Gardeners and garden enthusiasts alike met last Thursday, November 6, to discuss the future of the Sustainable SFU Learning Garden.
The Learning Garden is currently located between the Academic Quadrangle and the Maggie Benston Centre, but as plans to build the Student Union Building in the same location progress, an initiative to relocate the garden is taking place.
Michelle Vandermoor, the evening’s facilitator, led 19 participants through each stage of the event. The discussion began with an introduction to the goals of the Sustainable SFU garden, which are to advocate for and put into practice sustainable economic, environmental, and social action at SFU.
“The Learning Garden is a unique opportunity for the SFU community to engage in the process of growing produce. It is a chance for people to see produce go from seed to crop,” said Vandermoor.
Throughout the evening, emphasis was put on the garden’s Spade to Spoon Club, whose members participate in the planning, maintenance, and harvest of produce in the Learning Garden. After crops are harvested, they are brought to the Community Kitchen in the Madge Hogarth kitchen space.
Club members also plan the menu and supply the produce for the kitchen’s events. And of course, they eventually get to taste their hard work.
After an introduction to the goals of the Learning Garden, attendees were split into groups in order facilitate discussion. At “three tables, three rounds,” participants discussed three separate questions about the future of the Learning Garden.
Questions that were asked included what the learning garden is, what you or someone you know could do for the learning garden, and what the future of the learning garden should be.
Group discussion was lively, and one group even suggested remodeling the garden to be circular with a fire pit in the middle. However, a lot of the discussion among groups dealt with possible ways in which the Learning Garden could be promoted through social media and other outlets.
The event came to a close with a raffle, the prize being dinner at Club Ilia. Smaller prizes were also given out to those participants who were lucky enough to have a sticker placed underneath their chair.
Construction of the SUB will begin in April, 2015, at which point the garden will be relocated.
