Day 2-Research...All Day
- Sydney Schmitt
- Aug 26, 2019
- 2 min read
The Plan
The plan for today is to research, research, research. I have tons to look up and so little time; at the time I'm writing this I have 12 hours and 18 minutes until I’ll be leaving for Paris. If I find that I am unable to get through all my research topics during school hours I will continue it throughout my flight and time at the airport...assuming I will be awake. I have a feeling that I may get into a slump with all this research so if that ends up being the case I will switch up what I’m doing and study some French as I wasn't able to do it yesterday.
What I Did
All-day all I did was research. Surprisingly there was only one point where I was a little brain dead and when this happened I watched a video regarding one of my research topics, Holistic Management, so even then it was productive. Today I was able to wrap up my research on Gabe Brown and his farming practices in addition to starting and finishing research on Holistic Management, tilling and cover crops. The research I did on Gabe Brown and holistic management were really similar and occasionally repetitive. Both made references to mob grazing (although they never used that term) and both heavily emphasized the importance of soil health and how everything is connected to it. With regards to tilling, I learned that it’s a bad method of agriculture whereupon the topsoil is churned resulting in a messed up microbes (which are essential to healthy soil). Additionally, I also learned that in turning up the soil, the carbon within the soil comes to the surface and turns into carbon dioxide, the greenhouse gas. All around it’s a bad thing and thus the holistic management movement emphasizes the idea of no-till practices.
Reflection
I felt like I accomplished quite a lot today, and unlike yesterday I found myself a lot more focused and able to block out distractions. In the end, however, I wasn't able to complete all the topics that Pascal, my host dad, gave me, and it wasn’t because of a lack of focus. Instead, I attribute it to how I went in-depth on every topic I researched, even going so far as to watch an hour-long video. It also should be noted that, like yesterday, I didn’t just look up what he told me to, instead veered off and looked up related terms that I wanted to know more about. In my opinion, I think that was the way to go because there’s no point in researching a bunch of topics and not really understanding any of them. Personally, I’d rather research a few topics but have a deep understanding. In an attempt to finish Pascals terms before the start of the workweek I plan on researching them over the weekend and finishing those before I go off on my own tangent.
Another fascinating day of learning! It's interesting to me that you are essentially learning about Mississippian farming practices so common in Ohio (beans, corn, squash) in France! Also interesting to see that sweetness and the level of micronutrients are somehow correlated. I never knew how apples were kept fresh in storage, so that, too, is a big aha moment. Your exposure to French working hours and family life is learning as well, so don't think otherwise. Enjoy; I'll be interested to read the next installment!
Day 2, in the books! It sounds like you were amazingly productive. Remember that the point of an intensive is to give you time to go in-depth, so no shame in not ticking off everything on your list. Fascinating stuff about tilling; I had no idea. I do know that one reason for the westward push in American history , besides growing population and desire for land ownership, is that common agricultural practices tended to deplete land. I'd be curious to compare these practices more-in depth to Native American practices. Nice work,and I hope that you're settling in to your new place!