A lush green garden in a concrete wonderland like Glendale College may be available to students as soon as spring with the help of dedicated volunteers and approval from the administration.
An introductory meeting about the garden was held Nov. 17, hosted by Maria Shufeldt, student learning center, with the assistance of Merrilee Ahaus, vice president of administrative services.
Shufeldt and Ahaus want the campus garden to expand curriculum or program development with the culinary program as well as the wood shop and ceramics programs.
Shufeldt was the catalyst in converting ‘”talk to action.” She sent out proposals and was awarded $5,000 from the Foundation to start a community garden on campus by May 2012.
“I heard a lot of talk about putting a garden on campus,” said Shufeldt. “But it was frustrating to me that no one was moving forward on it.”
The proposed location is currently the land south-east of the parking structure. It’s relatively flat and already has an irrigation system.
Attendees of the event included members of the Environmental Affairs Committee, members of the college’s Environmental Club, and an organizer from the Los Angeles Community Garden Council.
Julia Clark, president of the environmental club, took center stage and told the group that the prospective project will bring the community together.
“The committee will need hands and creative minds to work on this,” said Clark. ” We especially need people to come [to the meeting on Nov.29] and criticize.”
Alek Bartrosouf, member of the Los Angeles Community Garden Council and Coalition for a Greener Glendale, was a special guest at the event. Bartrosouf, sporting an environmental “get dirty” T-shirt, spoke of his experience organizing local gardens like the Monterey Road Eco-Community Gardens here in Glendale.
Bartrosouf has offered his knowledge and will act as liaison to the project.
The group of about 20 people were optimistic and asked core questions that will need to be addressed at the next meeting.
Questions asked included: “Who will have access to the garden?” “Will the committee provide the necessary tools?” and, “When will production begin?”
None of these inquiries were answered definitely, yet. The committee has scheduled the next meeting on Nov. 29 to brainstorm, plan, and create a “formation group.”
Volunteers will be needed to clear and prepare the land and put up fencing. Other tasks on the agenda include attaining district approval, garden design, ecological design, outreach communication and much more.
The meeting for a GCC campus community garden will be held on Nov. 29, from 2:30 to 4 p.m. in room SC 212.
