Jesse Tiffen
Viewpoints Editor
Over the past year, Matt Mariola, a visiting assistant professor in sociology, anthropology and environmental studies, has turned what once was a parking lot into a healthy and flourishing vegetable garden with help from the enthusiastic students who signed up for his new gardening practicum course.
The course initially functioned only as a supplemental lab for the popular sustainable agriculture course in the fall, but once Mariola observed the satisfaction students took in maintaining the garden, he eventually expanded the lab to a practicum. The current class is an example of experiential learning. The class meets once a week for three hours at a time, for half the semester and for a quarter-credit. The practicum is designed to reach out to students outside of the sustainable agriculture course and maintain the plot all year round.
The structure of the course is modeled on the College’s physical education classes in which there is “minimal instruction and maximum exposure,” Mariola said.
Students are allocated shared beds for which they prepare soil, plant seeds, weed, water, apply fertilizer, manage pests and harvest their produce. Students are given a considerable amount of freedom in what they choose to grow.
“There’s not a lot of pedagogy,” Mariola said.
Mariola hopes the course will lead students to seek further experience and knowledge in gardening and encourage them to take more courses pertaining to sustainable agriculture.
“I’m very happy with the way it’s gone, despite the occasional down time,” said Mariola. “I really hope to expand it substantially in upcoming semesters.”
Alex Haas ’14, who is taking the practicum this semester, will be Mariola’s teaching assistant next semester.
“This garden is all smiles, really,” Haas said. “If anything I would love to see more publicity and reach out more to the community. Professor Mariola really sparked an interest for me in sustainable agriculture that I really hope the rest of campus gets to experience.”
As of now, the garden itself boasts an impressive variety of vegetables, including everything from beets and kale to radishes and parsley. The campus garden is increasingly becoming a fixture on campus. This semester the practicum dedicated two rows for the sale of produce to the campus community. Therefore the course is not only producing some of our food, using ecological techniques and utilizing students as enthusiastic laborers, but it is also increasingly becoming a symbol of our steps towards sustainability on campus.