Environmental Sustainability Club turns hill into a community garden to support culinary program
A few dozen straw bales fill a fenced garden space, overlooking the Technology Building on the northeast side of campus. Their only company is a small shed, large piles of dirt and a wheelbarrow. Changing weather adds warmth and light to the growing land as the soil waits for planting. Past the large fence, the serenity of the North Umpqua River comes into view. The UCC Community Garden is transitioning from a deserted wasteland to a productive garden due to the efforts of the Environmental Sustainability Club.
The Environmental Sustainability Club has been planning to create a community garden on campus since shortly after the club formed in February 2014.
The main goal of the garden is to produce vegetables that the culinary department can use as ingredients to make meals for UCC students, according to Shane Rinehart, Environmental Sustainability club vice president.
Several different plants will be added to the garden. Zucchinis, squash, tomatoes, pumpkins and green beans, as well as herbs and actual flowers will be added, according to Rinehart. “Hopefully flowers that keep the bugs away,” Rinehart said.
An important step in the creation of the garden is a compost pile. There will be a three-bin system installed which will control the three stages of compost. “You’d have all your fresh stuff, and then after a few months you’d move it to the middle. You’re just kind of working it in ‘til it gets to the third bin when it’s ready to be put into the soil,” Rinehart said.
While there are many individual steps involved in this process, the first steps include laying down dirt, planting the vegetables and other plants and starting the rain collection system.
A rain collection system will be installed in the shed beside the garden. Gutters will be placed on each end that will run down into a 1,550 gallon water tank. The UCC Engineering club will be helping to design and install the rain collection system, according to Rinehart.
The ASUCC Student Leadership team provided the funding for the compost system, as well as the rain collection system and the straw bales at a cost of $7,500.
“In a year we should be able to collect 1,700 gallons of water,” Rinehart said. “We’re just going to be using that water to water the garden.”
Summer maintenance will mostly be done by volunteer students. Rinehart and club president Dave Treskey will also participate in summer maintenance.
The garden is currently full of straw bales which divide the garden space, allowing workers to plan where everything will be placed. According to an article from NC State University Horticulture, straw is also an organic mulch material, which enriches the soil and suppress the growth of weeds.
“We need as many volunteers as we can get,” Rinehart says. “Just talk to me or Dave Treskey.”
Contact Shane Rinehart at (541) 580-7730 or e-mail him at asuccbusinessmanager@umpqua.edu for more information or if you would like to volunteer.