, Throughout my experience participating in the Soil Unit, I found that there is a lot more than what meets the eye, literally. I never knew that there were so many stages in the making of soil, or how many organisms participated in the process. It surprised me how the soil changed over time, from the moist, rich, soil to the dry soil we have today. I also found the size of how big plants and succulents can grow into. I found that when we went on the different field trips, from the Ron Finley Garden/ Project to the Rubio Canyon with Arroyos and Foothills Conservancy, I would always learn something that shocked me. An example would be that when we went to the Rubio Canyon with Arroyos and Foothills Conservancy, I learned that all the yellow bushes were the weeds, not the native plants drying up, because the native plants stay green throughout the year. This made me realized how important weeding plants were. An example of a challenge my group and I faced (or maybe just me) would be when we went to the Rubio Canyon with Arroyos and Foothills Conservancy and we had to spread mulch and water the baby oak trees. I found climbing the sandy hills especially challenging, because I would always slip and slide down the hill. This field trip showed me how many weeds there really are, considering the amount of weeds we pulled from the ground, not counting the ones further away from the trees. Overall, I found that the soil unit was really fun, as cheesy as that sounds. We learned new things about how food is the cause of obesity, and how food is also the cure. We also learned different topics about how many food deserts are in the US, and also what kind of different plants there are in the Canyons. One of the most surprising part of the field trip was when we had our “On Campus� field trip. One of the rotations consisted of a tour, the saddest tour I will probably ever go on. I found that most of the trees on the campus was dying, or already dead, because of the lack of water. This new piece of information made me realize how much water we desperately needed, because if we considered the fact that 12-13 million trees died in Pasadena last year, how many trees would die this year due to the lack of water?
Sincerely, Monika
Dear Readers, These past two weeks my class and I have been working in a segment of all of our classes combined called the soil unit. The meaning of the soil unit is to learn about the importance of soil through different activities, some hands on and some listening to people talk. We have talked about many ideas, such as gardening, meditating, observation, poetry, food deserts, and especially soil and how it affects our daily lives. Soil is a very large part of our lives because we get our nutrients from it, we live on it and we die into it. The soil provides for us, and then we give back by providing our bodies to them to let them have the nutrients they need. It is very important that everyone has access to healthy foods. Everyone, no matter where you live, should have the choice to live a healthy life. Sadly, fresh food is hard to come by for many people, because it is so expensive. About 15% of people in America live in poverty. That is about forty-five million people not getting what they need for a healthy diet. Most people in poverty are forced to buy cheap, unhealthy food from places like McDonald’s. As many of you readers know, McDonald’s is far from healthy, and driving people, and many children, into obesity. Obesity can cut people’s life span by six and a half to fourteen years. To end obesity we need to put our heads together and help these people out! Plant a garden! Buy a homeless man a salad! The little things you do can make a difference. The most important thing you can do is spread awareness! Feel better today by helping those in need! Sincerely, Lucy
Who wore it better? Banana Montana vs. Orange Winfrey The pink Bikini Challenge
Who do you think should’ve won? Vote now at sundaysoil.com/bikinichallenges/bananavsorange