About Us

Kresge Garden Cooperative 

Co-op members and interns holding harvested yarrow, a plant native to Santa Cruz. Photo courtesy of Ashlyn Salao.

The Kresge Garden is a cooperatively-run garden, community space and outdoor classroom located in Kresge College, It is the oldest and largest student-run garden on campus and provides students with the opportunity to practice gardening skills, learn about food systems, and participate in meaningful discussions about food justice and its intersections with race, class and gender. As a cooperative and completely student-run space, students get to practice consensus decision-making, conflict resolution, and radical community-building with other students. The Kresge Garden recognizes the importance of access to nutritious food for all, so everything in the garden is free to harvest. In the garden, students will learn skills, such as plant and soil care and composting techniques, but most importantly, the Kresge Garden hopes to instill and cultivate a sense of community where growing and sharing food is a radical act of care. 

Mission Statement 

A lesson on pruning trees. Photo courtesy of Cate Luna.

The goal of the Kresge Garden is to provide space for students to learn invaluable skills for growing food and building community autonomy. The Kresge Garden is proud to be a student-run cooperative and aims to continue as a space created by students and for students, especially for those of marginalized identities. Everything in the garden is free to harvest by anyone in the community, and seasonal harvest is distributed freely to the Kresge Natural Foods Co-op, interns, volunteers and visitors whenever possible. The Kresge Garden strives to be a resource for students to access food, tools and knowledge about sustainable food systems.

The Kresge Garden Cooperative also recognizes that the garden is located on the unceded territory of the Awaswas speaking Uypi tribe who stewarded this land long before the construction of the Kresge Garden and UCSC. The Kresge Garden Cooperative believes that addressing food justice also requires addressing land justice and sovereignty for the indigenous tribes whose land the garden occupies. In order to respect this history (past and ongoing), we hope to work more closely with the Amah Mutson Tribal Band, descendants of the indigenous people who were forcibly taken to missions Santa Cruz and San Juan Bautista during Spanish colonization, to integrate more indigenous knowledge and practices in the garden while supporting and advocating for the conservation and protection of their traditional tribal land and histories. 

History

Garlic planted in the garden. Photo courtesy of Cate Luna.

A group of students and leaders from the Alan Chadwick Garden broke ground for a garden at Kresge during the college's construction in the 1970's. However, as time passed, the garden lacked consistent care. In the late 1990's, Darien Rice, the Kresge groundskeeper at the time, helped a dedicated student replace the garden fence and delineate beds. In 2007, the Kresge Garden Co-op was founded through the dedicated work of students, alumni, staff, and faculty so that the garden would receive the consistence care it needed to thrive. That same year, 15 apple and pear trees were planted as a part of the Edible UCSC project, a project that initiated the planting of 80 fruit trees across the campus gardens. Since them, garden co-op members have taken care of the Kresge Garden while hosting internships, classes, workshops, and events, and in the process, the garden has become a community space for many. 

Niche

Dancing at the end-of-the-year celebration potluck held in the garden. Photo courtesy of Ashlyn Salao.

The Kresge Garden is uniquely located on the outskirts of the Porter Meadow, an ideal ecosystem for many plants native to Santa Cruz. Spacious and expansive, the garden features a unique array of perennials, annuals and orchards with lots of space and seating for people to gather. The garden is open all year long, and even in the winter, it receives a lot of sunshine, often feeling like the warmest spot on campus. As one of the biggest gardens on campus, there is always space for new plants and gardening projects, and the garden has also served as a space for many students' research. The Kresge Garden Co-op also works closely with the Kresge Natural Foods Co-op, and food grown in the garden will be left at the Natural Foods Co-op for students to pick up for free. 

Location

Co-op members sunbathing in the nest. Photo courtesy of Ashlyn Salao.

The garden is located on the edge of Porter Meadow near the Kresge J and K apartments and can be accessed from the road behind the Kresge Piazetta. 

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This page was written by Ashlyn Salao and reviewed by the other co-op members at the time: Cate Luna, Sicilia Smith, Nikki Donnelly, and Rivelin Wetherill (August 2020).