The Green + Blue Space's community garden- University of Stirling Students' Union

I get to meet loads of sustainability types and hear about some great projects. I started recording what I heard...

Speakers

Laurelin van der Molen (Environmental Projects Coordinator) & Giulia Agnisola (Environmental Projects Assistant)

Overview

In this session we learn about a project that is using gardening as a gateway habit into more sustainable behaviour. 

Various stakeholders wanted to set up a community growing space. The project secured external funding for the garden as part of a larger 2 year project around sustainable food. While the funding application was being written, the space was secured from the University. In its first season, the garden was used in its existing format, producing a fair amount of food. In its first winter, community members implemented their own garden design, since when we have been setting up a garden using permaculture principles.

Top Tips

Involve your community in all stages of development

Don't set your expectations too high. A garden takes time to take shape.

Physically build your garden around community

Avoid

Sometimes you can't do everything yourselves. One big project per semester or year (depending on the level of involvement you have) is plenty. If you need to do more than that, you should probably consider a compromise.

Contact & Follow

https://www.facebook.com/TheGreenAndBlueSpace/

https://twitter.com/GreenBlueSpace

https://www.stirlingstudentsunion.com/environment/

Transcript:

Daniel: It's Daniel here from Sustainable CampusHQ. I have got from Stirling University ... Can you please two both introduce yourself and your job title?

Laurelin: Okay. I'm Laurelin. I am environmental project coordinator for our student union.

Giulia: I'm Giulia. I'm environmental projects assistant for the students union Stirling.

Daniel: Awesome. This is a talk about a project that's come out of the student union, yeah?

Giulia: Yeah.

Laurelin: Yes.

Daniel: Is this video going to be for students or for university employees or for a bit of both, you think?

Laurelin: Could be either.

Giulia: It's for the community in general. It could be also people living in Stirling but not really being employed or studying in university.

Daniel: Excellent. Cool. Tell me a little about your job roles to start with.

Laurelin: Oh, gosh. I'm not sure that's such ...

Giulia: Do you have like a couple of days? (laughs)

Laurelin: Yeah.

Giulia: You go first.

Laurelin: I think a lot of people in environmental roles are like that. That's just a lot and it's always changing. What we do depend on what projects we currently run. What we have now, seemingly permanently, is a environmental hub and externally we've got a garden and an orchard. There's a lot of different activities run from both of those. We've basically run those together and our job roles are coordinator and assistant but really we're just more like ... two peas in a pod. (laughs)

Daniel: Batman and Robin.

Giulia: Yeah, we have a big group of volunteers so we coordinate how they basically go into the project. They do most of the things to be honest. We also take care of the environmental awards for the students union and college accreditations for the students union and as well as making sure that we are always complying with environmental legislation, the most up-to-date environmental legislation.

Daniel: So that's for the student union only?

Giulia: Yeah, for the students union.

Daniel: That's interesting. Does anybody else do that, you know? That sounds quite ...

Laurelin: From a perspective of awards and such, yeah, definitely. Compliance, I think, might be something that isn't as ...

Giulia: ... Detailed in the job role of one person in the students union.

Daniel: Yeah.

Giulia: Usually, it's one person in university who takes care of that also for the students union so it's an overarching position usually.

Laurelin: But she loves policy so ...

Daniel: Do you? Wow, that is rare.

Giulia: Yeah. (laughs)

Daniel: You must have a really special part of your brain for that.

Giulia: Yeah. (laughs) Very strict mind so I understand ...

Daniel: Do you like checklists and action plans and things like that?

Laurelin: Yeah but ...

Giulia: Both of us.

Daniel: Okay. This is good. It's good. So let's talk about the project. What's the name of the project you want to talk about today?

Laurelin: Well, that's just the garden. We tried to name it at some point. We've named some elements of our activities successfully through a process of framing, and for some reason for the garden, that just doesn't work because people keep coming up with ridiculous names.

Giulia: Oh yeah, yeah.

Daniel: Like what?

Laurelin: Yummy Wood. We've had ...

Daniel: Yummy Wood.

Giulia: The glen. The ...

Laurelin: [inaudible 00:04:00] Glen (laughs). So it's just called the garden.

Daniel: Okay, the garden. Tell us a bit of an overview about the garden. How does it work? What does it do? What's your objectives of having a garden?

Laurelin: I think maybe then the best place to start is where the idea emerged from.

Giulia: Yeah.

Laurelin: We used to have an energy and waste project only and we had a lot of people that weren't really that interested in that. They thought it was nice. They thought it was wonderful we were doing it but it wasn't really what ... They couldn't get passionate about it. What they could get passionate about, it turned out, was food. One important element of that was the garden, and so from that sort of point, we developed a big funding bit to the Climate Challenge Fund. That's two years worth of funding and part of that was to set up a garden. Yeah, that's how it emerged. Because of the people we've got involved, it's not a traditional garden. It is trying to use, I say, "trying," permaculture principles wherever possible but that's obviously ... that's a steep learning curve. It's a community garden first and foremost. There is a section reserved for little plots but that's not really taken off as much yet. There's a section that was reserved for more school activities but that is actually needing revision because that hasn't worked out right way so. Yeah, so ...

Daniel: That's good. Good.

Laurelin: Oh yeah and we've got an orchard. Forgot to say that as well.

Daniel: Lovely. So how long's the project been going on for?

Giulia: Eight years?

Laurelin: Two years and a few months, yep.

Daniel: Okay. When you say community garden, what's a definition of a community garden? Who's in the community? I think you've sort of inferred already what.

Laurelin: Yeah, it could be anything or anyone rather. Although I guess maybe the rabbits apart. (laughs)

Giulia: And slugs. Well, when it comes to community anyone that really is interested and then we get [inaudible 00:06:28] in touch with us. Then we basically give like a soft introduction to it for some health and safety things we have to go through first step like a training process for some people that want to go by themselves in there, but usually anyone can decide to use it. "Okay, I want to be part of it. How?"

Laurelin: Yeah, we don't limit it. It is mainly students and then there is staff. There are those nebulous creatures called Ph.D students who are not quite staff and not quite students. Then community members, just people that know people in the university, or people that just somehow manage to figure out we've got this going on and want to get involved. So literally anyone.

Giulia: Yeah, they've been waiting too long for a plot so they decided to actually help out in the garden, things like that.

Daniel: This might be a silly question but I want to say it anyway. What is the objective of setting up a garden? What were your aims?

Laurelin: There's a lot.

Giulia: There's a lot in it.

Laurelin: You've got the obvious one where you providing growing space for people and then everything that flows from that. So that is building community around food, it is learning food growing skills, it's having access to healthy food. It's things around physical health, mental health, and social health. It's lots. Connection to nature. Yeah.

Daniel: It's pure sustainability, isn't it? This is sustainability. Every ...

Giulia: We always talk about the garden as the core of our activities because it basically is the definition of sustainability itself. Then from there, you have all the other projects around it. Because in the garden, for example, whenever we build something, we re-use materials, we never buy something new so that is ... Yeah, most of the ...

Laurelin: ... Try to.

Giulia: We try to. The tools we try to acquire them second-hand and some ... Obviously the shed, no (laughs), but we try to re-use things as well. So ...

Daniel: There's a compost there, which is, well ... Yeah.

Giulia: Yeah. It's basically, yeah ... The definition of sustainability is that.

Daniel: Yeah. So you're treating this as kind of like a gateway activity to the rest of sustainability on campus if you like?

Laurelin: Yeah. It is because it's very easy-going. You don't have to be a massive greenie to enjoy being in the garden. Yeah, it's connection to nature without actually going about it in a roundabout way. You're actually literally outside in nature and that makes you inherently more likely to treat nature nicer. Then you are more likely to be receptive for information about how to achieve that and etc. if that make any sense?

Daniel: It does, yeah, absolutely. You're more connected. You've got your fingers in the dirt, you've got dirt on your nails, you've got dirt on your face. You've got dirt on your mouth and ev- ...

Laurelin: Oh, no. Not for safety, not for safety (laughs), but yes.

Daniel: I hope you got your compost bins off Warp It!

Laurelin: We actually just built them.

Daniel: Ah, excellent. Good stuff. Good.

Laurelin: Well, I say, "we," but I didn't help (laughs).

Daniel: Let's talk about the practicalities. You did a document to a funding bid, the climate change fund in Scotland, and obviously a lot of people want ...

Giulia: Climate Challenge Fund.

Daniel: Climate Challenge. A lot of people won't have that ... A lot of organizations won't have that same thing but they'll have something similar maybe. Is that document public, and if it is, could we share it on the site for others to download or you could ... Yeah, would that be okay? We could remove your ... We can anonymize it, that sort of thing. That, I think, I would really help you, you see.

Internally, governance-wise, how did you get the plot, how did you get the university to agree to it? What sort of activities did you do to get it set up?

Laurelin: Well, it is still a university so it's not easy getting these things off the ground. While we were writing the farming application, we were in very intense contact basically with the university. It was happening in tandem so we were trying to get a space while we were doing the application so that we didn't have to do that after. Because obviously as well, you're more likely to get the funding if you've got something like that secured, or relatively secured anyway. That was just a lot of back and forth. There was a lot of e-mails. They had insight into our funding application all the way through and they had input into it etc. Involving them was really helpful especially in that respect because at that stage, we'd only just started to really show the difference that our projects could have. It was communication, a lot of it.

Daniel: Great, and who was a key contacts to communicate with within the government of the university? Departments or people?

Laurelin: In this case, it depends on your university, of course, on the structure of it. In this case, it was the head of property management and yeah, mainly, actually. He's no longer here but at that time, yeah.

Daniel: You mentioned how this process is a very long process within universities, we know that. How do you stay motivated? How do you keep your eye on the prize? That's a question to both of you.

Giulia: Go to kickboxing classes (laughs).

Laurelin: It's a community. This was a relatively easy project to get going from a motivational perspective just because it was so community-driven. I was passionate about it myself which helps as well. So yeah, it's easier when you're doing something that people really, really want, and you can show that people want it, and people are so excited about it. When we found out we got that funding, we had a little, mini dance party. People were just so excited about it. It's hard not to stay motivated then.

Daniel: Yeah, yeah. How about you Giulia? So how do you keep going in the face of obstruction within a bureaucratic organization?

Laurelin: She just lets me deal with it (laughs).

Giulia: Yeah, that's the thing. I'm more of like the ground person so I work in the back. Everything has to be ready and made sure ... And usually I'm like, "Okay, we are in the right because the legislation says so." Because this is happening in the world, that this is happening in Europe, so we have to do it. I don't know why, something that I think comes from the inside ... There are people who are just enough motivated to make a change and I think we are on that side.

Daniel: So you're a good team? It's a good team, two different skills.

Giulia: Yeah, yeah. We just believe in the change and we want to see it.

Laurelin: To deliver it, we had two more staff members as well. While all of that specific project was being set up, we had two members of staff for one year specifically for those activities and one member of staff the second year. Not it's just us left (laughs).

Daniel: How are you going to keep this project going in that case? How is it going to sustain itself? Obviously, you've got lots of interest and there's a bit of a groundswell of interest and activity.

Giulia: Well, we do have a good group of volunteers who takes care of it so our role would be mainly to, not instruct them but guide them. We have a head gardener. He's one of our volunteers and he's been fully trained in permaculture. He's quite good also leading people. Unfortunately, he has been off this semester. He's been in Hawaii.

Daniel: Nice.

Giulia: He will back soon and he will probably start again leading the project so from that prospect that we hope that the volunteers will ensure the continuation of that. From our perspective, I think it will be mainly keeping the contact with university.

Laurelin: Yeah and just checking in from time to time to make sure everything is being organized and being planned properly, etc. With the garden particularly, that's not our biggest worry basically because once it's going, it's going and you just need to make sure there's enough interest and then ...

Daniel: What is your biggest worry about the garden?

Laurelin: The summer (laughs).

Daniel: Okay. You want a summer.

Laurelin: Well, it's just because obviously a university, it's a campus-based university so most students are gone during the summer when a lot of the work needs to happen.

Daniel: So you do it.

Laurelin: Yeah, it's figuring that out and we've got lots of ideas of how to do that but actually implementing it is a whole another mess, and we're not quite there yet. It's being kept okay over summer but it's not being ...

Giulia: [inaudible 00:16:45]

Laurelin: No, exactly.

Daniel: I've got you. Just winding down now and coming up to twenty minutes. Any top tips for other uni's to repeat this process without the pain that you might have gone through? What would you do differently?

Laurelin: Well, there's a few things. I think one important thing is involve your community in all stages of it. We ended up designing the garden ourselves, our volunteers did, and that creates ownership of the garden. They just feel more attached to it. It's important not to micro-manage it too much and just sort of see where it goes. Try to veer on the side of what your community wants rather than the demands from the university because they obviously want it tidy which is important but there is a balance there somewhere. It's important not to overdo it on the side of caution I think.

Daniel: Okay.

Laurelin: There's a lot more work than you might think. Gardens are hard work and the availability of volunteers can be very unpredictable.

Giulia: Yeah. Daniel: Okay.

Giulia: We established a very good relationship with gardens and grounds staff members so they are incredible. They gave us tips and they also like train all our volunteers to use certain tools so they know what to do without hurting themselves. They've been extremely helpful whenever something happened in the garden and we weren't there or something like that. They're really good.

Daniel: So really good ...

Laurelin: As staff setting up a project like this, you're a bit of an in-between so you're making sure that the university gets what they need and you're making sure that your community gets what they want. Just strike a balance there somewhere. Then just sort of let it happen.

Giulia: Yeah.

Daniel: Okay. So good links with community, good links with parks and gardens, or the equivalent landscape, whatever you want to call it, grounds ... Right at the start, get everyone involved, and then let it happen.

Laurelin: Mm-hmm (affirmative).

Giulia: Yeah.

Daniel: Awesome. Really appreciate your time, guys.

Giulia: No worries.

Laurelin: Thank you.

Daniel: After this, I'll give you an e-mail to get that document off you and maybe some of the health and safety documents as well? It'll be like interesting for others to see, if that was possible. Risk assessment, that sort of thing.

Giulia: Yeah, we should have ... Yeah.

Daniel: Really appreciate your time. Thank you very much and hope you have a great end to the term. I know you're really busy with student clear outs. I really appreciate taking your time, half an hour, to tell us about your project. Have a great day. Speak to you soon.

Giulia: You too.

Daniel: That's the end of that. Great, thanks guys. That was awesome. Really, really good. Did you enjoy that?

Laurelin: Yeah, that was cool.

Daniel: Let me know if there's anything I can do to improve that whole process because I only get to see one side of it. I really appreciate it. Thank you very much. Okay. Catch you later. Cheers, have a good day.

Giulia: Bye-bye.