- Author: Jeannette Warnert
Dec. 4 - 8 is Healthy Soils Week in California. Learn more by following the hashtag #healthysoilsweek2023 and visiting the CDFA Healthy Soils Week webpage.
Soil and plant science students at Madera Community College are learning about the local soil profile by climbing into a five-foot-deep soil pit at the UC Master Gardeners' Three Sisters Garden.
The students are in an agricultural lab course taught by Dr. Elizabeth Mosqueda, who knew the best way to understand the different layers of soil is to personally see, feel and collect soil samples at different depths.
Mosqueda starts her soils class with a PowerPoint presentation and a video to introduce the students to the physical properties of soil – color, texture, structure, porosity and other characteristics. Using the USDA online soil survey tool, the students learn that the soil series is Hanford fine sandy loam and the horizon contains three other soil layers beneath it. Then the learning comes to life when the students arrive at the soil pit with trowels, sharp scraping tools and containers.
“In our case, you can't tell the different soils just by looking at it, but by wetting samples and then assessing it with your hands, you can determine the properties of the different layers,” Mosqueda told the students.
Mosqueda wasn't able to get permission to dig the pit elsewhere on campus, but the Three Sisters Garden, a two-acre area on the north side of the school set aside in 2008 for community and student learning, was open to the idea.
With financial support from a dean, the professor worked with lab coordinator Lukas Griffen, who operated a backhoe to carve out the soil pit. The pit is protected by orange fencing when not being used for education.
The Three Sisters Garden is always open to visitors interested in all aspects of gardening, such as vegetable production, flowering perennials, drought-tolerant plants and attracting wildlife. The garden also provides a peaceful respite for stressed students and faculty.
“Some visitors just want to walk around, and we also have tables and chairs for those who want to eat lunch or talk,” said Barbara Mattice, a Madera County UC Master Gardener volunteer and a garden manager.
She said the garden also supports the campus community by donating about 2,000 pounds of fresh vegetables harvested in the garden per year to the campus food pantry and by participating in campus events.
View a video of Dr. Mosqueda at the Three Sisters Garden soil pit:
