The UBWPAD facility was built in the 1970’s and currently filters an average of 37 million gallons of wastewater a day.
Nov
05
Today, the trip to the Nicewicz Farm is interesting and I learned much about insects and what farmers do to catch them. Farmers use traps on trees to catch specific bugs and these bugs can do harm to the apples and the plant itself. Many bugs will lay eggs on a leaf which can destroy the leaf which is called a leaf miner. Leaf miners are white spots or holes in the leaf caused by eggs. Also, Apple maggots such as the codling moth will eat through the apple to the core leaving a tunnel and hole. Once the mature caterpillers crawl down the trunk and spin a cocoon, we wrap the tree truck with cardboard which fools the larvae into pupating before they get to the bottom. Also if you clear space in the tree from branches clumping together, it leaves a space to allow sunlight and air to help the tree. DDT: Dichloro-Diphenyl-Trichloroethane is very harmful to humans but is very successful towards pesticides.
Oct
13
Lately in class, we have been learning about milk, where it comes from and how it is processed. The trip to the Coopers Hilltop Dairy Farm explained much. Cows are milked twice a day, milked in the morning, then milked at night. The cows are milked by an electric machine that is attached to the utters of the cow. Once the cow feels this, she will relax her muscles holding the milk and the milk will come out. Once the milk has been cleaned through a long process, it is bottled and put in the store refrigerator so people can make a quick stop to buy fresh milk. Also in there store they have a variety of snacks and beverages to keep raising money. Cows are big although only have bottom teeth which means the first time they chew their food, it will not be able to be digested. In that case the cow must regurgitate it which means it spits the food from its digestive system back up to the mouth to be chewed more. The cows are given fresh grain and hay to eat because they are not let outside. If they are let outside to much and are eating the grass non-stop, they will get sick which would not be good in the pin. The cows are then isolated from the pin hoping the spread of disease has not started. The trip to the dairy farm was exciting and fun and explained a lot on how the milk we drink is made.
