As much as I have grown and changed through this semester, the gardens I\u2019ve worked in have grown and changed as well.\u00a0 Starting a garden during the middle of winter mean that I got to experience the garden from the ground up.\u00a0 The first process I observed was the fallow season for the beds.\u00a0 We allowed the beds to be fertilized and rest during the winter so that they would be ready for planting in the spring.\u00a0 We also planted green fertilizers like clover so that the beds would be more productive once we planted.<\/p>\n
Watching the beds develop from fallow to planting to harvest and being able to participate in the entire process has been very educational.\u00a0 The Dogwood Gardens at Dr. Campbell\u2019s residence at Berry College has been the place where I\u2019ve see the most change.\u00a0 During the middle of the semester I spent time there harvesting kale and cabbage for the community kitchen.\u00a0 At the time the garden was fairly sparse because it was just towards the beginning of the planting season.<\/p>\n
Upon returning towards the end of the semester the garden had a completely different feel.\u00a0 New crops were being planted and mixed in with the old.\u00a0 For example, where I had harvested kale weeks ago there was now tomatoes and basil planted amongst the remaining kale.\u00a0 In the beds that I had harvested cabbage from there were beans growing up a fence, on the opposite side of the fence corn was being grown to provide shade for the beans in the heat of the summer.\u00a0 The animals that had still been at rest for the winter were lively and active, running about the garden, clucking, meowing, barking, and generally lending to the carefree feel of the newly spring garden.<\/p>\n
The entire garden was a small little ecosystem with new and old plants, animals, and compost all working together.\u00a0 This maximization of natural resources and symbiotic relationships had completely transformed the garden.\u00a0 Rather than organized rows of single plants there were rows bursting with two or three different plants\u00a0the cats wander the garden looking for pests, the chickens and rabbits provide fertilizer, and so much more.<\/p>\n
Perhaps it\u2019s clich\u00e9, but I was excited to see the garden grow along with my knowledge of it.\u00a0 Both I and the garden started from the ground up and grew together, slowly becoming more and more complex.\u00a0 As I\u2019ve grown, and the garden has grown, my appreciation for the agricultural lifestyle has grown.\u00a0 Working alongside Dr. Campbell and his family as well as other students has brought me closer to them, similar to the concept of commensality that Emily McClendon discusses in her articles.\u00a0 There\u2019s something about being in the garden that\u2019s good for community and good for the soul.<\/p>\n
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As much as I have grown and changed through this semester, the gardens I\u2019ve worked in have grown and changed as well.\u00a0 Starting a garden during the middle of winter […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":0,"parent":82,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-419","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.berry.edu\/abc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/419","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.berry.edu\/abc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.berry.edu\/abc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.berry.edu\/abc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/44"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.berry.edu\/abc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=419"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/sites.berry.edu\/abc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/419\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":440,"href":"https:\/\/sites.berry.edu\/abc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/419\/revisions\/440"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.berry.edu\/abc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/82"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.berry.edu\/abc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=419"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}