Student or Group Info
Name(s): Caleb Poppe
Term: Spring 2021
Credits: 16 credits
Title of ILC or Group Project: Co-Curricular Community Garden Mentorship
Field Supervisor
Field supervisor: Dr. Sarah Williams and Dr. Steve Scheuerell
Title: Faculty
Organization: Evergreen State College
Program of Project Description
Narrative:
Throughout this in-program ILC, Co-Curricular Community Gardens Mentorship, the student will be mentoring peers through collaborative planning and management of the campus Community Gardens to grow diverse, organic vegetables. The student will mentor peers through the process of planning for a growing season, and through the implementation of those plans in actual garden plots at Evergreen State College. In the co-curricular model that is being developed, the plots will be managed by all students involved. Student learning as well as garden produce will be assessed and utilized in academic programs. The student will meet with his peers, and Terroir/Meroir faculty, two times a week during which he will 1) coordinate workshops that focus on a weekly, agricultural theme; and 2) assist students in the management of the Community Garden plots.
To support the learning through this independent project the student will be reading through books such as Better Soils for Better Crops by SARE, Growing Vegetables West of the Cascades by Steve Solomon, Crop Planning for Organic Growers by the Canadian Organic Growers, The Organic Grower’s Business Handbook by Richard Wiswall, in addition to scientific resources gathered from peer-reviewed journals.
In addition to the mentorship of the Community Garden plots, the student will be designing and implementing an organic vegetable field variety trial sponsored by the Northern Organic Vegetable Improvement Collaborative (NOVIC) and the Culinary Breeding Network (CBN), consisting of 7 different varieties of Shishito pepper on the Evergreen Organic Farm.
| Learning Objectives | Activities | Deliverables |
| Planning and preparing for the management of the collaborative community garden growing space. | Crop planning, seed acquisition, resource research, field maps, management plan, related readings such as Crop Planning for Organic Growers by the Canadian Organic Growers and The Organic Grower’s Business Handbook by Richard Wiswall. | Maps and plans, etc. posted to an ePortfolio with weekly blog posts and consistent documentation. |
| The act of tending and managing to the collaborative community garden plot. | Bed preparation, amending, seeding, transplanting, weeding, trellising, harvesting, and all-around plant care. Readings will include Better Soils For Better Crops by SARE and Growing Vegetables West of the Cascades by Steve Solomon. | Notes and progress posted to an ePortfolio with weekly blog posts and consistent documentation. |
| Research and preparation for the pedagogy of managing a diverse Organic vegetable garden. | Researching related readings and experiences of agricultural pedagogy from peer reviewed sources, as well as actual mentorship and collaboration with peers through the collaborative care and management of the garden plot. | Weekly curriculum plans documented on the ePortolfio, and the preparedness of the twice-weekly, in-person field work. |
| Shishito Pepper Organic Variety Field Trials implementation. | Designing and implementing a variety trial on the Evergreen Organic Farm. Research and resource gathering from peer-reviewed sources pertaining to Shishito pepper management and field trial management. | Progress documented on the ePortfolio. |
Evaluation of Work
- WordPress ePortfolio
- Final week ten presentation
- Narrative evaluations from field supervisor and/or subcontractor
- Narrative mid-quarter and final self-evaluations