Activity - Cabbage Harvest
Compared to the regular cabbages that we see in supermarkets, the one that we grew were a lot smaller. After asking the teachers, they said that this might be due to the weather changes that have been quite common recently and also competition with nearby grass that we didn’t kill with herbicide.
A look at the cabbages we have grown, surrounding grass are obvious since they are not killed with herbicide
There were still holes on the cabbage leaves due to cabbageworms, but a lot less than we have expected. This is because of the cold weather which the worms dislike and also the special technique that we have used for planting. We planted Chrysanthemum next to our cabbages. Chrysanthemum gives off an odor that cabbageworms dislike, which prevents them from eating our plants. This is a way of naturally protecting plants without damaging them from man- made chemicals. This also made me realize how hard it is for farmers to take care of organic plants since there are no herbicides, pesticides, or chemical fertilizers to kill competitors or make the crops look healthier. Nevertheless, we still had a great time harvesting. We each took a knife and cut the cabbages at its base, leaving its roots for baby cabbages (small cabbage leaves) to grow. These baby cabbages are filled with nutrition and are great at preventing cancer.
The cabbages were safe to eat without washing it
<Pictures taken by Grass Hope Taiwan Foundation and Earth's Children>