The Gardening Part of “Generative Gardening”
Hey Everyone,
I hope that you all enjoyed your Memorial Day and had a chance to catch up with friends, family, significant others, etc.
Like I promised in the last post, I want to give you a better understanding of the work I am doing this summer. Essentially, the project is about writing a grant proposal to fund an educational garden at Haverford. As many of you have read or heard, interest in food and food politics has exploded over the past few years. Whether motivated by the threat of global warming, by the possibility of carcinogens in the foods supply, or by the ethical treatment of animals, people have started thinking about food a lot.
In response, we here at Haverford want to create an agricultural space where students, professors, staff, and community members can convene to think about food from a variety of perspectives. Like other high schools and colleges that have instituted farm programs (see links in the previous post), we would like to build a garden program that allows everyone to experience the growth of “real food” first-hand. With such knowledge, we hope anyone involved will go forth into the world with the desire to make real changes on the food politics front.
In the meantime, I will be doing two projects this summer to build the program. First, I will be meeting with a host of people on campus to discuss what possible model Haverford might use (any suggestions?), resulting in the written proposal. Second, I will be maintaining the small garden we planted this past semester, which will serve as a prototype for the larger garden we hope to start next year.
So, I am interested in any and all suggestions/comments. This blog is about keeping you updated on the progress of the project and, more importantly, about including some of your thoughts as to how a successful garden program might arise. More pictures and details to come!
Thanks,
Andrew
June 1st, 2010 at 6:14 pm
Andrew,
I am so pleased to hear you are doing this. I was involved in the initial moves to create a Haverford farm/garden, and then left. But my work away from the school this semester has only affirmed my feelings that a farm is urgent, and should be our priority. I would love to share ideas with you, at some point. Let me know if I can do anything to be supportive of the work you’re doing. (For a sense of what I’m doing and how it applies to what youre doing, you can read my blog too).
Enjoy yourself,
margo