Weather: Tuesday, highs around 70 degrees F, 90% chance of rain. Friday, mostly sunny, highs around 70.
On Tuesday this week we'll explore how student-run campus farms and gardens can serve as spaces for healing, learning, and social change as we tend to the land inside our campus hoop house and in the garden behind Hoben Hall. It looks like the weather will dictate what we are able to do when, but plan on meeting at the Hoophouse during your designated class time. We may move over to Hoben from there depending on how the work and weather is going.
I would like to invite you to think about this as an opportunity to leave some love on this land that has supported you over the years of your journey at K. I'm also wondering how we might enact the admonishment that Leah Penniman got from her elders that "the seed and the soil are alive, living beings in relationship and community with us and so you have to bless and thank the seed" through song, dance, prayer, and making beauty. What sort of beauty could we offer the land this week in thanksgiving for all she has given and continues to give us every day? Think about that while I give you a little (recent) history of the student-run gardens at K:
The Jolly Garden was established at 1324 Academy Street in 2010. It is named for Seema Jolly '07, who taught the first Gardening PE course. Check out this reflection from a student writing about the early years of the Jolly garden, as well as an even older student-run community garden that used to exist on campus: https://reason.kzoo.edu/garden/assets/Final_gardening_story__Claire_Eder.pdf
Though I don't know the name of the student or the date it was built, I do know that the Greenhouse on the Facilities Management roof was designed by a student. It has been an important space in being able to start seedlings in a protected space so that they can be transplanted into the Jolly and Hoben Gardens.
The Hoben Garden was started in 2014 by members of my Slow Farming class who wanted a place on campus where they could practice what they were learning on my farm. It has expanded since then from a tiny 2 ft strip along the Fac Man roof line to include two raised beds and a patch of out-of-control sunchokes that we should probably dig out on Tuesday! This past Winter's Permaculture PE course drafted some ideas transforming that garden into a permaculture space and, weather permitting, we'll move some of those plans forward on Tuesday as well.
The idea for the campus Hoophouse sparked in 2016 by members of the Just Food Collective, who wanted to put more practice into their praxis by increasing the opportunities for K students to gain skills with growing food through direct experience on our campus. Anika Sproull's SIP was instrumental in moving this project from idea into possibility. Watch her SIP presentation here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8dtYBncbuTc&feature=youtu.be
Despite Anika's eloquence, it took another year and a half of student research, planning, budgeting, and fundraising before the Hoophouse was finally built last Fall. Here's a video featuring John and Paige helping to pull on the roof: https://www.facebook.com/emiline.chipman/videos/2709921932367430/
I've been at K since 2011 and one of the things I have appreciated most about the K students I've worked with is how much effort they have put into initiatives to make our campus community more just and humane, even when they were aware that these initiatives were not going to come to fruition until after they graduated. To me, this demonstrates the best kind of "seventh generation" thinking and is one of the reasons that I cannot believe that humans are fundamentally individualistic and selfish. This week, I'm going to ask you to engage in this sort of "future work" by doing some visioning about what these garden spaces could become and how they might meet the needs of future K students like yourselves. I will take your ideas into my planning for the Food and Farming Justice pilot program that I'll be working on next year.
For your comments this week, please reflect on the following:
Think back on our conversations over this quarter about food, land, labor, soil, seeds, justice, community, citizenship, embodiment, hunger, sovereignty, ecology and so much more. Think about your engagement with these issues in other spaces at K or elsewhere. What could you imagine happening in these campus garden spaces that might deepen students' experiences and understandings of these issues?
Think back on your personal experience at K. Do you see ways that opportunities for direct engagement with the living soil, living seeds, living plants, and other living humans in the gardens on our campus might have supported your emotional, intellectual, spiritual, physical, or relational well-being? If you could create any type of on campus garden to give as a gift to future K students, what would it look like? This is a dream garden, so dream big! And be detailed in your description--what would the garden look like, smell like, taste like? What would happen there? Who would be there? What intentions would guide their actions and interactions with the Earth and with each other?
Also, think about what songs, dances, poems, or other acts of gratitude we might create together in the gardens on Tuesday!
One that that I have found so fascinating and engaging these past few weeks is the….drumroll please… Hoop House Engagement Series! Thank you Orly, Organizers, Hoop House JFC group?, and guest speakers who have actively participated in the planning of them! <3 Not only have these been engaging, but the participation from diverse majors, faculty and staff and community members who attend these series warms my heart and shows just how important it is that these events be put on and run regularly for the campus community and beyond. As for being someone who has never interacted with a hoop house in her life, the fact this exists on this campus is a really fantastic addition to the college.
ReplyDeleteAs I move on to graduation, I know that I signed a lease and will be living and looking for work in Kalamazoo City proper moving forward. As far as I am aware, the hoop house is a place that intends to engage the community beyond just the campus space so I hope that the welcome reaches to each of us beyond graduation (for those that stay AND for those who move away).
If I had unlimited time and funds I would research how to build a edible forest garden permaculture for the Great Lakes Bioregion! Though I have no previous experience navigating such a thing I know that this would a gift that would keep on giving. <3 It would be a organic edible forest garden where all members of the Kalamazoo community, visitors and beyond would be able to hangout, snack, chat, hold class, relax, hammock, play and grow. The top layer of the permaculture forest will be pears, apples and pecans. The lower level will be dwarf peach and cherry trees. The shrubs will be white, black and red raspberries. There will be Michigan concord grapes that wrap around the homemade fence that students from the art department would work on. Finally, the soil surface would be covered in potatoes, carrots and radishes of all colors and designs.
Finally, as for poems I wrote a poem about the we three sisters that I could recite with other people in class to the hoop house plants! They may like it. :)
I think an issue that is under-addressed among the K community is migrant farm works and the farming populations in proximity to us. Often when I hear about these issues, it is framed in a place far way when in reality, we have seasonal workers in our community and we are directly benefiting from their exploitation. I think that that could be addressed with an event at the gardens or hoophouse. I would also like to see classes beyond those directly related to food and farming engage in those spaces. Even if it is as simple as providing a space to have class outside, being in nature in itself is beneficial.
ReplyDeleteI would love beekeeping to be integrated into the campus community! While taking entomology we were able to visit the bees at WMU and it was such a cool experience! I would love for there to be several bee species, mainly bees native to Michigan, although that may be more difficult as they nest differently than honeybees. The building of this space, the caretaking, and beyond could span over so many disciplines. Further, this could be integrated with a garden and demonstrate the interactions and relationships among natural spaces. I envision my garden with rows of colorful flowers among springtime veggies for all to enjoy. I see classes from K as well as local schools coming to learn about bees and bugs role in nature. I see PE classes helping to harvest and take care of the land. Composting could spread soil in this space. Lastly, I would love for there to be an event where the community shares in the food and honey from this space and give thanks to the earth. To guide our interactions with this space, on a fence or wooden board, I would love for there to be the tenets of the honorable harvest painted by our Art department with illustrations of the food and bees surrounding the words.
1. Over the past eight weeks I feel that our conversations on soil and community have opened my eyes to some of the injustices as well as problems with our food systems. I was amazed at the lack of knowledge I had and continue to have about soil and the negative farming practices which deplete and poison our soil. I think it would be beneficial if we were to provide a space at K (hoop house) in which students from the community could come and learn about soil and view it more than just as the dirt beneath our feet. It would be nice to offer this talk during orientation for first-year students. I think it would also be important to emphasis the importance of community in regards to local food systems and how as a community K students can provide support to local farmers in order to support local food systems, such as buying locally sourced foods, volunteering, and creating a space for their own development of fresh foods.
ReplyDelete2. I think this course specifically has supported my intellectual and relational well-being. Before this course I never thought about soil or seeds in the way that I do now. I have learned so much about the importance of organic farming on maintaining soil nutrients as well as the importance of preserving seeds specifically those near extinction. I also never thought about local food systems in relation to my home and my impact on such systems. I am definitely way more aware of the food systems in our community and the importance of supporting them.
If I was to create an on campus garden I would first look into what students on campus want/need in regards to food that’s lacking on campus. I would want to have weekly gardening shifts for all first year students in order for students to become apart of the community food system on campus. I think it would be important to teach lessons on sustainable farming, composting, soil, seed preservation, etc. Overall I would want the intentions of my K garden to become apart of the Kalamazoo community in order to benefit those with food insecurity and expand our knowledge of food systems to others.
1. I loved the Annika incorporated a definition of the liberal arts education into her SIP, and with that in mind, I would love to see more classes actively engage with this spaces. Maybe it means biology classes spend time in the hoop house or with the compost program, or creative writing classes spend a day tending the Hoben garden and then write and reflect on their sense of identity in spaces of cultivation. I guess essentially bringing these issues into discussions across multiple disciplines. Migrant workers in discussions about American history. See? More come to me just as I sit here... I also like Audrey's lecture series idea! It would be cool to have a new topic each week that has a hands-on component.
ReplyDelete2. I definitely feel as though engagement with these spaces could have really positively influenced my mental and emotional wellbeing as well as instilled in me an incredible wealth of knowledge. I wish I had engaged far more with this spaces. My campus garden would largely focus on processes and organisms that work well in tandem. For example, I would love to have chickens doing pest control work the way Amy's farm does, and study plants that may grow well beside each other. It would be a place in which seed saving was prioritized and the genetics of these plants could be an area of study for science classes. It also would feature space for students to sit and reflect, and speakers to visit. Ideally, it would be run by dedicated volunteers but students would also get class credit for doing certain tasks so that the work could hopefully be more evenly distributed? That's a tricky one, I guess.
Honestly, before this class I was not really aware of the garden spaces on campus. I have engaged in discussions about justice, land, labor, food, community, etc. in my AnSo classes, but I think something we tend to do is have these discussions in broader frameworks and sometimes forget about our own campus community. I have also been thinking about the Day of Gracious Living and how it is a day for partying. I think it would be really cool if on NoGL instead of or in addition to the party on the quad we had educational events about the gardens for anyone who might be interested. For a dream garden, I would hope to grow herbs and edible plants in the small plots in front of buildings with flower gardens on campus. That way people can harvest from anywhere on campus and it will feel more like an all-campus thing. I know for some of my friends who know about the gardens, they seem to think they are only for people who are part of the Just Food Collective or gardening classes.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteThese questions take me back to one we first visited when coming into this class and have continued to revisit since- what do we already know and where are the spaces you’ve learned anything about this? The most successful community garden I’ve seen was the one my father and neighbors started together in Ann Arbor. Obviously there were some who always did more work than others but it didn’t really matter because great community came out of it- plus some actually enjoyed doing the work and used it as a meditative time. Their intentions weren’t to look impressive to each other or even just to start their children on a healthy path but more so to slow life down and refocus on what was important then and there.
ReplyDeleteFirst of all, in terms of student involvement- a big trend I’ve noticed is that upperclassmen are very unlikely to join a new organization/try something new unless they are forced to- juniors tend to come back and want to lay low while seniors have a tendency to stick to what they know and ride their last year out. That means when looking at the student part of the equation, underclassmen really are the ones that need to be targeted. Not only are they more open to new experiences, but they are just present, right? They’re physically on campus and everything is very accessible to them.
Personally, I wasn’t aware of the Jolly garden or the greenhouse on top of Facman until today. I remember when coming into K College that us Freshman had about five different colloquiums of sorts we had to attend before the end of our first term. I feel like a garden tour could be a great one of those and could turn a lot of people onto these communities before they overcommit themselves to many other activities. On the tour Freshman could be put directly to work in one of the gardens for 20+ minutes and come out with a yummy snack so that they experience a taste of what direct contact with their food can feel like.
I think in a very ideal world the food we grow on campus would go directly into the cafeteria so that everyone could benefit from the rich nutrients that normally come with homegrown produce. Also in this perfect world, people consuming the food in the cafeteria would have a huge amount of appreciation for the fact that their campus was able to nourish them and then get involved- until the entire operation was large enough so that all of K College could benefit from it continuously. Our gardens would have to grow in size obviously, which would have to include more organization and more opportunities for campus jobs! Students would spend more time outdoors and their brains (and grades probably!) would be directly positively impacted by the variation in gut bacteria causing better cognitive functioning. At least one food-related class would be required as one of our 5 P.E. credits upon graduation. Once a year there would be a big event where anyone in the Kalamazoo community is invited and a bunch of veggies are chopped up and thrown into a huge stew for everyone to share together on the quad.
It sounds silly, but I have found that some of the most engaging, successful, and impactful educational and interactive programs come in the shape of "childish" moments that include lots of graphics, activities, and tangible take aways. I think in respect to the garden spaces on campus, having learning opportunites that gear towards a spectrum of folks can be very successful. For example, I imagine a range of things like a colorable sheet with the name and picture of native plants up at arcus.Or it would be cool to have a series of activites that count as first year forums where students can learn different aspects of maintaining the hoophouse/hoben garden/jolly garden and then put them into practice, for example, pest control coud be the topic and then learning different ways to control pests and then making pest control alternatives could be a cool way ot teach learn and engage. lastly, I think that it would be super helpful to always have pamphlets, videos, or other educational material about things that can be done with different green space here. For example, compost gets a bad rep but teaching about it could change how we interact with food waste. Mnay of us dont know what the green parts of campus are, and after Paige's presentation, I have learned that not only can we know but we can use it. Perhaps if our relationship is filled with more ritual, more presence, and more purpose then we can begin to set the a foundation that will follow our students as they go into the world.
ReplyDeleteI think that I havent had any relationships with green space here that were deep and impactful simply because it never felt like it was the students. Things have always been curated or unannounced and therefore I have never explored. However if I can imagine a space on campus, boundlessly, I imagine a space that is a little bigger and open. I imagine a piece of land that is open air, not manicured and filled with useful things. there would be an emphasis on native plants but also things that are abundant and useful. The green space would include doscussions on history of these plants and their relationship to humans, on how to pick and how to use the plant, and even an opportunity to cook it together. The psace would be used for classes and forums with all having to contrivute to the maintenance of the green space. I know my emotional and mental well being has benefitted from going to Amy's farm, simply because of the possibilities that can now be imagined in my mind from knowing I can grow things, live with the land, and share it. I hope that this green space could be one that includes activities that remind and vocalize that for folks and that returns much of that connection to our students. PE classes owuld be offered here so that all could learn teh techniques and the process of working with the land and with food. We would all see this space as ours, not K's.
It is so exciting to hear all of the ideas that everyone has proposed already!
ReplyDeleteI have mentioned this before in class, but my elementary and middle school education took place, primarily, outdoors. My teachers managed to incorporate the woods lining our campus into nearly every subject. We even went so far as to shape fallen logs into chairs to build our our outdoor classroom space. This is something that has been so lacking in my time at K. I think I am always the one in class to ask “can we have class outside today?” How amazing would it be to have a space dedicated to that!
As I think of this idea and attempt to imagine the space in my head, I am trying to do away with the idea that classroom spaces need to look a certain way. Learning with my peers and Amy and John on the farm every week surely casts aside the idea that learning must take place with students seated in front of a teacher. I do not want to undervalue the fact that the gardens that we already have are intrinsically spaces for learning. But people don’t know this, right? So the outdoor classroom I imagine is not a traditional one and it is an intermediary step towards our campus one day having a better understanding of learning spaces.
Academia is known as an ivory tower, a community that cultivates modes and expressions of superiority and exclusivity. Studying at K has often left me feeling suspended between everything I am learning and the “real world.” Getting to be so close to the earth has been, well… grounding. Every time I stick my hand in the dirt, I pull some back up to my face just to smell. Amy told me that the smell of dirt has been proven to make us happier. I believe it. I wish my first year self had been able to learn this and begin to grow this new relationship. So, I agree with Karina and others that engagement with campus green spaces should begin through first year forums or at orientation.
As the garden spaces that we have now continue to grow, both physically and in the programs that surround them, I would love to see more edible plants and herbs growing. How lovely would it be to be able to take a study break and go pick some strawberry and mint, or carrots and arugula.
What could you imagine happening in these campus garden spaces that might deepen students' experiences and understandings of these issues?
ReplyDeleteI think more awareness of the space would help. Additionally, I think the spaces could have some resources about farming issues in the community (i.e. agricultural worker rights, economic effects, etc--allowing people to see how growing things/food connects to everything!)
I hadn't realized that the Hoophouse was such an active space (and had so much arugula...). My time at K has been short, but having periodic and low-pressure volunteering and participation in something like the Hoophouse would've been a neat way to plug into campus. This bleeds into the first part of the second question. This class has probably been the biggest opportunity I've had to really be able to talk with people at K (besides briefly in class/meeting with teachers). Simply driving to and from the farm this quarter has provided me with more community than I had ever really experienced at K before.
Hmmm...a dream garden. I think it would be great to have a space that had some nice seating surrounded by greenery and growing plants (that wasn't manicured). Another idea I have (and idk how this would work), but have an open community garden...where there's a list of things you can do (like weeding...then defining the "weeds" with pictures), and people can just drop by and do a few things, pick a few things to eat (or just smell! Flowers are also great :D), sit for a moment and then go on their way. I also think having a space where lots of flowers are growing, with so many that people can pick a few and take them home (with instructions on how to pick/when to pick). Not sure how these would work out in practice, but I'd like to think they could be!
Think back on our conversations over this quarter about food, land, labor, soil, seeds, justice, community, citizenship, embodiment, hunger, sovereignty, ecology and so much more. Think about your engagement with these issues in other spaces at K or elsewhere. What could you imagine happening in these campus garden spaces that might deepen students' experiences and understandings of these issues?
ReplyDeleteI think that these spaces are an obvious avenue for gardening and spending time with the land. During this time they can also act as a discussion space. When you gather people in one area there will always be idle conversation but I could see using time spent in this space for more focused conversations such as the topics above. Maybe that could look like writing discussion questions on the white board of the hoop house for people to ponder over… or having Farm and Forum events where after working in the garden you discuss some of the above themes.
Think back on your personal experience at K. Do you see ways that opportunities for direct engagement with the living soil, living seeds, living plants, and other living humans in the gardens on our campus might have supported your emotional, intellectual, spiritual, physical, or relational well-being? If you could create any type of on campus garden to give as a gift to future K students, what would it look like? This is a dream garden, so dream big! And be detailed in your description--what would the garden look like, smell like, taste like? What would happen there? Who would be there? What intentions would guide their actions and interactions with the Earth and with each other?
Yes, I think being outside in nature is essentially to supporting a healthy lifestyle. I found that for me I tended to look towards the KOC to have these needs met but I think farming would have also done the trick. If I created a campus garden I would make sure to grow the kinds of foods that are easiest for college students to eat. Nothing that takes too much preparation or that is so uncommon that students couldn’t use it with ease. I would invision my campus garden to be a productive supplement to the K students diet. Providing an avenue to free and fresh food for many students is important, especially since there are a lot of people here with need for that kind of service. I like the idea that access to this food is free from shame. It isn’t a place of charity or handouts but it is still meeting that need. I would want it to be a place where everyone felt welcome to get involved, to learn, and to discuss food related topics.
I think that these campus garden spaces can serve a variety of purposes. They can be educational spaces - about any number of topics or disciplines. They can be a way of honoring the indigenous peoples of this land and learning more about that history. They can serve as community nourishment and engagement. For some, they could serve mental, emotional, or physical health whether through participation in keeping them going, simply enjoying those spaces, or another manner. For myself, I learn by doing, and I always find that learning out in the field (perhaps literally) can be so valuable and grounding. Campus gardens could provide a unique space for learning, reflection, you name it.
ReplyDeleteLooking back, I often wish that I had engaged more with these pieces of our campus. I always sought out nature on my own but did not necessarily feel comfortable entering into those spaces that were curated or run by students. It just felt like I didn't have enough knowledge to belong or that it was too late. But I have always felt that being in harmony with nature and land is important to my own well-being and I am grateful to now have the opportunity to delve further into that.
A dream garden! I don't think I could limit it to a garden. There would be many different aspects. As many have suggested, I think it would be valuable to have a community garden space in which students can participate if they like. I liked what Gen said about having a list of tasks that folks could complete, if they like! I know that would be lovely for me. But sometimes I also love to be in nature to get away, so I'd love to have lots of fields of wildflowers, areas of forest, perhaps running water too... anywhere that provides a nook or cranny to get away in and explore. My thought is that there would hopefully be something for everybody. If you want to garden, you can. If you want to sit, you can. If you want to walk or have a picnic or go find bugs... you get the gist.
I cannot thank Mr Benjamin service enough and letting people know how grateful I am for all the assistance that you and your team staff have provided and I look forward to recommending friends and family should they need financial advice or assistance @ 1,9% Rate for Business Loan .Via Contact : . lfdsloans@outlook.com. WhatsApp...+ 19893943740. Keep up the great work.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Busarakham.
Thanks for excellent information provided here I was looking for such information. Thanks for the supportive and interesting message. Its an inspiring one. I appreciate you for sharing. Also visit my site download free eub post utme past questions at www prep ng
ReplyDelete