This week, we joined with fellow students and faculty to renew community spaces. We will answer questions from the GRuB Ecosystem Garden Guide, discuss plans for the future, and offer other resources for people interested in making a difference.
Do you have lots of willing hands?
Yes! Many students connected with the Food & Agriculture pathway have come forward with ideas and ways they might want to contribute to the Community Garden space and the program plot. We are also in conversation and sharing in labor with farm and food faculty who voice their support for student engagement with these spaces.
Do you have a water source, building materials, tools, or plants you can use?
The community gardens get water from the spigots dotted throughout the area. Currently, the water is off because the spigots are not resistant to freezing temperatures. The Organic Farm manager, Beth Leimbach, oversees water access.
Building raised beds and fixing structures is on the to-do list and only recently have we heard about other students interested in woodworking for their own projects, and faculty working in the woodshop have voiced their support. Hopefully, this collaboration will provide opportunity for some infrastructural change.
The tool shed in the community gardens was recently cleaned and tools inside are now more accessible. Luckily there is also a large amount of tools in Demeter’s Garden’s tool shed, which was cleaned earlier this week during the SCARF (Students for Community Agriculture and Regenerative Farming) work party.
What kinds of support and resources does our community have to offer?
Our community has offered us support and resources in the forms of discussion, physical labor, knowledge from past experiences, voicing their needs, and providing whatever else they can. We feel a strong sense of support from the people around us, and are excited to continue working with them.
Work Parties and Feelings of Community
We have found work parties to be our favorite parties here at Evergreen. Work parties are great way for everyone to get involved with community spaces, spend time in connection with land and others, as well as work towards a common goal. Music, nourishment, ideas, and rest can be shared throughout the duration of work so that everyone can voice their needs and the group can work to uplift and accommodate each other as necessary.
Plans for Front Area/Accessible Garden
The northeast (front/entrance area) of the Community Garden is set to become an accessible garden space for all. We hope to work with student woodworkers to build varying heights of raised beds and wheelchair accessible beds. However, we acknowledge that this idea may take more time than other aspects of our plans for this space. First, we hope to lay paths, cover crop the area with a green manure, plant a pollinator and edible shrub garden, and create a space for students to simply enjoy spending time in a garden.
While thinking about accessibility in our community spaces, we recognize that the majority of the Community Garden is not accessible for the elderly and many people who may use mobility aids. Our hope is to transform this abandoned space into a place where all people feel welcomed and accommodated.
The front area of the Community Garden was shown some much needed TLC during the Food & Agriculture Pathway Party Work party on 02/22/2023. Our party managed to clear away trash and invasive species like the Himalayan Blackberry as well as prep the space for planting.
For the SCARF 02/24/2023 work party we cleaned the Demeter’s Garden tool shed. Later, the group decided to transplant the blueberries in Demeter’s Garden to the east front area plot of the Community Garden and along the tree-lined north fence. We planted these shrubs with the idea that they may better tolerate the environment in the Community Garden and as a way to increase student access to free and fresh foods on campus.
Trees and Perennial Garden Plot Plans
A previous student at the Organic Farm area has a plot in the community garden focused on growing trees and shrubs. Recently, Steve Scheuerell (who teaches “Plant Propagation and Winter Season Horticultural Practices”) came into contact with this student, redirecting the plot to us. Another student, Sam Jenkins, is working on a project to survey and put edible landscapes into motion on campus. A possibility for the fruit and nut trees, berry shrubs/vines, and medicinal herbs could be to replant them on campus to begin a food source integrated with the campus landscape/grounds.
Another plan would be to foster the plants that cannot be moved, and create more space for anyone in the community to be provided free food. An issue in the community garden that we currently face is the dissolution of mapping and fair sectioning. Many people have plots 2-4 times the average size (10×10) and we have worries that students are not able to have a plot to grow much needed food.
Potentially, the plot could also just become someone else’s. As mentioned above, we want people who need healthy food to be able to access or grow it. There is no reason why we should keep space from being utilized be those who need it.
How to get involved!
SCARF (Students for Community Agriculture and Regenerative Farming): Calendar
RAD Student Gardens: SCARF plans to work in coordination with Daniel Mountain and RAD Services to revitalize the community garden and raised beds nearest to student housing.
Sam Jenkins’ edible campus project: Evergreen Edible Landscape Survey
Alix Vasseur-Landriault’s Master’s thesis project survey:
