The Urban Farm hosts over 200 students each year over the course of three terms.  The primary focus of the class has to do with teaching students how to grow their own food.  Working in teams, student urban farmers become the stewards of the farm’s vegetable beds, orchards, greenhouses, compost systems and general spaces.  For their efforts, they take home the food that they grow. Simultaneously, students are introduced to issues relating to sustainable agriculture, local food systems, community supported agriculture, farm to school programs as well as other agrarian concerns.

Circle Meeting to start the session

The Urban Farm class is made up of students from virtually every area of study at the University. Although the course is offered as a class within the department of Landscape Architecture, students from 95 separate disciplines have elected to work at the Farm in the last ten years and registration can be very competitive.  Due to the tremendous popularity of the program, upper class students make up over 80% of the population each term, as they are the first to be able to register.

The course is offered in the spring, summer and fall terms and the specific activities performed by students change with the seasons.  For this reason, many students will take the course multiple times with the intention of increasing their general knowledge of growing cycles.  Due to the significant vested interest of having plants in the ground, many remain involved at the Farm by taking advantage of volunteer work times throughout the year where they come to work and leave with produce.

Transplanting Spring Brassicas

In its current incarnation, the Urban Farm class hosts approximately 75 students during the spring and fall terms.  Summer classes generally contain about 50 students.  Students in each class are split into teams of about a dozen students and an adjunct instructor teaches each team. The Urban Farm Director also leads a team in addition to overseeing the day-to-day function of the Farm.