Growing community relationships along with education, food the plan for Langside Learning Garden

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This article was published 05/09/2019 (2276 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The University of Winnipeg’s new Langside Learning Garden doesn’t officially open until Friday, but already welcomed its first outdoor class Wednesday evening.

It’s about much more than just getting university students outside, says professor Judy Harris, one of four faculty members who led the project.

“I think in the past, universities have been very aloof, they’ve been the gatekeepers. There’s been very little respect for experiential knowledge,” Harris said.

“It’s very important for our students to recognize that book learning is not everything. You can learn a lot from people who’ve lived here, know the history, so they’re getting a well-rounded education.”

It all started two years ago, after a house on Langside Street had to be demolished, leaving a space for the garden to flourish. The university president’s office came up with the idea, Harris said, but the garden has become truly interdisciplinary, receiving input from students, community members, faculty, university administrators and local organizations.

Their first plans looked like an ordinary pocket park — but that just wouldn’t do. After consulting with the community, including the park’s direct neighbours, it was redesigned by staff and students.

“A meeting place, something less formal, something accessible, something that had traditional plants, something that would also grow vegetables,” she said.

Now, there’s a circular gathering space, picnic tables and a bed of local, indigenous plants, such as sage and giant hyssop.

Twelve garden boxes — built at three different heights to ensure they’re accessible to all — will grow vegetables next summer, alongside berry bushes.

“We’re responding to what the community wants this space to have,” Harris said.

“It’s been a lot of time… needing to know what people wanted in the space, and also consulting with how we could make it a safe place… a place that’s accessible,” she said.

The site itself will be studied by numerous disciplines, including Harris’s work in community development.

A big part of the park is building relationships between the university and neighbourhood, and Harris’s students will study the progression of those relationships.

“It’s important that the university is a good neighbour. This is a high priority for us,” she said.

Other research will look at how people use the space, use of the garden and different ways to plan a community garden — something one of their community partners, Spence Neighbourhood Association, suggested.

Free lectures will pass some of that learning on to community members. The first lecture will be on growing oregano and making oregano oil, but others might be on star-gazing and soil microorganisms, Harris said.

“You can learn a lot from the community, you can learn a lot from sitting in nature and observing,” she said.

The official opening of the park at 373 Langside Friday is at 2:30 p.m.

tvanderhart@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @tessavanderhart