UEL Community Garden

The UEL Community garden began in the summer of 1984 on the site of a former parking lot. Its purpose was to demonstrate how to maximize organic food production in a limited space. The project blossomed into a community gardening experience that welcomed gardeners from campus and community to manage 24 individual plots on 12 raised beds, as well as housing a unique collection of medicinal herbs, groundcovers, and native Rhode Island plants. In 2007 the garden was bulldozed to facilitate construction of the Walk connecting Pembroke Campus to Lincoln Field and the eventual clearing of the entire site for the Mind, Brain, and Behavior building. The garden was recreated in spring of 2008, and with the Corporation's February 2009 decision to "explore renovation of existing buildings" instead of pursuing new construction the future of the UEL garden looks bright.

Current Garden Coordinator:

SOPHIE SOLOWAY

Sophie Soloway is a rising senior in Urban Studies who learned to garden when she went on leave for a year and ended up WWOOFing her way around the world. It was a crash course in gardening in many climates, including wet and chilly Wales, tropical Central America, and the arid Canary Islands. She studies permaculture as a hobby, and in school studies cities - their histories, creation of space, environmental impacts, role in politics, social justice issues, and futures. Her favorite New England garden vegetable is a good butternut squash.