Date: May 24, 2022

To: Prof. Le Compte Zambrana

Purpose:
This Progress Report aims to lay out the advances made in the Atabey Orchard from
January to May 2022.

Introduction:
In this progress report, we are going to talk about how our work on the university's garden
helped through the semester, and how we could help in the near future, thereby the garden
could improve and have a better outcome on the products that are being produced. The
garden is managed by the CEPA association and their objectives are to set an example in
achieving their mission through the application of humanistic, economic principles and social
advanced harmonic and applicable to the solution of other sustainable development projects
in the country.

This work began on February 1, 2022 and was completed on May 24, 2022. The objective is
to improve the quality of the garden of the University of Puerto Rico in Ponce to plant and
harvest all the ingredients to create the sofrito which is used for cooking. A variety of pickles,
pigeon peas, string beans, squash, and zinnia flowers will be planted. Cassava, plantain,
tomato, bell pepper and look at me pretty were also transplanted. Each day something new
will be worked on. Currently, there is 15% of the objective. One of the main tasks is to water
the plants and collect the area. Another is to create small orchards and put them in
conditions to plant and thus install a water irrigation system to facilitate the work of watering
all the plants one by one. We want to contribute to nature and take care of our environment
by working green contact hours.

Atabey Orchard:
The "Huerto Atabey" project began approximately 6 years ago. Unfortunately, it has had
several interruptions that have negatively affected it, such as Hurricane Maria and the
pandemic. This report focuses on highlighting the progress made during the months of
January to May of this year, 2022. The project has been resilient, now more than ever it rises
with more strength. The garden has many goals including growing and harvesting groceries
for sale. To achieve these goals, several phases must be carried out. This phases are: soil
preparation; creation of the irrigation system; planting of beans, pickles, pigeon peas,
pumpkin and zinnia flower; transplantation of bell peppers, “mírame linda” plants, yuccas,
bananas and tomatoes. Finally, the observation and maintenance of the growth of the
cultures was carried out.

University organization:
The "Coalición de Estudiantes Pro-Agricultura" better known as CEPA for its acronym in
Spanish, was created on April 16, 2014, to create awareness about the importance of
agriculture in the country. In their orchard, you can find both fruit-bearing and flowering
plants. Some of the fruit-bearing plants that were planted by the students this season were
pickles, pigeon peas, a variety of beans, pumpkins, and zinnia flowers. Also, the students
transplanted Impatiens walleriana, plantains, yucca, tomatoes, and bell pepper. The
students of the association work in the orchard every day at different periods and the
members of the directive CEPA organization are:

● President: Erika D. Plaza Fuentes

Research before work

Before starting the work, we did a little research on the subject and some things related to
agriculture. We investigate the importance of the color and quality of the soil, the importance
of good maintenance, knowing about the plants and how to maintain them, also knowing
about the animals that are in the area, tools that are used on different occasions, etc. . This
information helped us to carry out the work in a more efficient and precise way, avoiding
disadvantages to our orchard.

In this progress report, which was carried out in the "Huerto Atabey" at the University of
Puerto Rico at Ponce, several tasks were carried out. Rubber bands were removed; a
variety of pickles, pigeon peas, string beans, squash, and zinnia flowers were also planted;
small orchards were created for better plant growth; a water irrigation system was installed;
etc. These types of tasks and each one helped the growth of the “Atabey Garden” at the
University of Puerto Rico at Ponce. It began and little by little with the effort of each one of us
we saw the change, the improvement and the quality of the work done.

Work accomplished:
During this semester, several advances were made. The rubber bands that were in the area
had already been removed. Several small gardens had also been created and half of the
aforementioned water irrigation system had been installed. A variety of pickles, pigeon peas,
string beans, pumpkins, squash, and zinnia flower seeds were also planted; other types of
plants and vegetables were transplanted, like plantain, tomato, brown pepper and yuca.
I. Planting the seeds:
First we started by creating the seedlings. The soil that was used for the seeds was
strained and sifted to remove large clumps of dirt. Using this method is very
important because we can discard unwanted material with the sifter and the large
clumps will not get in the way of the soft and fine dirt. After we were done straining
we planted the seeds in the planting containers with the dirt we just strained. We
made a small hole with our fingers so that we could drop the seed in the dirt and
plant it.
II. Removing the weeds:
After we planted the seeds, we proceeded to move to another area of the garden and
started to remove the weeds with a hoe and a pickaxe. We used this equipment
 because we needed to remove the weeds by the root. Fortunately we didn't
encounter animals on the ground, because most of these help with the composition
of the soil. Removing the weeds was a hard task, mostly because we were under the
sun for hours working with equipment that was heavy.

Unfinished Work:
Among the works that could not be completed were the furrows, filling the planting beds and
setting up an irrigation system that is more convenient and one that works better. These
works could not be completed during the semester for different reasons, but the biggest
factor was the lack of manpower.

Materials:
The equipment necessary to do proper work in the garden is very important, because
if the equipment is there, the work can be faster and more efficient. The following tools were
used in the manage of the garden:
● Planting containers
● Sieve
● Hoe
● Pickaxe
● Hose
● Wheelbarrow

Work Limits:
The factor that was most limited when working in the garden was the lack of manpower,
since most of the time that the garden was worked, there were few people participating due
to the other responsibilities of the students. The lack of money to have a good filtration
system was also a limiting factor.

Future Work:
For now, the plan of the association is to finish working on the projects that could not be
finished this semester, this will be during summer and in the next semester of classes 2022-
2023. After that, the association will have new goals to complete.

Conclusion:
The purpose of this progress report was to document the work that has been done, and the
work that will be done on the Huerto Atabey in the University of Puerto Rico in Ponce
campus in the 2022-2023 semester. During this period of the semester, the members of the
group did a series of tasks that helped the garden get better for those in the future. The
tasks that the members did include planting vegetables and seeds, yard cleaning, weeding,
creating seedings, watering the plants,building structures for the seeds and plants, and
attending reunions and workshops of the same matter provided by the organization CEPA.
These tasks helped us understand and learn the importance of agriculture and the difficulty
of the tasks that were handed to us.
There's still a long way to go in the garden and although our contribution to the garden was
small, with our help we accomplished great things for the near future of the garden. All that
remains is to finish planting the empty spots that were built for pickles and string beans and
wait for the plants to grow . These last things would go faster if there were more people
interested and investing their time in the project, and the lack of an irrigation system. The
lack of water in the plants in the long term and short term is bad, because these plants will
die without water, the only way the plants get water is by manual irrigation and the plants
don't get irrigated everyday, so the probability of the plants dying are high. For this past
semester, we had taken the mission and the will to help the garden grow and prosper so that
those who will work in the garden in the near future can have the motivation and the
willingness to keep the garden alive so that it could be the gem of the university.

Hours and evidence (Service Log)

➔ Maicol Irizarry Bonilla

➔ Mariela Planell
Mileyshka Loyo

➔ Alexis Santiago
Pictures of work

➔ Maicol Irizarry

- In this photo you can see the care of the plants by pouring water on them
before installing the irrigation system.

- In this photo you can see the task of maintaining and cleaning the area.
➔ Eduardo F. Mercado López

- In this photo you can see Eduardo Mercado removing the weeds from the
enclosures that the seeds are going to be planted.

- In this photo you can see Mileyshka Loyo watering the plants around the
garden.
● In this photo you can see Alexis Santiago cleaning the fallen leaves, so
it is easier to remove the weeds by the root.

● In this photo you can see Alexis Santiago using a shovel to get the dirt
clean in the garden sieve.
● In this photo you can see Alexis Santiago moving the clean dirt using a
wheelbarrow to fill the furrows.
➔ Mariela Planell Perez

In this photo you can see Mariela Planell filling the wheelbarrow with clean dirt.
 In this photo you can see Mariela Planell placing a block to shape the orchard.

- In this photo we were planting the seeds in potsherds and adding soil to them.
Self Reflection on Project Work
➔ Maicol Irizarry Bonilla
➔ Eduardo Mercado Lopez
➔ Mileyshka Loyo Rivera:
➔ Carolina I. Calimano Ortiz

➔
➔
➔ Alexis R. Santiago Berrios

➔ Mariela Planell Perez