A Week Into Summer School--The Campus Kitchen Community Garden

I'm a week into the fourth time of teaching ethics of eating.  Class seems to be going well so far.  It is sometimes hard to tell so early in the session.  But I have a handful of students taking the class for philosophy credit and a couple for environmental studies credit--all have been engaging in our discussions.  It is nice to have a mix of ages and ethnic backgrounds as well.

Today we ended our class after reviewing the food forum Alice Waters moderated for The Nation several years back (called "One Thing to Do About Food" which featured short essays by notable folks in the food community like Wendell Berry, Vandana Shiva and Michael Pollan to name just a few) and talking about memorable meals prompted by MFK Fisher's "A Thing Shared" and the musings of one of her husbands, Donald Friede on what eating at home was like, by getting into the new community garden on campus.  It is part of our Campus Kitchens project.  The idea of Campus Kitchen (ours is just one campus of many around the country that participate) is that food served on campus even if the college kids don't eat it, shouldn't be wasted.  If that food can be given to those in need instead of thrown away, that is a good thing.  Food should not be wasted.

And we've now taken it a step further.  During the good weather, we are going to grow some food for our community partners that during the academic year would get food from our cafeteria.  This way, all year round, we can be giving back to the community in which our university makes its home.  Eighteen raised beds were put in this fall and a greenhouse frame has been put up.  There are strawberries and raspberries in, so too are onions, peas and beans.  The tomatoes are ready to go in and there are a few beds to spare.  Good things will be growing soon.

In a more typical year, more things would be lush already, but it has been a cool damp spring and it is just now that the tulips have passed and the lilacs Spokane is known for are just about to bloom, weeks after our "bloomsday" road race.  Hopefully things will catch up a bit or at least the growing season will be long enough for our little garden and for the farmers who make their living off the land here.

So, my class spent some time in the garden today and we will again in the future.  The weather in Spokane is getting better, the sky is blue and the sun is warm.  Time to get my hands dirty and do a little good in the world.