Creating Garden Communities on a College Campus

Vital Stats

William K

Davis, CA

  • People Doing It20

The Problem

The American lifestyle is increasingly dependent on an unsustainable macro (global) food system. This food system is considered unsustainable by many because of its dependence on petrochemicals for fertilizers, inefficiently large amounts of increasingly scarce water, and fossil fuels for transport around the globe. The nature of commercial agriculture continually decreases the biodiversity of crops, threatens sensitive ecosystems, and is a tremendous contributor to water and air pollution. The American individual is increasingly detached from their food source, creating a disaffected attitude toward the processes behind its production. The prevalence of ornamental, versus edible, landscapes reflects this detachment. Gardening is a means of connecting the individual with their food source, but it is no longer the lifeblood of the American family as it was in the 19th century. The vision of this project is to bring gardening back into day-to-day lives, by bringing gardens into the home space. Gardening in the home space is more convenient for beginning gardeners. The convenience of gardening close to their home also allows them to acknowledge that food can be grown nearby, and does not need to be an ordeal through an outside organization. These gardens are designed to engage freshmen students at UC Davis, a land-grant institution and a pioneer of industrial agriculture, in home gardening techniques. Diverse communities of students will be centered around these gardens to share cultural traditions with one another.

Plan of Action

This project is approximately 2 years in the making. UC Davis already has a wealth of gardening opportunities- a Student Farm, a community garden, 2 on-campus edible gardens, gardens within cooperative housing, and farm classes. However, none of these opportunities are geared towards those that would not go out of their way to garden. To address this, we first participated in existing campus gardens operations to learn. We then gathered a team of students to start planning various aspects of dorm gardens. We spoke with several key players on our campus- the director of the Grounds Division, the director of the Cal Aggie Alumni Association who can help with funding, and a nutrition professor who has done extensive work with elementary school gardens. We met with Student Housing a few times during the year to learn more about concerns they had about potential gardens. Based on this information, we compiled an operations plan to take advantage of existing campus resources while creating a space addressing Student Housing's concerns. Based off this work, we received a paid position within our student government to manage these gardens and other gardens on campus. We are planning on meeting with Student Housing once more to present our finalized plan and to discuss locations for these gardens. We are proposing a pilot program for th fall quarter as a research project to determine the potential for these gardens in terms of 1)contamination concerns, 2)ability to enhance the gardener's nutrition, and 3)to determine if they change they way gardeners perceive the world around them. The gardens will be built in the fall, but we are currently looking for funding to support them. We will recruit freshmen gardeners when they come to campus in the fall, and develop an educational program along with the gardens in conjunction with various academic departments. The gardens will integrate science and art to create a space in which students can be exposed to various ways of thinking about the world around them.
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