Tucked off of McKenzie Avenue, the UVic Campus Community garden is a little green space that offers a break from the hectic pace of life, a bit of exercise and a great connection to the wider Victoria community.
Most of the gardeners that come to dig, to hoe and to weed are from the UVic community - usually students, faculty, staff and families living in campus housing. These cultivators come out to try their hands in one of the 45 individual plots available for rent or one of the six communal plots run by the Campus Community Garden Collective. You'll find the gardeners hard at work, growing their own vegetables, taking part in the different gardening workshops or work parties or simply enjoying a positive green space on campus.
The Campus Community Garden is definitely an appealing place for all those with green thumbs, or even for those who have never tried gardening. In an effort to drawn in the wider UVic community, the garden crew offers an engaging educational and social space to anybody who is interested in workshopping on Friday afternoons.
"The garden is an ideal location because it's a really positive space" says Daniel Geselbracht, a psychology and environmental studies student. "It's a place that's always growing - it's full of life."
Kathleen Perkin, an anthropology graduate student, says she got involved with the garden because she wanted "something that would balance the academic side of things."
Started in 1996 by the Environmental Studies Students' Association, the garden is now a full-fledged UVSS club, providing an important social community and network for many people. More recently, it is also making an effort to become more involved in the academic world of UVic. Garden coordinators are looking to maintain relevance on campus by establishing the plots as practical educational tools.
A great place for student projects, the garden has hosted work terms for several practicum students from both the nursing department and the Department of Women's Studies. The nursing practicum students have used their garden placement as an opportunity to understand first hand the different aspects that make up a community and what is necessary in order to make a community supportive, positive and functional.
In addition, the Campus Community Garden has just this year initiated a project in conjunction with the School of Environmental Studies. This pilot employs the concept of experimental learning in the garden as a component of the requisite introductory environmental studies course, ES 200. The course includes learning about the theory and practice behind sustainability. ES 200 students have been responsible for the addition of many improvements, including a new compost system, water catchment system and new entrance, to name a few.
That said, Perkin feels that the most important thing to know about the garden is that "there exists a place where you can come and garden, grow food and be involved, without spending any money and without making any other commitments other than the time that you spend."
So come out and enjoy the sunshine, get your hands dirty and grow some food!
For more information about the Campus Community Garden and how you can get involved, visit their website at http://web.uvic.ca/~ccgarden/.
Originally published in Volume 1, Issue 3 of the Fountain, April 2008