Research

This week I did some more research on other colleges’ food systems and sustainable programming infrastructure, but mainly focused on compiling my conclusions from this project, as well as from some of the research papers and case studies I read.

Evergreen has programs that look a lot like some of the colleges I have looked into as potential inspiration, and I would go as far as to say our farming program looks better and more immersive than many of these farm’s options. The Organic Farm is without question, the strongest and most effective option for students wanting to experience both a living lab and a living community food system at Evergreen. Our issues are not in our farming practices but in our distribution, an argument that is made often when discussing issues of hunger.

Colleges that seem to have the best student quality of life and success post-graduation do two things involving their farming programs that Evergreen does not. The first is that their campus dining halls have clear sustainability goals that include campus farms or locally grown food. As far as I can find the Greenery does not have an advertised goal of anything similar, and they do not have a contract with the campus farm. Even if the farm was not the majority supplier for the Greenery, would it not be good for students if the farms food system was reaching them in their dining hall? And could we not make up a much larger percentage with locally grown food? The Real Food Calculator and the Good Food Project have shown up multiple times in my research as was that colleges measure how they are doing in food sustainability and food systems access, it is time for Evergreen to take an evaluation of what they are serving students.

The second thing is a broader integration of students into the farm outside of a full-time program. Many of these colleges offer hands-on programs that across shorter time periods or that integrate the farm as a part of their program as opposed to the main focus, Evergreen could benefit from exploring how the farm can be integrated into as many programs as makes sense so as to expand the reach of it’s many benefits for students. Arts programs and science programs alike can benefit from the use of the farm.

The Greenhouse Project

This week I am submitting my final draft of the greenhouse guide, which includes:

-A welcome page that introduces the purpose of the greenhouse ILC program, the experience level needed, and how to approach the CCAS about using the greenhouse.

-A guide to writing a greenhouse-specific ILC that walks students through talking to and working with faculty as well as a step-by-step guide of writing the ILC.

-Two example ILC’s students can use as inspiration or faculty can use as examples

-A 22-week base outline for ILC projects that takes into account time for research, set-up, and take-down, as well as evaluation and break weeks.

-Instructions for how to leave the greenhouse at the end of a project.

-A resource list of books, podcasts, and YouTube channels that provide helpful information about greenhouses and gardening.

Here is the final draft. There is still filler text in the contact information sections as well as the interested faculty sections but those will be simple to add once the information is available.