At dawn, I wake up and head to work at Santa Clara University’s ½ acre edible garden. I let the chickens out of their roost and water the greenhouse. These are the only tasks that are consistent throughout my day. My work as an Organic Garden Manager is as varied as the seeds I grow. I could be teaching a class on the effects of GMOs in global food systems or working with student interns in the greenhouse. Some days are long, lonely days, filled with strenuous garden work, while others are spent advocating for policy change within my local community, Silicon Valley. I dreamed of this career nearly ten years ago during my People in Community and Agriculture course at UC Santa Cruz, which focused on the lost food traditions of the United States. …show more content…
I had a strong female boss, Rose Madden, that showed me how to shape beds using a tractor, make my own seeding mix, and efficiently harvest mixed greens. I spent long hours in the field with others, harvesting vegetables, and discussing the challenges educational urban farms face. How can nonprofit organizations make it viable to grow food on land that is worth millions of dollars? What is the real cost of food grown in an urban setting and are people willing to pay the price? I also learned about the rich agricultural history of Silicon Valley, which has been been replaced by the new wave of technology companies like Apple, Google, and …show more content…
I considered Green Mountain College as a top choice. Years later, I came across Philip Ackerman-Leist’s book, Rebuilding the Foodshed - How to Create Local, Sustainable, and Secure Food Systems, with the hope to find solutions to regenerating our broken food system. I found it refreshing to see an academic leader working both professionally and personally in the trade they teach. I think more leaders in the academic world should value the knowledge of craftsman and a realist understanding of farming that Ackerman-Leist