UMBC Community Garden

New Student Organization!

2010-08-08T15:43:00.000-07:00

This fall, the Community Garden Proposal Team is proud to announce we have formed a new Student Organization! Under the guidance of two fantastic professors, food systems expert Dr. Warren Belasco(American Studies) and agriculture expert Dr. Laura Lewis(Geography & Environmental Systems) and armed with a $10,000 grant from SGA's ImProve It program, we are delighted to be able to continue our efforts to establish this sustainable and rewarding project on campus.

We have a great deal of gratitude to the numerous departments, professors, programs, administrators, student organizations, and students that have assisted us along the way. Needing all the help we can get to involve everyone in the process of creating our community garden, we encourage anyone with interest in assisting with construction, plantings, maintaining a plot, donations, or using the space to conduct research or workshops or any advice, questions or support to contact us at umbcgarden@gmail.com

Please also contact us to sign up to join the student organization and receive occasional updates. We looking forward to creating and continuing partnerships throughout the community! Please sign up to volunteer with us and help us look for ways our groups can work together to provide productive use to the energy, time and space available on campus to cultivate connections between each other and the nutritious produce that will provide for our well-being!

Thanks to everyone for all the support so far!
Community Garden Team

Vote for us to get a Grant!

2010-06-01T21:01:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone! While you know we were runners up in improve it contest, this hasn't deterred us in the least in trying to get a community garden on campus and fresh, home-grown food into our dining hall.

Recently we entered into a grant contest sponsored by Nature's Path that will give us a chance to win a 50,000 grant to start our very own garden.

We would appreciate it so much if you could quickly take a second to vote for us, and show your support!
http://www.justmeans.com/contestidea?ideaid=NzAz
Thanks so much! We're counting on your votes!

What’s our idea?

2010-04-01T08:21:00.001-07:00

We propose a community garden to be run exclusively by students and volunteers, helping to provide cohesion amongst different groups of students while improving the health and quality of the campus. The garden will provide many opportunities for student organizations, professors, researchers, and other programs to learn and share by cultivating their own plot of land.
A community garden has the power to address many campus issues and needs, such as sustainability, community, aesthetics, and beautification. Our garden will promote health and well-being, while providing a place for relaxation, exercise, learning, and growing. Anyone can come and socialize in a fun, natural way, to be physically active and use leisure time productively.

The garden will also aide in fostering a new equitable forum for interactions between staff, students, researchers, professors, administrators, and anyone else in and around the UMBC community. The garden’s existence will establish a connection for UMBC between nature and food; this opportunity will give UMBC a chance to actively participate in improving its environment, nutrition, and overall health.

Voting for the Grant Proposal!

2010-04-01T07:51:00.000-07:00

There are two ways that students can vote, one is through the blackboard community 2010 Undergraduate Voting after you log in - every undergraduate should be able to see this, as well as the banner on the blackboard page. The links are below as well.
To vote, follow the link matching the first letter of your last name alphabetically:
Last name starts with A - D
Last name starts with E - K
Last name starts with L - R
Last name starts with S - Z

The other method and way of gathering more information is through the Prove It! website, www.umbc.edu/proveit
where there are links to each finalist's video and a summary of their idea, and a link to the full proposal.

2010-03-30T17:50:00.000-07:00

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?v=wall&gid=172262512461

2009-11-16T12:57:00.001-08:00

We ask that you submit your name to this form to add yourself to the list of
UMBC Community Garden Supporters!
Thank You

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Contact

2009-10-27T16:44:00.000-07:00

Contact umbcgarden@gmail.com

The inside scoop:
http://docs.google.com/View?id=df848b8w_83nm7vxfq

The grant proposal:
http://sga.umbc.edu/proveit/

Contact

2009-10-27T06:38:00.001-07:00

Contact: umbcgarden@gmail.com
If you would like to get involved, or have any questions or suggestions!

Below is a template letter of support for the Community Garden Proposal, which we ask you to consider signing. The proposal for the SGA im-prove it grant of $30,000 is a competition between different ideas and one helpful asset is to have our partners sign "Letters of Support" to be submitted to David Hoffman in the Office of Student life by December 22nd.

Integral to the success of the garden is forming partnerships and involving and engaging the entire UMBC community and we offer plots and extend opportunities to volunteer to staff, administrators, academic departments, professors, researchers, graduate students, as well as undergraduate students and student groups.

Thus, in addition to your support we ask that you spread the word to any individuals or groups who may be interested by directing them to http://umbcgarden.blogspot.com to sign on as a supporter and so we may get connected to them. Our proposal draft is also available on the website and we welcome suggestions, questions, advice and concerns.

The Community Garden strives to offer equality, allowing equal access to all staff, employees and students and disregarding established hierarchies. The proposal aims to create no additional burdens or responsibilities on current employees in any positions but rather offering a space to cultivate personal garden plots rooted in service and volunteering. Additionally, half of the plot's yield will be sourced to dining services and will be available for general consumption through featured meals. A student organization will be established to host events, trainings, workshops, and oversee the maintenance of the garden.

Dear David Hoffman,

As the Landscape and Stewardship Committee, our mandate is to review and recommend policies with regard to natural and protected landscapes on campus, ecosystem management, campus beautification, and the UMBC Landscape Master Plan.

We support the community garden concept and believe that a garden will bring about positive change and continue to benefit the campus for many years. After discussing the proposal with the Prove-It Team we feel the proposal thoughtfully considers the challenges to developing and maintaining a community garden. We feel the grant should go to this group in order to enhance the campus community as well as the physical beauty and sustainability. By incorporating the cultivation of food into campus life, many opportunities for education and engagement arise, reinforcing the existing efforts. The concept of the community garden aligns with the goals of the UMBC Master Plan to foster community, sustainability, create a physical environment that enhances the learning, working and living experiences of campus users and to support teaching, research, student life and outreach programs with adequate facilities.
Regards,

2009-10-26T13:58:00.000-07:00

Today's meeting went really well! Thanks to everyone who attended. You can find notes on the attached document. Please also add any suggestions, input or information to it.

For this Wednesday's halloween health fair on the UC plaza from 11-2 we will have flyers with contact/basic info for the garden proposal, SEA's info on environment/agriculture issues, and fresh produce donated by Chartwells.

Although many students are interested, most of them cannot be on the team because of their involvement in SGA or SEB etc. So, if you are an undergraduate student please consider taking this on as we need between 3-7 students to be on our team. All you need is an interest in forming a community garden on campus and a willingness to help create the proposal, no experience needed.

Please let me know by the end of the month if you would like to join our team. We will decide a team leader as a group and write the proposal and make the decisions, with the help of a ton of people from all corners of campus. You'll end up really connected.

We are having biweekly meetings, our next one is Tuesday, Nov 10th @ 4pm. Everyone is welcome as we'll still be accepting input and working on figuring out the garden at that point!

Thanks! =)