RCE Workshops Highlight Urban Gardening

Over the past month, the RCE was fortunate enough to host a three-day gardening workshop for students from institutions around Atlanta, that brought students together in Georgia Tech's community garden and highlighted the importance of urban agriculture. This workshop represented all of the best features of the RCE, combining knowledge from university and community experts, highlighting the communal side of sustainability, bringing people together, and enriching our next generation of change-makers.

Our experts were able to impart individual and community-scale gardening knowledge, applicable in dorm rooms or full garden beds. Many thanks to Tamsin Leavy, Dr. Jeannette Yen, Brent Verrill, Grace Kim, and Dr. Rashid Nuri. Students got an introduction to permaculture principles, information on how to grow in any space, insights into community gardens, and lots of time in the garden! In addition to gardening education, we worked on improving the soil quality and garden towers in Georgia Tech’s community garden, valuable improvements that will outlive this event.

We also had a very multi-institutional group at the workshop, with students from Georgia Gwinnett College, Georgia Tech, Georgia State University, Emory University, and Spelman College; it was great to see so many RCE institutions represented! If you were able to attend, we hope you took home not just a connection to the earth, but a connection to a fellow student.

We want to encourage not just those who attended, but everyone in the RCE network, to stay involved with urban agriculture across Atlanta. Check out some of the ways to get involved in Atlanta’s gardens below:

Georgia Tech Community Gardens:

• Kendeda Rooftop Garden, work days on Tuesdays from 11 a.m. -12 p.m.
• Community Garden, work days on Saturdays from 9 a.m. - 11 a.m.

Urban Farm in Ormewood:

Follow them at @urbanfarminormewood on Instagram to keep up with events and volunteer days!

Truly Living Well:

Check out their website for an events calendar.

Find more gardens with Food Well Alliance!

Make sure you’re connected to the RCE Newsletter and Google Group to hear about these opportunities for students, please sign up to become a member if you aren’t in the Google Group!

And many thanks to our sponsors for this event, the Regenerative Built Environments Micro-Research Grant through the Kendeda Building, and the Innovative Partnerships Program through ORAU.