Today wrapped up our first week of the CFE at the UBC Orchard Garden - time sure flies! After spending time earlier this week thinking about what we would hope for our school gardens, and how we might make those ideas a reality, it was encouraging to see what is already being done in our community
Roots on the Roof is a student-run garden which is located on the roof of the Nest on UBC campus, and is a fabulous example of how to grow both food and community centered around a garden. The garden has partnerships with independent, sustainable cafes on campus such as Sprouts and Agora, and also provides food to the UBC Food Bank and other community initiatives to keep food accessible and affordable on campus. You can check out Antony's post for more details on Roots on the Roof's community involvement below! The success of Roots on the Roof's partnerships speaks to their ability to grow a significant amount of food, but I think what stands out even more, and what I want to take to my own school gardening efforts, is the thoughtful design, which makes it more than just a garden.
When deciding what to plant, Roots on the Roof considers the needs of the community on top of what is in season. For example, kale is a plant that grows quickly and produces a lot of food, making it ideal to support the garden's many partners. The beds themselves are also thoughtfully designed. There are no straight, grid-like rows of crops like you might expect from a garden that produces so much food. In facts, all of the beds are curved, and flow in a way that feels natural and organic. The feeling you get simply from walking through the garden is far more pleasant than a similar, more rigid garden would give. In the picture to the right, you can see one of these beds, which curls into a spiral, which connects to "the heart of the garden" (which used to actually be heart-shaped). The playfulness of the design truly transforms the space.
But the space surrounding your garden is important too! It can be tough to keep engagement with a garden outside of the growing season, without the excitement of the harvest. I think Roots on the Roof has done a great job of making it a community space even beyond gardening itself. On the gate of the garden, you can see a patchwork knit quilt covering the chain link fence. Each square was knit by a different person, during workshops led by one student with a particular talent for knitting. The assembled quilt reflects the diversity in the community that came together and created something that will be part of this space for seasons to come. I think this is a perfect example of how to unite a community or class in a common space, building something greater than the sum of its parts, and really creating a sense of belonging in that space.
To this end, the garden also has a collection of personal stories, submitted by members of the community, adorning the rest of the fence on honeycomb tiles. These individual stories are presented in a way that increases the visual appeal of the space, but more importantly, visually demonstrates how people from all walks of life are connected to the earth which grows our food.
If you want to learn more about Roots on the Roof, check out their Instagram @rootsontheroof, or find them on Facebook.
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