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Garden Project Grows Awareness of Food Issues
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Students dig in as part of the living-learning community Garden Project, where they study organic gardening as it relates to social and economic justice in the context
of food production. |
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What was once a bare patch of land at the base of Lone Mountain has become a living laboratory for a group of students interested in organic farming, sustainable agriculture, and other issues surrounding food.
The Garden Project, a living-learning community launched last fall, has brought together 11 freshman students from a variety of majors to create an organic garden behind the School of Education building. In addition to living on the same floor of Gillson Hall and creating the garden, the students also take a year-long course together through the architecture and community design department. The class focuses on topics related to social and economic justice in the context of food production as well as issues such as climate change and water rights.
The idea is to bring all these elements together not only through class work, but also through informal discussions in the dorms and work in the garden.
"The Garden Project provides them with a deep knowledge of issues around food security and access to healthy foods for underserved populations," said Seth Wachtel, assistant professor of architecture. He and Melinda Stone, assistant professor of media studies, are faculty advisers for the Garden Project. "This community also helps give them an understanding of sustainability issues in terms of land use, as well as other issues such as alternatives to pesticides, herbicides, and chemical fertilizers."
Students are learning how a garden can build a sense of community and how to design it so that it does this effectively. In fact, they spent much of the fall semester discussing potential designs for the garden, eventually presenting three plans to the university community for feedback. Students incorporated those ideas into a final design, which they are now putting into place.
Before they could do that, however, they had to clear the site, test the soil, analyze sun and wind exposures, and generally evaluate the site's existing features. And with the soil being as sandy as it is, the group researched different methods of planting a cover crop to provide nutrients to the soil before planting one prior to winter break.
Their goal this semester is to not only build and plant the garden - complete with a variety of vegetables, herbs, and garden structures such as trellises - but also to determine what to do with the fruits of their labor. Possible ideas include donating the vegetables to the Haight Ashbury Food Program and starting a mini farmers market on campus.
They know they'll face challenges no matter what they decide to do with the garden, but they also have some idea of what to expect, given their research, discussions, and time spent visiting other community gardens and farms throughout the Bay Area.
"This really brings it all together," said Gopika Misri, a psychology major. "We learn that these are the issues the farmers face and this is how farmers markets work and all these different issues. And then we get to experience what they're going through. It's more direct." 
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