Welcome to UGArden!
UGArden seeks to promote the social, environmental, and nutritional benefits of sustainable gardening through the creation of a student-run community garden. Such a unique outdoor learning experience encourages engagement with the natural world, fosters interdisciplinary pursuits at UGA, and offers a meaningful sense of place to a largely transitory student body. This student organization is dedicated to the management of a 1-acre garden plot. It began as a simple idea- to provide a place for students to learn to raise food and promote sustainable gardening. With this in mind, a group of dedicated students developed a plan and sought approval for a place to garden. After a year-long process, and a lot of hard work by many students and faculty advisor, David Berle, the garden found a home. The garden is located on South Milledge Avenue, on university land formerly dedicated to sheep farming. The first planting was in May of 2010. Professor Berle has led an enthusiastic group of UGArden members and student volunteers to establish a garden that now includes a tilapia aquaponics demonstration, permanent fruit plantings, bee hives, and a woodland mushroom demonstration area.
The UGArden project has grown in the past year to encompass more than a garden for the UGArden student organization. The site has become a teaching garden for two freshman first-year seminars (UGA Freshman Odyssey) and a 3-hour credit course in sustainable community food production (HORT 4030S/6030S) taught during the summer and fall sessions. Add instead this section:Food from UGArden is sold at the UGArden produce stand and proceeds go to upkeep the farm. UGArden produce is also used to help alleviate poverty and hunger in the senior citizen population of Athens. Produce is prepared by Campus Kitchen volunteers and delivered to elderly citizens in Athens. Also, food from the garden goes to the UGArden mobile food pantry located at Athens Community Council on Aging.
Anyone interested in learning more about sustainable food production is welcome to visit and explore the garden, preferably during official UGArden Club work hours Wednesdays 4:30 PM - 6:00 PM and Sundays 2:00 PM- 4:00 PM. Groups and members of the media are encouraged to contact the Volunteer Coordinator, Lindsay Davies at lndavies@uga.edu. Additionally, the UGArden Club Produce stand is open 4:30 PM - 6:00 PM.
A special thank you to the following UGA Departments for their support in this project:
- Sustainable UGA
- UGA Office of Service Learning
- Physical Plant- Grounds Department
- Horticulture Department
- University Architects Office
- Entomology (Bee Lab)
- Bioconversion Center
- Warnell School of Forestry and Natural Resources- Aquaculture
