the UW Sustainability blog
I was surrounded by a row of fields covered with a variety of crops, ready to learn what the UW Farm was up to this summer. Ellie Garcia handed me a tiny plum, one of the many fruits available at the farm, before detailing her experiences working there.
At 15 feet tall, the new hoop house for the Society for Ecological Restoration's UW Chapter (SER-UW) serves as a reminder of all the hard work 50 student volunteers put in over the course of six days.
Working eight to ten hour shifts, students from UW’s Construction Management department, Sigma Lambda Chi and volunteers from SER-UW set out to construct a 30 foot by 48 foot hoop house at the Center for Urban Horticulture. Now, the student run native plant nursery has room for about 5,000 plants in the hoop house.
Rebeca Rivera has gone above and beyond to involve students, faculty and staff in sustainability efforts across the UW Bothell campus. She is in the process of trying to start a garden at the UW Bothell campus, which is pending approval from the university. If all goes well, Rivera will begin the garden as soon as possible.
The UW Farm's 2015 annual report is out - learn what the Farm accomplished over the past year, including raising over $10,000 to build a shelter and two earthen ovens at the Center for Urban Horticulture—a space that will serve as a wash-pack station and community gathering venue for years to come.
The UW Chapter of the Society for Ecological Restoration has two open student internship positions for the winter quarter. The interns will work with SER-UW's native plant nursery and could fill a variety of roles, depending on the applicants. The nursery is located on campus at the Center for Urban Horticulture (CUH). It is a student run operation that provides plants to the on-campus restoration projects that SER-UW manages.
Did you know that there are nearly 500 dairy farms in Washington state? According to the Department of Agriculture, milk is the No. 2 agricultural commodity in Washington, produced by both small and large scale farming operations. One UW student is working to learn how to make dairy production sustainable across the state.
Whether it’s conserving water or donating unused food, the University of Washington Club is always looking for new innovative ways to stay sustainable.
“We try to align ourselves with the University’s commitment to environmental stewardship,” said Jenelle Ebisu, the UW Club’s general manager. “We’re always trying to support the environment as much as we can.”
Each quarter, the UW Farm hosts a "Farm Lunch" seminar for students interested in learning more about urban agriculture. The informal seminars can be taken for a credit, although all are welcome to join in the discussion.
For the upcoming 2016 Winter Quarter, the Farm Lunch seminar will will highlight a mix of local farmers, policy makers and deep conversations about the work of building a resilient food system. The seminars will meet Wednesday at 12:30 p.m. in Wallace Hall 120.
The UW Chapter of the Society for Ecological Restoration is holding a native plant sale on Sunday, Nov. 15, from 10 a.m. - 2 p.m. at the SER's nursery at the Center for Urban Horticulture.
UW's ENVIR 480: Sustainability Studio class in the Program on the Environment presents students with a sustainability topic which they engage in as part of an experiential learning course. The topics change each quarter - this spring, the students researched the UW's environmental history. This is part of a series of posts by the students on some of the information they uncovered.