The California-Riverside Community Garden - Essay Example

The California-Riverside Community Garden Last week, I had the opportunity of vising the University of California Riverside. My visit helped me to realize that the University has an outstanding feature, which is unusual in many universities. The University became the first to have a community garden within the university. The purpose of establishing a garden within the campus, was to ensure that the university and the community members had a place where they could grow fruits and vegetables. The location of the UCR community garden is next to the parking lot 30 close to the corner of Canyon Crest Drive, and Martin Luther King Boulevard. Notably, the Riverside region in California has a history of rigorous real estate activities. The California-Riverside community is one of the regions that experienced numerous adverse effects of the economic crisis. This factor triggered many community members to rely on soup kitchens and food banks. However, the main challenge was that the community lacked supplies of fresh produce. One of the graduates from the university named Fortino Morales initiated the idea of setting aside some space within the University for a Community Garden. In order to ensure that the idea was viable, the community coordinated by students from the University and carried a pilot project in 2009. Notably, the project faced certain challenges, but proved to be successful (French). Currently, the university has a three-acre community garden that serves as evidence that the students and the community are promoters of the environmental agenda, as well as the global food initiatives. The University has proven to be environmentally friendly because of establishing this garden. When I visited the garden, a great percentage was all green while the remaining percentage was under preparation for planting. Fortino Morales, the concept developer of the UCR community garden envisioned an innovative project that would take place in phases. For this reason, the project began with a quarter an acre and later expanded to a current three acres. The garden has numerous plots ready for use by either the community members or students. Individuals willing to use the plots can access tools, seeds, as well as water free of charge. In addition, the compost used in the plots comes from the UCR dining services (French). For this reason, the community garden supports the recycling of kitchen wastes, which is a strategy of protecting the environment. All the people working in the garden, especially the students appeared happy. Although the work was tiresome, none of them was lazing around. They were properly dressed with aprons, gumboots, and the relevant tools for the firm work. Many of those I talked to had the conviction that the development of a community garden was a move by the university to increase awareness of the need for people to participate in the production of fresh produce. In addition, the project is an illustration of promoting environmental justice. According to the views of the many students participating in the community garden activities, the project provides an “invaluable learning space”. Students consider the community garden as a place where they can get experiential learning opportunities about the food systems and agricultural issues in Riverside. Most importantly, many students agree that the community garden has helped them to appreciate the connection between food and people (French). As I walked around, I saw plots with the following fruits and vegetables; dragon carrots, lettuce, leeks, watermelon radishes, green beans, cucumbers, cherry tomatoes, oranges, squash, corn, broccoli, grapes, and cauliflower. In addition, the UCR community garden students’ panel works closely with different organizations who offer the relevant support and training on different agricultural practices. After interviewing several students working in the UCR community garden, it emerged that a lot of progress has occurred since the initiation of the project. There is a proper schedule of activities as well as numerous learning opportunities. The guests regularly give talks on agricultural topics as well as food-related issues. The guests serve to increase the knowledge base of many students working in the garden. Notably, in a globe, that has adopted industrialization, and many students do not give attention to agriculture, the UCR community garden provides a hub for agricultural knowledge and practice. Students also learn how to develop agricultural related businesses (French). The agricultural lessons encourage students to be open-minded about the opportunities related to agriculture in the modern day. In addition, the UCR community garden offers an opportunity for members of the university as well as the community to participate in research projects in an effort to develop agricultural solutions. The garden provides the required resources for faculty-mentored research as well as research by experts from the community. Currently, there are panel researches, soil science and botany researches carried out by different individuals. Students no longer rely on lab tests, but can extend their practice to the field gaining numerous hands-on experiences. The community garden at UCR also runs a sustainability mentorship program, which focuses on promoting healthy food consumption. Closer analysis of the garden reveals that the students have applied different agricultural practices. For example, some plots have cover crops while others have different fruits and vegetables. One of the outstanding features of the UCR community gardens is the proper management of the garden (French). After going through the entire garden, it is evident that the university and the community have adopted an organized approach to running the project. The level of organization conforms to modern farming technologies that preserve soil fertility and increase the level of yield. There are systems and procedures designed to ensure that students working in the different plots exhibit the required level of commitment. For example, interested students have to work as volunteers for two weeks before the acceptance of their application. The system ensures that only the dedicated students can access the garden resources. The students exhibit a remarkable effort of producing food products during an era when many students are focusing on other issues and have little time for agricultural products (French). The UCR community garden serves as an eye-opening opportunity for many of these students because they become more aware of the society’s needs as well as the concerns surrounding the global food security. Their participation trains them to become globally responsible citizens as they contribute to the present food systems. Notably, the students are well aware that the community garden cannot surface to feed a large population. However, they recognize that their efforts present an example for other societies to emulate. The intriguing encounter during my visit to the community garden was with three students who had acquired several plots and grown different vegetables. I took time to discuss with them the factors that motivated them to participate in farming on the community garden. The three of them shared a lot. In their entire lives, they had never been to rural areas and did not have any idea of how gardening was done. One of them confessed that, “the three of us have never been to a rural area. When the UCR community garden was launched, we needed t give gardening a trial”. Coincidentally, agricultural experts were demonstrating how planting was done the same day. The demonstration and a lengthy talk delivered by one of the experts on the benefits of vegetables and their economic value served as a revelation for the three friends. They decided to embark on gardening in an effort to raise some money for themselves. After working as volunteers for sometimes, they successfully acquired plots. When I met them, they were preparing their plots for the next planting season. They revealed to me that they had sold their products within the community and were thinking of developing an agribusiness venture in the future (French). One of the three students had the following sentiments about working in the community garden, “it has been an amazing experience for us. I never imagined myself with gardening tools because that was not my lifestyle before. However, the community garden gave us an opportunity to experience something different. It has altered our perspectives immensely. It is quite fulfilling to contribute in the feeding of the Riverside Community. Therefore, we are very excited for being part of the UCR community garden”. In my opinion, the UCR community garden is an unusual place because of its outstanding advantages. The garden is one of the evident efforts of the university community to register a positive contribution towards the sustainability of the community. The garden serves to promote both environmental sustainability, as well as food sustainability. It brings together efforts from staff members, students, as well as the Riverside Community with one goal of increasing the access to fresh food products (French). The goal, of increasing the access, is a worthwhile effort because many communities lack access to fresh fruits and vegetables, which are of critical importance in healthy eating regimens. The UCR community garden is a highly innovative space that offers students with intriguing learning experiences. It is exciting to observe students committed to farming activities and watching them register a measure of fulfillment when harvesting their yield. Most importantly, the UCR Community Garden has led to the development of many agribusiness ventures. Students are growing different crops in the garden now understand how they can get a source of income by identifying viable markets for their products. The UCR community garden also introduces a sustainable lifestyle to the students that they can apply in the later stages of their lives. It impresses to realize that the experiences of students in the UCR community garden are lifelong lessons that can increase their food sustainability in the future. Evidently, visiting the UCR community gardens was an exciting experience. In addition, it proved to be an educative session because of the numerous projects going on in the garden. Without doubt, the UCR community garden is a special place for students participating in the agricultural projects currently undertaken. These students have an opportunity to participate in feeding the society by volunteering a few hours in a day to work on the different plots. The cooperation between the University and the Riverside community is also commendable. The corporation has made the community garden project more successful (French). In the future, there will be greenhouses in the garden, a factor that will diversify the crops that the students and the community members can grow. Work Cited French, Ross. New Campus Community Garden Slated for Grand Opening on December 1. UCR Today, 27th Nov. 2012. Web. 29th January 2015. Read More