A sad yet grateful conclusion to this project

I, to an extent, am not shocked by the outcome of this project. Typically, the goal is to find whither or not your hypothesis has been supported or rejected based on the data that you collect. As my data turned out to be three seeds germinated, one in the urban summer squash row and then two in the indigenous summer squash row. Each of them got about and inch or two tall, and then promptly died. Seeing as the data that I was to collect and then judge the accuracy of my hypothesis was dependent on the growth with at least a few specimens from each row, I must come to the conclusion that my hypothesis was rendered inconclusive due to the non-growth of enough plants to complete the experimental methods of testing and research.

As I suggest to my students, no research project to whatever extent is a failed experiment, for there is always something we can learn and walk away with for future application. In this instance, where I was hoping to test more conventional urban farming methods against that of indigenous methods, even before I raced just to get the seeds into soil before the Phoenix heat became too extreme, I had an incredibly difficult time with trying to locate strong or even consistent information regarding the farming practices of the Hohokam tribe of central Arizona's Sonoran desert. One afternoon I found myself digging through the Arizona archives room at the Phoenix public library, looking up excavation recordings and interactions with more recent tribes, as it is known that the Hohokam vanished before European settlers came to the valley of the sun. So, as opposed to  being able to put indigenous farming methods into practice, I spent the little time that I had for the project just trying to find them, but ultimately came up unsuccessful.

Modern urban farming, on the other hand, is alive and well in Phoenix. There are an abundance of resources such as urbanfarm.org  and phoenixpermaculture.org, and the information, workshops and community leaders that they provide access to is nearly overwhelming, and for someone like me who is still very "green" (as in being a rookie) to the whole gardening thing, it is comforting knowing that those resources are there. I ran into a bit of a hesitation though as even though those resources were there a plenty, I didn't want to pursue them until I had some indigenous farming practices in which to balance and move forward with equal application to both experimental groups. Truth be told I went ahead with a little of the urban knowledge that I had quickly learned just to get some of the seeds up and running, but if I were to continue any further as such, I felt, I would be ruining the validity of the experiment. Subsequently, the plants mostly never germinated, and to the three that did, died quickly.

In regards to the research style chosen, I went with an experimental method for the testing, but was introduced to the idea of the auto-ethnography, where I document the research in a narrative format to be an accompanying format to the research. This blog served as that medium, though with dwindling frequency of blogging, the effectiveness of the auto-ethnography waned. Still though, I am quite happy that I was able to learn of and put into practice this type of research as if fits more of my narrative style and hope that I am able to incorporate it into my eventual practicum and and dissertation. I find it to be a very authentic and genuine means of collecting data, one that engages both the researcher and the reader, pending that the research itself doesn't die out on me.

In grand conclusion, even though this particular project did not pan out as I would have hoped, I am not discouraged from what my original intent was; which was to get me in the garden and start trying my hand at becoming a "prosumer," or one who produces and consumes it. I still intend and wish to produce at least a fraction of my own produce, but still see myself tied heavily to the grocery store. That, and trying to take on a rather sizable lifestyle and habit change in the midst of full time teaching and full time grad school proved to be rather difficult, especially with the sensitivity of plant life in the desert.  If I had more time to understand some of the basics and couple that with what the urban farming resources could provide, then maybe I could look into some indigenous methods to see how I can hybridize the two in hopes of creating an effective, modernized version of what indigenous people did centuries ago to sustainably cultivate the desert land. For the time and effort I was able to give to this project, I will say that I enjoyed it, even though it grew frustrating  to not see it pan out the way I had envisioned. Still though, the resources, skills and ability to initially experiment will prove helpful as I attempt this again in the fall. Even though I won't be dependent on the cultivation of abundant crops like the Hohokam, I can still try my hand at growing my own food, which I think is something that all people, no matter where they live, should be able to do. That skill can be essential to developing a sustainable food system and bring the experience of working and living with the land back home.