ASI’s Grow Beach Relocating to Central Campus
Grow Beach is putting down roots at a new location with hopes of encouraging more student engagement and academic integration opportunities. Formerly located at the northwestern most corner of campus next to the Isabel Patterson Child Development Center (IPCDC), the garden will be soon be moved to the western lawn of the Health and Human Services building. The garden was displaced by the new campus housing project, but it may be a blessing in disguise as the new location opens up new possibilities.
Overseen by ASI’s Sustain U, Grow Beach is a student-led community garden that has plots available for students, faculty and staff to rent for a small fee each semester to grow their own organic produce. In the past, campus gardeners have grown everything from kale, spinach, tomatoes, and strawberries to marigold flowers.
The garden was first conceptualized and proposed by students back in 2013. After the founding members of Grow Beach all graduated, Sustain U took over its management and operations, but the garden’s original mission of being student-led and student-focused has remained. During the 2017-2018 academic year and under the leadership of Arnecia Bryant, Associate Director of Operations, and a small group of committed students, Daniel Pierce, Lamiya Hogue, Aziz Fellague Ariouat, Cindy Tseng, Gabrielle Delayo and Kimberly Cruz, garden volunteers increased from 5-10 gardeners to over 50 gardeners.
Since then, the garden has worked with various class projects, established a learning plot for children at the IPCDC and provided fresh food for Beach Pantry. After 24-months, a harvest of more than 10lbs a week was provided to Beach Pantry. In 2019, Grow Beach garden was the winner of a Sustainable Program Award at California Higher Education Sustainability Conference (CHESC).
With plans to break ground this upcoming summer, ASI has been working with various campus stakeholders and the Office of Planning & Sustainability to redesign the garden for its new location. The new 3000 square foot garden will be ADA compliant and feature 24 raised garden beds, a fenced perimeter, and a seating area.
The west lawn of the Health & Human Services building was chosen as the new location for several reasons. One is its close proximity to the University Student Union and along Friendship Walk, one of the most heavily trafficked areas of campus, making it much more accessible and convenient for students, faculty and staff than the previous location had been. Another is that the area receives plenty of sunlight throughout the year and already contains irrigation infrastructure.
The garden’s new location is also part of the campus’ broader vision of creating a prominent “sustainability zone,” including the future Center for a Sustainable Future on the central plant deck and a sustainability mural on the north side of the Kinesiology building.
Plans for the redesign of the garden will incorporate sustainable elements including recycled plastic furniture, reclaimed wood for the raised beds, and shade umbrellas in the seating area that will be fitted with solar panels for phone and laptop recharging. Reclaimed water will also eventually provide irrigation for the garden.
Since it was created, the garden has been used as a venue for various campus events hosted by Sustain U and as a learning laboratory for various courses (see side bar). The relocated garden will continue to be used for these purposes, as learning laboratories are essential to key performance indicators, specifically in determining operational achievements for the organization as benchmarked against other campus gardens. In Grow Beach’s case, the collaborative learning laboratory resulted in a Best Practice Award at CHESC.
The Grow Beach garden will also help to address students’ basic needs. Prior to the pandemic, 41.6% of students are already food insecure and the economic consequences due to COVID pandemic are likely to make food security issues even more prevalent. The Grow Beach garden will help provide fresh produce to the Beach Pantry, while also providing a centrally located space for the campus community to grow and harvest their own sustainable food.
Grow Beach in the Classroom
For the past 7 years, Family and Consumer Sciences Associate Professor Dr. Libby Gustin has integrated the Grow Beach garden into her HM 370 course, “Exploring a Sustainable Food System.” The course allows students to grow sustainable food in the campus garden, work with local farmers in the community, provide produce to the campus food pantry, and develop simple, nutrient dense recipes to encourage other students to start their own at-home garden. This course won a Best Practice Award at the 2019 CA Higher-Education Sustainability Conference (CHESC) as a campus model for sustainable food service.
The Benefits of Community Gardens
Beside their natural beauty and ability to attract pollinators, sustainable community gardens:
- Offer a way for society to reconnect to the earth, release stress and gain access to clean food
- Increase food security by providing access to living food free of chemical pesticides & fertilizers
- Provide more nutrient dense food than from the grocery store
- Mitigate climate change by sequestering carbon