Since the Fall of 2010, Seed to Table has worked on ensuring that locally grown food is available and accessible to St. Lawrence University students. The non-profit organization also aims to educate students on sustainable food production and preparation.
The educational goals of the organization revolve around connecting students with local farmers. Through that connection, students have the opportunity to work with local community members to obtain farming skills, according to a member of the club Asa Krieger ’22. “Students are then able to learn all the steps it takes to go from planting a seed to getting it to the table—hence the name,” he continued.
In addition to focusing on matters of food justice, members of Seed to Table oversee the permaculture garden. For their Senior Year Experience (SYE), Krieger ‘22 and Landon Urzetta ’22 are focusing on just that—St. Lawrence’s community permaculture garden.
In research conducted by Krieger and Urzetta, they write that all community gardens do provide ecological value, but different garden models can be implemented to address the environmental and social goals of a particular community.
They define permaculture as a design intentionally used to sustain environmental and social benefits over time. Prior to 2021, the garden was not specifically focused on the community aspect that is now central to the student-run organization which is continuously evolving.
Currently, the organization is working on finding ways to better engage the student body and raise awareness to the garden as a valuable resource. Such involvement might pertain to student research projects, gardening for self-care, or different types of coursework and lessons relating to agriculture or community engagement.
“It’s about emphasizing the garden as an interdisciplinary resource, which segues into our SYE where we are pretty much doing exactly that,” Krieger states.
Their emphasis on the garden as an interdisciplinary resource, Krieger said, is accomplished by listing and creating a structure that explains how the garden is a valuable resource.
They also use SLU as an example to explain how different campuses can introduce the community garden model. Overall, “We’re talking about the challenges, recommendations, the steps that it took, funding and then, again, it’s importance as an interdisciplinary resource,” he stated.
In terms of long-term goals for Seed to Table, Urzetta shared that they involve growing food in the garden and making it more accessible to the campus community.
“This past year, we implemented an herb spiral and raised garden boxes for community members and hope to continue allocating these boxes for growing food,” he said. Increasing collaboration with other on-campus organizations, such as Campus Kitchens and the Greenhouse, is another goal.
Looking to get involved with Seed to Table? Interested in finding out more information about the permaculture or other matters of food justice? Check out Presence or email club President River Mathieu rdmath18@stlawu.edu.
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