the UW Sustainability blog
Photos courtesy of UW Botanic Gardens and Larry Howard
The UW Botanic Gardens was recently voted as one of the best university gardens in the nation. With more than 20,000 plants from around the world, it has become an international hub for plant science and ecosystem research, teaching and stewardship.
You may not have noticed, but as you walk around the UW campus more of those plants and flowers at your feet are species native to Puget Sound.
That’s because UW’s Society for Ecology Restoration student guild (SER-UW) native plant nursery has been working to restore areas on campus by increasing native species biodiversity and creating open spaces for students to engage with the natural world just steps from their residence halls.
Today and every Friday this summer the UW Farm will have a stand with fresh campus-raised produce for sale from 4 to 7 p.m.
The stand is off the Burke-Gilman Trail across from Gasworks Park, in the parking lot of the Fisheries Supply at 1900 Northlake Way. Each Friday you'll have the opportunity to pick up produce harvested that morning - perfect for stopping by on your way home for the weekend, or to enjoy in a nice picnic at Gasworks Park.
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.
If you want to enjoy fresh, campus-grown produce all summer long, sign up for a UW Farm Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) share!
The UW Farm has released its 2014 annual report. Read about the Farm's education initiatives, events, the first on-campus CSA and the volunteers who made it all possible.
The UW Farm recently featured alumni Michelle Venetucci, who worked on the Farm in its early days from 2008-2011. She was involved with the effort to expand the Farm from its initial site at the Botany Greenhouse to its larger location at the Center for Urban Horticulture.
Venetucci found digging in the dirt wasn't the only way to get involved in the Farm. She helped create an online presence for the Farm, including building an early website.
In an op-ed published in the LA Times titled "What do you get if you map coming climate disasters? Hello Pacific Northwest", columnist David Sarasohn interviews UW atmospheric professor Cliff Mass on the future of the Pacific Northwest serving as a refuge for Californians and others from across the country seeking relief from the impacts of climate change.
A new book by John Marzluff, UW Professor of Environmental and Forest Sciences is promising to get lots of people chirping. Welcome to Subirdia: Sharing our Neighborhoods with Wrens, Robins, Woodpeckers, and Other Wildlife tells the story of the rich divesity of birds and other wildlife in our own back yards and how we can be better neighbors to them. A great read for the fall.
The UW Farm blog this week features a post from one of its current student volunteers on what the UW Farm means to her.
Junior Kate Doughty lists the ways working with the UW Farm has made her happier and healthier, as well as nuturing a love of working in the dirt and watching as seeds grow into plants and food.