Tammy Holder, Crowder College agriculture division chair, points to a lichen-covered rock that students had brought back from one of their trips. It became part of the RainXchange™ System that is being installed on campus.
A RainXchange™ system is being installed in front of the Williams Agricultural and Science Center on the Neosho campus of Crowder College with the help of 21 high school students from the 2009 summer Outward Bound program and representatives from Tropical Waterscapes of Springfield and Aquascape Inc. of St. Charles, IL, the rainwater harvest systems manufacturer.
What is involved in Crowder's installation is capturing water run-off from a nearby roof gutter and storing it in a 1,000 gallon underground storage tank. The water that is filtered to remove unwanted pollutants then may be reused for irrigating the nearby lawn.
Agriculture division chair Tammy Holder said that the idea for installing the system was nurtured by a visit to a lawn and garden show in Springfield where Tropical Waterscape had a display. She calls the installation that serves two purposes, alleviating flooding on an adjacent parking lot and drought by providing irrigation, a novel concept for the area. It also is a more pleasing alternative to the use of a rain barrel.
Holder's students had been learning about water conservation in her landscape design class. Assisting in the installation became a practical application of the knowledge the students learned.
Rock for the installation came from M & M Stone of Seneca. However, Holder said that some rock came from Ohio where her ag students collected it during a class trip. The lava rock and one covered with lichen, she added, students brought back from Arizona.
Holder said that they need to secure more rock before completion of the water feature that pleasantly adds the sounds of a small babbling waterfall to the area. And before the class ends during the first week of August students as a final assignment will have to choose which plants they would like to surround the rocks. She said students also are considering the use of a large rock for a bench to complete the landscape.
The modern strawberry patch
Jay Wilkins, one of Crowder College's Upward Bound instructors, explains the hydroponic system for growing strawberries that has been installed adjacent to a conventional garden plot.
"Seascape," a smaller and sweeter variety of strawberries, is being grown on Crowder's Neosho campus. The plants, exactly 920 of them, are growing in stacked hydroponic containers.
"Forty pounds of strawberries can be picked in 10 minutes," Jay Wilkins, Crowder's farm manager, said. He explained how the containers hold water but no further nutrients. And you "don't have to bend over" to harvest them. Go Back | 
