Using the Garden to Promote Reflective Writing

Squash 1
Originally uploaded by Clint Gardner

As I mentioned in the previous post, during the initial sessions of the Thayne Center for Service & Learning Garden Parties (held every Tuesday at 9:00 am at the SLCC Community Garden and open to all), I distributed "gardening journals" to those who were present. The purpose of these journals is to allow space for Community Garden participants to reflect on not only gardening, but also what involvement in the garden means to them, or the impact that work in the garden is having on them.

My own journal has charted a growing commitment to the garden and its purpose: "I am really stunned at how involved/committed I've become to this project. I think it is because the garden so clearly shows the fruits of our labors, and how working as a group we've done something so significant," I recently wrote.

I am excited to get more students involved in the project once they return in the fall. I am currently planning some projects that I want to suggest to the Thayne Center folks to take place during the garden parties.

How does our garden grow?

Bell pepper
Originally uploaded by Clint Gardner

At Salt Lake Community College, where I teach, I've had the honor of first volunteering with our new Community Garden, and now being the advisor for the Slow Food/Community Garden student group. For a few years now, I've wanted to do something like this, but kept putting it off because of professional commitments. I'm happy that SLCC students got on the stick and pushed this project forward.

The Community Garden involves various departments and clubs on campus such as the Thayne Center for Service & Learning, the Disability Resource Center, the Nursing Department, the Environment Club, and Distance Education (to name the groups I know of.) There are other groups involved, so forgive me for skipping your group.

The ultimate purpose of the Community Garden is to educate SLCC students and community members about where our food comes from, learn about our mutual environmental impact, and to provide some of our produce to our new campus food co-op and to other local charitable groups.  As far as the Student Writing Center goes, our goal was to promote thoughtful writing about environmental concerns, so we provided free gardening journals to early attendees.  The Student Writing Center also hopes to conduct readings from those journals as well as other nature/environmental readings during the Thayne Center for Service & Learning weekly garden parties head each Tuesday from 9 until 10 am.

Given our wet and cold spring and a weird case of tomato leaf curl (that doesn't seem to have hurt the tomato plants) I wasn't certain there would be enough produce. The garden, however, kicked in last week and the various garden plots are bursting with produce.  The various group plots have produced everything from broccoli to zucchini.  I'm looking forward to an abundant harvest to give back to the community.

SLCC colleague Paula Michniewicz is blogging her garden experience at Watch My Garden Grow.