Edible Campus

Campuses across the country have been creating edible campus programs to support community well-being and cooperative land management while enjoying the fruits of everyone’s labor. This program is designed to broadly introduce students to the history, science, design, and management of edible landscapes while putting these to practice on the Evergreen Olympia campus. Faculty will utilize the Permaculture Design process to frame and integrate the program themes while introducing edible campus case studies to illustrate what others have learned about the benefits and required resources associated with successful projects. Specific program content areas within Garden Design and Management, Soils and Growing Media, and Applied Horticulture for fall and winter quarters are detailed below.

In Garden Design and Management fall quarter will introduce design thinking as a community process, engage students in campus garden areas, use day field trips to visit other edible campus and community garden projects, and learn how to evaluate sites through an edible landscape lens. Winter quarter will address garden and landscape design for community gardens and food forests while focusing on leadership structures, fundraising, utilities, fencing, water and irrigation systems, accessibility, pathways, plant selection, design documents, and visual communication.

In Soils and Growing Media fall quarter will introduce soil science concepts needed to understand and evaluate mineral soils and blended growing media that are used across in-ground, vertical, and rooftop gardens. Winter quarter will add soil biology and composting processes while students research options to integrate campus landscape and food waste into systems to regenerate soil fertility. 

In Applied Horticulture fall quarter will introduce horticultural terms, concepts, and practices for the cultivation of edible annuals, biennials, and perennials. Diverse edible plants will be introduced while students create plant profiles for a compendium of plants suited to our campus climate and seasonal production goals. Winter quarter will teach dormant season plant care and propagation techniques along with how to select plant communities to support human nutrition and well-being goals, pollinator species, and other beneficial invertebrates and fauna. 

This program is coordinated with Greener Foundations for first-year students. Greener Foundations is Evergreen’s in-person 2-quarter introductory student success course sequence, which provides first-year students with the skills and knowledge they need to thrive at Evergreen. Students expected to take Greener Foundations should use CRN 20169 to register for a 2-credit Greener Foundations course in addition to this 14-credit program. 

First-year students who are not expected to take Greener Foundations or have been granted an exemption should use CRN 20168 to register for this program. Find more details about who isn't expected to take Greener Foundations on the Greener Foundations website.

Anticipated Credit Equivalencies: 

Fall:

3 - Edible Campus Case Studies

4 - Garden and Food Forest Plants

3 - Introduction to Soils and Growing Media

4 - Permaculture Design

Winter:

6 - Edible Landscape and Garden Design

3 - Environmental Horticulture

3 - Composting and Biological Soil Fertility

2 - Resilient Urban Foodsheds