This course is taught by yours truly and Orchid Black. We've done this course for over ten years and it is always a blast! Many students report this is one of their favorite classes to take, and we love teaching it! I just checked and there are still some spaces open. Class meetings take place in 325 Botany with three field trips. Our presentations cover a lot of perspectives on growing some of your own food AND saving water and other valuable resources. It turns out, if we only garden with the whole world in mind, we easily reach a new paradigm that not only feeds us, but also begins to correct the problems of our current lifestyles. I've got a bunch of new stuff up my sleeve and we CAN change the world starting right now!
 |
| Orchid Black and David King, co-instructors for this course outstanding in a field. Not sure whose field it is. |
The catalog copy on our course:
Sustainability is today's buzzword and many people seek to create a lifestyle with a more favorable impact on the environment. From home and school gardens, to commercial sites, our gardens present the perfect place to start. Designed for horticulture students, gardening professionals, educators, and home gardeners, this course focuses on turning your green thumb into a "greener" garden. Topics include composting, irrigation, water harvesting, water-wise plants, eating and growing local produce, recycling, and moving away from a consumptive, non-sustainable lifestyle when choosing materials and tools. Includes weekend field trips to the Los Angeles River to see our relationship with water in the L.A. basin, as well as the Rancho Santa Ana Botanical Garden, focusing not only on California native plants but also on water-conserving planting design. Students also visit the John T. Lyle Center for Regenerative Studies at Cal Poly Pomona, which advances the principles of environmentally sustainable living through education, research, demonstration, and community outreach.
Teaching and using gardening Practices that are sustainable, this course covers composting, irrigation, water harvesting, as well as weekend field trips to LA's sustainable gardens.
This is an elective course in both the Horticulture and Sustainability certificate programs.
