-= NMSU PANORAMA - Winter 2006 =- Garden Gives Students a Chance to Practice Service Learning

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Garden Gives Students a Chance to Practice Service Learning

By Jenna R. Frosch

A culture of service learning at New Mexico State University is encouraging students to become actively involved in working with community agencies to solve societal problems.

One program in the College of Agriculture and Home Economics that encompasses this hands-on approach to learning is the Organic Agriculture Students Inspiring Sustainability (OASIS) program, which uses the Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) model. OASIS is the first CSA in southern New Mexico and the first organic agriculture class at the university. The CSA model of farming involves the sale of shares to members who receive weekly assortments of the farm's output. According to Connie Falk, a professor in the Department of Agricultural Economics and Agricultural Business, this program allows students to take a class that addresses local problems and looks for solutions to those problems, in addition to learning the nuts and bolts of organic production. Falk runs the program with Erin Silva, an assistant professor in the Department of Agronomy and Horticulture.

"The OASIS program can act as a springboard to help address multiple problems in the area by stimulating local food production for local people," Falk says. "With this program, students are able to see the potential to improve local nutrition, generate jobs and diversify the local agricultural economy."

Falk also says students start to see the connections between healthy people, healthy land and sustainable development. Falk thinks if the program can stimulate more diversified agriculture for local consumption it can provide people with an incentive to keep at least some land in agriculture, rather than converting all the irrigated valley land to houses.

The program, which is offered in both academic departments, as well as through the Honors College, has grown 366 varieties of vegetables, herbs and flowers and grossed $57,000 in revenues in its first three years. All of the production information is being recorded to be made available to anyone interested in producing flowers, vegetables or herbs in southern New Mexico. The OASIS project began in October 2002 with funding from a USDA Hispanic Serving Institutions grant. The garden is located on NMSU's Fabian Garcia Farm south of the main campus. In 2002 and 2003, a two-thirds acre field was planted. In 2004, the program temporarily added a four-tenths acre plot and a new one-tenth acre field was used to plant perennial herbs and flowers.

Vicki Nisbett, a junior majoring in English, says she took the class because she was interested in learning how organic gardening works. As part of her Honors service learning course requirement, Nisbett contacted the Community Action Agency (CAA). She was familiar with the CAA's Tres Manos program in San Miguel, N.M., where women can learn the skills of weaving, sewing and spinning, and receive instruction in small business development and life skills. Nisbett wanted to create an organic garden to provide fresh vegetables and herbs and teach the women another life skill in gardening. Another group of OASIS students put in a garden at the CAA Teen Pregnancy Center in Las Cruces this spring as a result of the proposal Nisbett submitted to CAA.

"I learned how important teamwork is during my experience," Nisbett says. "I also learned that in order to be successful, you have to really focus on what you want to accomplish and really believe in the project."

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