Soil magazine

Silent Melodic Remembrance

By Emily Cheung

~*Dedication to Mikayla*~ We’re all soul sis-ters.

This garden brings back

The long lost mournful melodies

Of our friendship.

The knowledge of my past and present memories

Is sharp.

Sharp as these amber sunset daffodils against

The weeds trying to choke them up.

Sharp as the gray sky,

Now dangling above my head,

A painful reminder of nothingness

After she left.

She leaves me to

Attempt to reconnect the

Broken puzzle pieces

Of our long distanced friendship.

And this knowledge is real.

As real as the rotting tangerine decomposing on the dirt,

As real as the crumbled slithering soil be-neath my feet.

And all I see are the enshrouded mountains

With their cat tails of fog

Stonily sitting, silent.

As cold as these bees weaving in and

Out of the willow leaves,

Minding their own business.

Through the crackling dried

Ferns of forgetting,

I hear the sharp wings of her

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Laughter and wonder if she’s forgotten.

I remember how we used to

Gleefully run amidst

The crowds of our friendly

Classmates to hide

In the withered dried purple

Stalks of aromatic lavender,

Where the robins would gather.

We’d hang on desperately to the

Crackled branches of trees

Lost in our own haze of delirious fog.

And as the sun glanced upon the childish pink

Of the tulips, there you could find

Us running through the long stalks of golden grass.

Something similar to a movie.

But that movie has long been sold,

And along with it, our dreams.

Ever since she left,

These gardens have me staring

At the silver translucent pool of remembering,

Uncertain where we have gone.

And as I sit here,

Accompanied by the bees and flowers and soil,

I write and eagerly await her return.

Surroundings

By Maddie Booth

The feeling of crunched marbles

The sounds of twisting twigs

The smell of refreshing orchids with a light

and airy sensation

The look of serenity and peace

The sensation of a hidden hideout

The peace of rushing water

This is what we feel

This is our world

And this is what soil does for us

Renewal

By Christie Huang

Over my head, a black bird flits its way gracefully through

the air

Like a feather being blown by the wind.

The palm tress stand still, the three golden arches stand

proud,

And the green olive trees stand rooted and strong.

The birds chirp singing their song as if trying to get our at-

tention,

The attention we never give them.

The sound of the rush of the cars, whooshing past,

Sweet like candy.

Air that renews my body,

So addicting it begs my nose for more.

Soft like a blanket,

Yet sturdy like a book cover,

Squishy like rubber

Vigorous without water, but resembles a fountain

The rocks aqua, the plants strong as glass without the life of

water

Clouded and gloomy but a streak of light pours through the

clouds

Giving hope of sunlight

Peace and serenity fill my body while this beautiful place

enlightens my life

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Bacteria: We Live for a Better Tomorrow

By Christie Huang, Maddie Booth, and Emily Cheung

Every single day you use soil in some way: whether it was the nurturer of the food that

you ate, or the foundation you step on daily. Soil is the main staple to our life and YOURS.

Every building, park, and garden you step in is covered with soil. How is soil produced? How is

it possible for your food to keep appearing on your plate every day? Soil is made from the

erosion and weathering of bedrocks. We all know that things can’t go on forever without a

cycle, so is it possible for you to grow your food? With the help of us BACTERIA, you are able

to have the food you eat, and the buildings you live in. There are about 5 billion bacteria in a

teaspoon of dirt. Thats a lot of us! The reason there are so many of us, 8is that we have one of

the most important jobs in keeping soil healthy and nutritious. Did you know that “an acre of

soil produces one horsepower every day”? (Clydes Pickup) That's how important we are and

how much we contribute to help you live.

We are definitely a big help when it comes to giving nutrients and water back into the soil;

however, topsoil degradation is still happening. Topsoil loss or degradation is when the

earth’s soil degrades because there is not enough plant “litter” (or dead organic matter) to

protect and nourish the soil. This is where we, bacteria, part of the microflora category, come

into place. Our job is to convert plant debris back into plant nutrients and water available to

the plants again. We can be said as a recycling center, for we are changing dead organic mat-

ter back into nutrients that can later be used for other causes. If we did not do our job, topsoil

degradation would be way out of hand, and crops would not grow and thrive. If humans did

not have crops, they could no longer rely on nature to help with the creation of foods. There

are also many more terrible things topsoil loss can do to soil and our world.When the skies are

filled with clouds, and crying with rain, the soil will erode much faster and many soil organisms

will not make it through the storm. We are very delicate organisms, but without us, the world

we know would fall and life filled with suffering would arise.


Since there are a lot of us, you can imagine the changes we make in your soil. We aren’t

just in your body; the dirt is home to a lot of us. We definitely help the very important transfor-

mations of soil, like breaking down organic matter, weathering rocks and minerals, and working

in the nutrient cycle. Most of us are decomposers, which means we take the energy from dead

organic matter and turn it into food for the plants. But some of us can create nutrients using

“host plants”. For example, some of my friends who live at the roots of clover plants can take

nitrogen from air and make it into fertilizer. Others of us can take in chemical pollution and gain

energy from it. Groups of us create slime that make us stick to soil. That slime can also make soil

particles stick to itself. The slime also helps catch water and hold it in the soil, so the plant can

drink it up. Roots can grow into the spaces between the gooey clumps. Now that you know a lot

about us, you should recognize that we are the most important organism that keeps our world

strong and healthy.


Here are a few pictures of when bacteria steps in to make good, healthy soil:


Soil Unit- Reflection!

By Emily Cheung

Overall, I think the Soil Unit was very down to earth (haha!), and we did a lot of outdoorsy activities. My Soil

Unit group consisted of Christie, Maddie Booth, and me! We worked together very well; two of us would help each

other while the other person would work on something different. In the end, we got everything completed so that we

wouldn’t have to spend some time on our magazine for homework. If we were to do another “unit” (like the Water

Unit, the Soil Unit), I’d definitely prefer to be put in a group with those two again. (But it’s not up to me…) Having

good groupmates really makes the unit better. My two groupmates were very positive and always cheerful (that’s

always a good thing), and (in the end) made me positive we could finish everything on time. With Christie’s awe-

some drawing skills, and Maddie’s great imaginative thinking, I was very enthusiastic about the whole Soil Unit

(which I must admit I was skeptical about in the beginning.) I can now conclude that the Units aren’t really about

what you do, but who you’re with and how you do your projects/explorations.

Mainly all my challenges in my Soil Unit Self-Assessment sheet were about trying to turn good-quality

projects in on time, or exploring nature/new things; I was also proud of how my team worked together, and get-

ting to know my thoughts better (at the labyrinth). The things that surprised me were just facts about history and

bacteria, and things I learned were also facts in nature.

On Thursday, it was the best day of the Soil Unit: exploring our own school through eyes of a botanist,

building a new section of the “Rain Garden”, gazing curiously at the mold we had grown (with the help of the

algae gel, of course!), and making the classic seedballs! We really were getting out and about, and it’s really a

shame that we couldn’t go to the Pasadena Community Gardens. However, that gave us more time for our

magazines/posters/speech, so I think it all turned out well in the end. Everything about the Soil Unit was about

getting our hands dirty and exploring our interesting world in lens of naturalists. We were mini-naturalists!!



Christie Huang

3/21/12

Soil Unit Assessment

I have learned a lot over the past 5 days. . The soil unit was a lot of fun and y knowledge on soil

has increased a lot more compared to what I knew before. I really enjoyed exploring outside trying to find

the Fibonacci sequence in nature. I also thought the Victory Gardens or Community gardens were really

interesting. I thought the propaganda posters were really fun to make and I can’t wait to see it all come

together as a magazine.

The trip to the Arlington Gardens also really helped me connect with my surroundings. I realized

how much I ignore all the nature that’s around me. Caught up with all the other things around me and I

rarely notice the all the interesting things that happen in nature. It really helped me when I wrote the

poem because it helped me analyze my surroundings.

Another thing I learned in the soil unit was how the Victory Gardens were created during the times

of war. One thing I found interesting was how the name Victory Garden got converted to Community Gar-

den. I really enjoyed making the propagandas for the Victory/ Community Gardens. It was challenging to

come up with the right layout and slogan but the activity was a lot of fun.

I learned a lot about soil this unit. I never knew how much bacteria could be in just one teaspoon.

Something that surprised me was that after 1,000 years only an inch of soil has weathered and eroded. I

never really thought about the importance of soil; but after this unit, whenever I look at the ground I have

a new perspective other then the fact that it’s just dirt.

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