July 30, 2024 • 20 mins
In this episode, we sit down with Ty Brooks, farm director at UGArden, UGA's student community farm. Join us as Ty shares his journey and insights into the daily operations of UGArden, a unique space dedicated to research, teaching and outreach. Discover how UGArden engages students through internships, volunteer opportunities and hands-on learning experiences while giving back to the community by combating food insecurity. Ty discusses the farm's partnerships with various UGA programs and community organizations, the importance of sustainable agriculture and the innovative projects at UGArden, including their popular herbal tea program.
Resources:
- UGArden website
- UGArden video
- Opportunities to volunteer at UGArden
- CAES Department of Agricultural Leadership, Education & Communication
- UGA Office of Sustainability
Content from CAES:
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Produced by Jordan Powers and Emily Cabrera
Edited by Jordan Powers
Music and sound effects by Mason McClintock, an Athens-based singer, songwriter and storyteller who creates innovative soul-pop music that transcends traditional genre boundaries. Hailing from small-town Southeast Georgia, Mason's influences range from the purest pop to the most powerful gospel. Mason is a former Georgia 4-H'er and University of Georgia graduate! Listen to his music on Spotify.
Almanac is an annual publication that provides a window into the work being done at CAES to make the world increasingly healthy, equitable and sustainable. We are pleased to announce that the 2024 edition is now available online. Explore stories of science in service of humanity and the environment.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Sound Effect (00:00):
[music]
Jordan Powers (00:00):
Welcome to Cultivating Curiosity, where we
get down and dirty with theexperts on all the ways science
and agriculture touch our lives,from what we eat to how we live.
I'm Jordan Powers.
Emily Cabrera (00:12):
And I'm Emily Cabrera. We're from the
University of Georgia's Collegeof Agricultural and
Environmental Sciences.
Sound Effect (00:19):
[chime]
Jordan Powers (00:20):
We are here with Ty Brooks, farm director at
UGArden, a student communityfarm at the University of
Georgia College of Agriculturaland Environmental Sciences. Ty,
thanks for coming in thismorning.
Ty Brooks (00:30):
Absolutely. I'm glad to be here.
Jordan Powers (00:31):
Awesome. And we know you came in from the field
just to be here. So an extraround of appreciation for that.
I know it's a busy time - well,it's always a busy time at
UGArden.
Ty Brooks (00:39):
Mmm-hmm
Jordan Powers (00:40):
And we also know that UGArden covers all three
main CAES missions, research,teaching and outreach. Tell us
how this unique space providesopportunities for engagement,
service and experimentation.
Ty Brooks (00:52):
There are innumerable ways that we engage the students
at UGArden. That's basically howwe run the farm day to day. So,
our students are either workingas interns, student workers,
classes are happening out there.
And then every week we're havingmultiple volunteer
opportunities. It's open to thecommunity, but predominantly UGA
students are the ones out therehelping us get things harvested,
wash, packed in the coolers, andmaking the farm run each and
(01:15):
every day. As far as service,everything that we do at the
farm, or at least the majorityof the things we do at the farm,
as far as vegetable productionand fruit production, all that
is getting returned, or at leastthe majority of it, over
90-something percent of it isgetting returned to the
community to fight foodinsecurity through a couple
different ways. When a studentis helping, or they're helping
harvest or helping work on thefarm, it's all service at the
(01:36):
same time. And then lastly, theresearch. A lot of the research
projects are more studentengaged research projects. We do
a lot of informal research, andwe do a lot of research just to
benefit ourselves. And I alwaystell everybody, you know,
farming is always an experiment.
Everything you do, you'retrying, trying something new,
trying to figure out better, newways to do things.
Emily Cabrera (01:55):
You mentioned that 90% of the produce comes
back to the community. Can youtalk about how you have
partnered with programs in thecommunity and with the
University of Georgia to helpget that produce out to
community members?
Ty Brooks (02:09):
One of those biggest partnerships would be with the
Campus Kitchen at UGA. Thatpartnership has been very long.
Campus Kitchen, UGArden cameabout at about the same time,
they were sort of conceptualizedback in like 2010 and I think
once they started growingproduce at UGArden, when they
started out just with a verysmall field space, even then,
they sort of realized veryquickly that they have a lot
more produce than the studentscould take home and use and
(02:31):
utilize. And so, when CampusKitchen came about, like I said,
around about that same time,they wanted to do that work,
getting this food back into thecommunity. So, it was a natural
partnership. And so nowannually, on average, we produce
about 15,000 pounds of produce.
Like I said over 90% of thatproduce is going right to Campus
Kitchen. So on those volunteerdays after it gets harvested,
washed and packed, it goes intothe coolers. At that point,
(02:53):
Campus Kitchen takes over, andthey'll take that produce and
distribute it. It getsdistributed as both fresh
produce, it gets put in likegrocery bags and goes out into
the community, and it goes intomeals that the students involved
with Campus Kitchen actuallymake themselves. And then we'll
distribute. Those people thatget those food are typically
clients that are referred tothem through the Athens
Community Council on Aging. Anda lot of times it's seniors
(03:15):
raising children, and that'sabout 50 families each week that
are receiving those grocerybags. But then some of the
produce is also going out tolocal food pantries. Each week,
on Wednesdays, we send out about150 items to the Covenant Food
Pantry, the CovenantPresbyterian Church on the East
Side. So, our stuff is gettingout numerous ways through the
community. There's programs withneighborhood leaders who work
(03:37):
very intimately with theircommunity, know people, and so
they'll come a lot of times andpick up food directly at the
farm, pick up produce, and thenget that out in the community as
well.
Jordan Powers (03:47):
Absolutely incredible work, looking at the
opportunities for students tolearn, but then to turn around
and benefit the broadercommunity is something that is
truly inspiring. And I know Iheard you mention volunteer
days, so we will be sure to linkto that in the show notes,
because I know there are manyopportunities for people in the
community to get involved andhelp harvest that produce. So,
(04:07):
we will be sure to include thatfor listeners who might be
interested or local andinterested in coming by to help
that initiative. We know youalso partner with UGA Office of
Sustainability. Can you talk alittle bit about what that
partnership looks like?
Ty Brooks (04:19):
It's very much one of collaboration and support.
Office of Sustainabilityactually helps provide a little
bit of the operational funds forthe garden each year for
UGArden. And they will take someof the interns that we have as
well. So we have a compostintern that they help provide
for the farm each semester. Thatwe go out, and they will manage
our compost for us. A lot oftimes, that's actually in
partnership with anothervolunteer community member that
(04:41):
helps volunteer with that. Sothe Office of Sustainability
also has several grant projectsthat'll happen regularly, and so
some of those will happen at thefarm, student projects. We just
finished up one for a gray watergarden that was all our wash
water from when we wash and packproduce that was just getting
washed out into the field. Nowit goes into a garden space, it
helps nurture those plants forbeautification purposes as well
(05:01):
as we are able to harvest someof that for our herbal program
as well. And then there areseveral different projects,
Office of Sustainability worksclosely with recycling and
composting with Athens-ClarkeCounty, and so they asked us, I
think, last year, to be one ofthe satellite drop off sites for
Athens-Clarke County compost. Sowe have a couple bins right near
the farm where community memberscan come and drop off their
(05:22):
compost. And what's really greatabout that is, when we do
on-farm composting, we're notable to compost things like
dairy or meat and these sorts ofthings that the county is able
to compost. And so becauseCampus Kitchen is also sort of
staged at the farm, they also,when they do their grocery
pickups, food rescue programsthat they're getting from local
grocers, they'll have dairy andmeat as well. And so when they
(05:43):
have things that are going bador whatever, they're able to put
that in that county compost, sothat we can really make sure a
lot of the waste is going backinto the compost. Then other
partnerships, let's see Officeof Sustainability takes care of
some of the green roofs aroundcampus, and so we oversee some
interns and help providemanagement and support for the
green roofs, specifically theGeography green roof. And then
recently, Office ofSustainability has started
(06:05):
helping with the UniversityVillage has a community garden
space, and so we've helpedconsult with that and help them
sort of get things organized andprovide support for their
interns that help with that aswell. And then, very recently,
also last year, I believe,Office of Sustainability has
been putting on a studentfarmer's market on Wednesdays at
the Tate Center, and they wantedsome produce to offer at their
(06:27):
farmer's market, and so westarted providing that to them
maybe two semesters ago, Iguess, at this point. And so
that ends up being really theonly produce that ever gets sold
off the farm. And that'sprobably about 30 items that go
each week to that farmer'smarket. So lots of different
ways that we work with theOffice of Sustainability.
Jordan Powers (06:42):
And we will link to the Office of Sustainability
in the show notes as well, sothat listeners can learn more
about some of those projectsthat Ty was just speaking about.
Emily Cabrera (06:50):
So I'm thinking about an operational farm, and
the day to day, the things afarmer thinks about, the people
that work on the farm that helpthat farm function.
Ty Brooks (06:58):
Yes.
Emily Cabrera (06:58):
This is a very unique place. It's a student
community farm centered aroundteaching. But just as you have
said, there are so many otherthings happening and
partnerships involved andinitiatives taking place that
you guys are not just on thefarm itself. So I'm wondering
kind of two things here, what aday to day looks like for you,
and then what would studentsexpect if they came out to the
(07:22):
farm? What does that look likefor you? What does that look
like for students?
Ty Brooks (07:26):
Just like any farm days can vary a lot. I would say
there's definitely sort of aseasonal pattern and then a
weekly pattern that you can kindof see. We'll have our regular
harvest days that are happening.
That's really where the studentsare getting involved, or
volunteers are getting involved.
A lot of times those arehappening in the morning, we'll
get things washed and packed. Alot of times, staff and myself
(07:47):
are getting to the farm beforethose start, trying to get
things that may require a littlebit more skill or knowledge
about things, get that harvestedso that we can get that washed
and packed when the volunteerscome. A lot of times, at least
right now in the summer, whenharvest is happening very
frequently, very regularly,we're normally harvesting
Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays.
Doing those sorts of things, andso that normally takes up most
(08:07):
of the morning. We do like tosit down with all the students
and interns, whoever at thefarm, and we normally have a
lunch where everybody's aroundtogether, hanging out, talking
about the rest of the day, theweek, things that are going on.
And then a lot of times in theafternoon, if we're not back
engaged in farm work, it will betour groups that are coming. It
will be classes that are showingup. We'll be hosting events.
This past week, we had our GrowIt Know It event for teachers -
(08:29):
there's a three day teachertraining. So there's always
things like that. So you'redoing your best to try and work
the farming in around writinggrants, working on these various
projects, these sustainabilityprojects you might be working
on, working with interns, tryingto teach them and make sure that
they're engaged in learningsomething and not just weeding
every day. And then still makingsure that harvest is coming in,
things are functioning. Ourcooler broke down last week, and
(08:53):
we had to pull an AC unit gutsout of one cooler and put in
another one. You know, you doyour best. Farming is a lot of
planning, a lot of prep, andthen all that gets thrown out
the window because the tractorbreaks down, and now you gotta
fix it. That's how it goes. Butlike you said, we're always
especially in the summer, we'rehaving lots of summer camps that
are coming by. We had SandyCreek brought a group by last
(09:13):
week. We had the Minorities inAgriculture summer camp that
came by the week before. So alot of times, we'll give them a
tour, and if they're around longenough, we'll try and engage
them in an activity, maybe dosome harvesting or help with
something around the farm. Soday to day, very variable, but
there are seasonal patterns andweekly patterns that are
happening.
Emily Cabrera (09:34):
So how might a student get involved? What would
they need to do to get out thereand get their hands dirty?
Ty Brooks (09:40):
It's very simple at this point for a student to get
involved, and there's numerousways to do it. Like I said, the
weekly volunteer day is probablythe easiest way, just a one-off
that you can do, get a fewhours, come out to see how
things are going, how you likeit. You can sign up through
those. Check out our socialmedia, our Instagram at UGArden,
that'll link to our Give Pulsepage where you can sign up for
(10:01):
volunteer events. Like I said,we have those regular,
reoccurring volunteer eventsthat are normally centered
around harvest. And then we'llhave work days as well that
often involve weeding or somesort of planting activity. And
then we will all sometimes havespecialized volunteer events
centered around herbal programs.
We're trying to blend tea ormake a salve or something like
that as well. For somebody thatwants to be maybe a little bit
(10:22):
more involved weekly, but notnecessarily still working on the
farm as much. There's UGArdenClub. UGArden Club is sort of
the remnant of the initial groupthat came together and put
forward the proposal to have acommunity garden on campus. And
so that club still exists. Theymeet each week during the
regular semesters on Wednesdays,I think at like four thirty or
so. A lot of times they'll justbe engaged in activity, planting
(10:44):
or weeding like that around thefarm. And then they also will
have events where they do morefun type stuff. They'll do yoga
down by the barn, or they'll doa canning workshop or something
like that. And so that club isopen to everybody. I think
normally about 40 plus peopleare in that club. So it's fairly
active, and a fairly large club.
I'd say.
Emily Cabrera (11:03):
It's like a farm party.
Ty Brooks (11:05):
It is. It really is.
Jordan Powers (11:06):
That sounds amazing.
Ty Brooks (11:07):
Yes.
Jordan Powers (11:07):
Like, so four thirty on Wednesday
Emily and Jordan (11:09):
[laughter]
Ty Brooks (11:11):
I think especially if you're not out weeding every
day, you know, weeding is verycathartic, if you're just doing
it once a week and out there foran hour, you know. But you know,
then beyond that, we have ourinternship. So I think that's
HORT 3920. You do needpermission from the department,
but I think it is open toeverybody. When you come out,
that is when you're reallystarting to get more involved
with the farm. We're going to beputting you on equipment. You're
(11:31):
going to be learning how tooperate equipment, maintain it,
repair it. You're going to betalking about whatever our
season is, that you're out thereworking. You'll be involved and
the planting, the irrigation,the spraying, all these sorts of
things that are happening outhere at the farm. And then we
have student workers. A lot oftimes, I encourage people to do
the internship, and that allowsus to kind of, them to learn and
(11:52):
to know what's going on at thefarm. And at that point, that's
sort of a pool where we can hirestudent workers from. We'll have
a communications person that'lldo our communications and
website stuff. And we'll havegeneral farm worker students
that'll help us around the farmwith whatever. And then we'll
have people that sort ofspecialize in our herbal program
as well. So numerous ways, yes.
Jordan Powers (12:11):
So many opportunities to get involved.
And then here you are managingit all, (laughter) making it all
come
Ty Brooks (12:17):
Doing my best, anyway.
Jordan Powers (12:18):
Doing your best.
You are doing an amazing job.
Emily Cabrera (12:21):
So, there are so many things happening on the
farm. How do you manage to keepit all organized and running?
Ty Brooks (12:27):
You know, we are student community farm, and so
the vast majority of the work isgetting done by students. But
thankfully, I have another staffperson at the farm, and that
would be April McCoy, our farmmanager. Without her, I couldn't
keep it all straight. You know,the day to day calendar. We do
our best, but without ourstudent workers and April, of
course, as the farm manager, Iwould never be able to keep
track of it all.
Jordan Powers (12:47):
It really, it takes a team. We also know that
you are a Double Dawg with abachelor's in wildlife biology
and a master's in agriculturaland environmental education. How
has your academic and careerjourney prepared you for this
role?
Ty Brooks (13:01):
As an undergrad, when I came in, I definitely had an
interest in plants andhorticulture and wildlife, and
so studying wildlife, it reallymakes you cognizant of
environmental issues, ecologicalconcepts, and the ways that
humans interact with these andhave impacts on these sorts of
things. And I also really thinkthat it sort of gives you an eye
for detail, because you reallyneed that in farming, and you're
(13:22):
having to pay attention to allthese things when you're
identifying plants or animalsand these sorts of things. As an
undergrad, a lot of it was veryconceptual. You're talking about
these things in classroomspaces. And then after I
graduated and got into the fieldmore, I was working mostly in
arbiculture and then in wildlifebiology as well. I actually
worked out west in Colorado,doing some wildlife biology
work. That was really where Istarted to get my first-hand
(13:45):
experience of that intersectionbetween agriculture and the
environment and wildlife.
Specifically, I worked withprairie dogs a lot on
agricultural leases in BoulderCounty. So you really see the
impacts firsthand that arehappening, and that's when I
started to actually get veryinterested in agriculture and
the ideas behind organicagriculture, specifically. I
actually had found on my onlinesearching that UGA at the time
(14:06):
had an organic agriculturecertificate program, and had
reached out about that. Didn'tend up coming back here - there
was a nine year gap between myundergrad and grad school. So,
even after when I first foundthat program, was about five
years later until I actuallycame here, and doing my graduate
program and pursued thatcertificate while I was in the
ALEC program.
Sound Effect (14:27):
[chime]
Emily Cabrera (14:30):
When Ty references ALEC, he's talking
about the CAES Department ofAgricultural, Leadership,
Education and Communication.
ALEC faculty and students focuson messaging, educational
strategies and leadershipdesigned to advance agricultural
and environmental science.
Sound Effect (14:46):
[chime]
Ty Brooks (14:47):
And of course, AgEd and communications, it's
absolutely something that I doevery day in my job. I'm having
to teach our interns, ourstudent workers. We're trying to
always educate the volunteersthat are coming, about how the
farm works, issues we may befacing, sustainability issues,
environmental issues. And sothen I'm having to communicate,
I'm having to communicate withour tour groups. I'm having to
(15:08):
communicate with these peoplethat are coming by the farm and
interacting in different ways.
Then after I graduated, after Igot my master's, I ended up
working at a non-profit sort ofcommunity garden space, which
really started helping me learnabout volunteer management and
working with volunteers andthese sorts of things. And after
doing that, I was farming on myown for a while, and now I'm in
this position, and definitelyall these skills have come
(15:29):
together and help with makingsure that I'm able to get
through these weeks and thesedays with everything happening.
Emily Cabrera (15:35):
Okay, I know it's not good practice to ask a yes
or no question.
Ty Brooks (15:39):
Okay, okay.
Emily Cabrera (15:40):
But I'm going to.
Ty Brooks (15:41):
Sure.
Jordan Powers (15:41):
[laughter]
Emily Cabrera (15:41):
Is this a dream job?
Ty Brooks (15:44):
I would say that this is about as good a farming gig
as I could hope for. You know,like said, I definitely am able
to get out in the field and dothe things that I want to be
doing, engaged outside and stillable to interact with people and
meet people that are interestedand that want to be involved and
help people, maybe learn andthink of ways that they can be
involved and engage inagriculture and the environment
(16:06):
and sustainability as well. It'sdefinitely an amazing
opportunity for me, and I'm verygrateful that I have it.
Emily Cabrera (16:12):
Are you able to get involved in research
projects out at the farm?
Ty Brooks (16:16):
Recently, we have projects like seed saving
projects. There was an heirloomseed saving collard project that
just happened out on the farm.
And the herbal program inparticular, is something where a
lot of research happens, becausewhen they first started doing
this, there wasn't a lot ofinformation on fertilization
rates and plant spacing and allthese sorts of things. And so
over the years, we sort of builtup this knowledge, and I'm very
excited that we can continuesort of doing that and putting
(16:39):
that into practice now, as wesort of try and ramp this
program up and figure out waysthat we can maybe help other
people that are into this sortof thing, sort of know some ways
that they can take care of theirplants and grow these herbs as
well.
Jordan Powers (16:51):
I don't know if it's your communications
background or just fortuitous,but that leads right into my
next question perfectly, andthat we know that this spring
UGArden's herbal tea programlaunched sales in select UGA
dining halls. And we will, ofcourse, link to that story in
the show notes. And I will putin a shameless plug for that
Tulsi tea, because it is sogood. Tell us more about where
our listeners can find theUGArden herbal teas on campus
(17:14):
and around Athens.
Ty Brooks (17:15):
Currently at Oglethorpe Dining Hall, our
chamomile is available. It isreally herbal season right now.
So we're harvesting tons ofstuff. Chamomile is almost done.
We're harvesting Tulsi and we'reharvesting peppermint and all
these things. As we're sort offinishing up these harvests,
we'll be getting more of thisstuff packaged and hopefully
offering the Tulsi and thepeppermint to the dining hall
(17:36):
and the new chamomile here verysoon. As far as other places
where you can pick up the teas.
Botanical Gardens gift shop hasa lot of our teas and herbal
products. Community is a storedowntown that carries some of
our products, and then wheneverwe have on farm sales, so we'll
have plant sales and things likethat, Throughout the year, we'll
always have our herbal productson offer at those times. There
has been a coffee shop aroundtown, Molly's Coffee, that has
(17:58):
carried some of our Tulsi tea aswell over on Macon Highway.
Especially as we move throughthe thick of herbal season here,
and we start to get things wounddown, dried and start packaging
stuff, we'll probably start tosend some of our herb interns
back out into the community tomaybe try and do some more sales
and get into some more placesaround town.
Jordan Powers (18:18):
What an awesome opportunity for the students,
right? To be on the farm, dryingthe herbs, processing,
packaging. But then also forsome people, especially people
who maybe are more in tune tobeing in a drying room or on a
farm than in a sales role, toget out there and get a product
in the community and really getthat full spectrum of what is
involved in bringing a productto market.
Ty Brooks (18:36):
Yes.
Jordan Powers (18:37):
That's exciting.
Is there anything that we'vemissed that you want to make
sure our listeners know?
Ty Brooks (18:41):
I can't say anything specific, but I want everybody
to know that in August, there'sgoing to be something sort of
big for UGArden happening, thatpeople who are into UGArden can
help support us with. So you gotto stay on the lookout for that.
Emily Cabrera (18:56):
Ooh, the intrigue.
Ty Brooks (18:57):
Yes.
Emily and Jordan (18:57):
[laughter]
Ty Brooks (18:57):
A little cliffhanger for everybody. Yes, absolutely.
So, uh, keep your eyes and earsopen. We'll be putting out our
newsletter. It'll be on blast,like I said, right around the
beginning of August. Andthere'll be a window of time
where we are going to need yourassistance.
Jordan Powers (19:12):
Okay. We mentioned earlier, but we will
have UGArden's website, socialmedia channels, etc, all linked
in the show notes, so you heardTy. Stay tuned. There will be
more. I'm excited. I don't knowwhat it is, but I'm excited.
Emily Cabrera (19:23):
[laughter]
Jordan Powers (19:24):
Well, Ty thank you so much, we do, we know you
came in from trellising melonsthis morning to have this
conversation, and we know you'reheaded right back out there. So
thank you for taking the time inthe middle of a busy season to
come in and tell us a little bitmore about UGArden.
Ty Brooks (19:37):
Absolutely, thank you. I appreciate your
opportunity to talk aboutUGArden and let more people know
about it.
Sound Effect (19:42):
[music]
Jordan Powers (19:43):
Thanks for listening to Cultivating
Curiosity, a podcast produced bythe UGA College of Agricultural
and Environmental Sciences. Aspecial thanks to Mason
McClintock for our music andsound effects. Find more
episodes wherever you get yourpodcasts.
[music]
Jordan Powers (00:00):
Welcome to Cultivating Curiosity, where we
get down and dirty with theexperts on all the ways science
and agriculture touch our lives,from what we eat to how we live.
I'm Jordan Powers.
Emily Cabrera (00:12):
And I'm Emily Cabrera. We're from the
University of Georgia's Collegeof Agricultural and
Environmental Sciences.
Sound Effect (00:19):
[chime]
Jordan Powers (00:20):
We are here with Ty Brooks, farm director at
UGArden, a student communityfarm at the University of
Georgia College of Agriculturaland Environmental Sciences. Ty,
thanks for coming in thismorning.
Ty Brooks (00:30):
Absolutely. I'm glad to be here.
Jordan Powers (00:31):
Awesome. And we know you came in from the field
just to be here. So an extraround of appreciation for that.
I know it's a busy time - well,it's always a busy time at
UGArden.
Ty Brooks (00:39):
Mmm-hmm
Jordan Powers (00:40):
And we also know that UGArden covers all three
main CAES missions, research,teaching and outreach. Tell us
how this unique space providesopportunities for engagement,
service and experimentation.
Ty Brooks (00:52):
There are innumerable ways that we engage the students
at UGArden. That's basically howwe run the farm day to day. So,
our students are either workingas interns, student workers,
classes are happening out there.
And then every week we're havingmultiple volunteer
opportunities. It's open to thecommunity, but predominantly UGA
students are the ones out therehelping us get things harvested,
wash, packed in the coolers, andmaking the farm run each and
(01:15):
every day. As far as service,everything that we do at the
farm, or at least the majorityof the things we do at the farm,
as far as vegetable productionand fruit production, all that
is getting returned, or at leastthe majority of it, over
90-something percent of it isgetting returned to the
community to fight foodinsecurity through a couple
different ways. When a studentis helping, or they're helping
harvest or helping work on thefarm, it's all service at the
(01:36):
same time. And then lastly, theresearch. A lot of the research
projects are more studentengaged research projects. We do
a lot of informal research, andwe do a lot of research just to
benefit ourselves. And I alwaystell everybody, you know,
farming is always an experiment.
Everything you do, you'retrying, trying something new,
trying to figure out better, newways to do things.
Emily Cabrera (01:55):
You mentioned that 90% of the produce comes
back to the community. Can youtalk about how you have
partnered with programs in thecommunity and with the
University of Georgia to helpget that produce out to
community members?
Ty Brooks (02:09):
One of those biggest partnerships would be with the
Campus Kitchen at UGA. Thatpartnership has been very long.
Campus Kitchen, UGArden cameabout at about the same time,
they were sort of conceptualizedback in like 2010 and I think
once they started growingproduce at UGArden, when they
started out just with a verysmall field space, even then,
they sort of realized veryquickly that they have a lot
more produce than the studentscould take home and use and
(02:31):
utilize. And so, when CampusKitchen came about, like I said,
around about that same time,they wanted to do that work,
getting this food back into thecommunity. So, it was a natural
partnership. And so nowannually, on average, we produce
about 15,000 pounds of produce.
Like I said over 90% of thatproduce is going right to Campus
Kitchen. So on those volunteerdays after it gets harvested,
washed and packed, it goes intothe coolers. At that point,
(02:53):
Campus Kitchen takes over, andthey'll take that produce and
distribute it. It getsdistributed as both fresh
produce, it gets put in likegrocery bags and goes out into
the community, and it goes intomeals that the students involved
with Campus Kitchen actuallymake themselves. And then we'll
distribute. Those people thatget those food are typically
clients that are referred tothem through the Athens
Community Council on Aging. Anda lot of times it's seniors
(03:15):
raising children, and that'sabout 50 families each week that
are receiving those grocerybags. But then some of the
produce is also going out tolocal food pantries. Each week,
on Wednesdays, we send out about150 items to the Covenant Food
Pantry, the CovenantPresbyterian Church on the East
Side. So, our stuff is gettingout numerous ways through the
community. There's programs withneighborhood leaders who work
(03:37):
very intimately with theircommunity, know people, and so
they'll come a lot of times andpick up food directly at the
farm, pick up produce, and thenget that out in the community as
well.
Jordan Powers (03:47):
Absolutely incredible work, looking at the
opportunities for students tolearn, but then to turn around
and benefit the broadercommunity is something that is
truly inspiring. And I know Iheard you mention volunteer
days, so we will be sure to linkto that in the show notes,
because I know there are manyopportunities for people in the
community to get involved andhelp harvest that produce. So,
(04:07):
we will be sure to include thatfor listeners who might be
interested or local andinterested in coming by to help
that initiative. We know youalso partner with UGA Office of
Sustainability. Can you talk alittle bit about what that
partnership looks like?
Ty Brooks (04:19):
It's very much one of collaboration and support.
Office of Sustainabilityactually helps provide a little
bit of the operational funds forthe garden each year for
UGArden. And they will take someof the interns that we have as
well. So we have a compostintern that they help provide
for the farm each semester. Thatwe go out, and they will manage
our compost for us. A lot oftimes, that's actually in
partnership with anothervolunteer community member that
(04:41):
helps volunteer with that. Sothe Office of Sustainability
also has several grant projectsthat'll happen regularly, and so
some of those will happen at thefarm, student projects. We just
finished up one for a gray watergarden that was all our wash
water from when we wash and packproduce that was just getting
washed out into the field. Nowit goes into a garden space, it
helps nurture those plants forbeautification purposes as well
(05:01):
as we are able to harvest someof that for our herbal program
as well. And then there areseveral different projects,
Office of Sustainability worksclosely with recycling and
composting with Athens-ClarkeCounty, and so they asked us, I
think, last year, to be one ofthe satellite drop off sites for
Athens-Clarke County compost. Sowe have a couple bins right near
the farm where community memberscan come and drop off their
(05:22):
compost. And what's really greatabout that is, when we do
on-farm composting, we're notable to compost things like
dairy or meat and these sorts ofthings that the county is able
to compost. And so becauseCampus Kitchen is also sort of
staged at the farm, they also,when they do their grocery
pickups, food rescue programsthat they're getting from local
grocers, they'll have dairy andmeat as well. And so when they
(05:43):
have things that are going bador whatever, they're able to put
that in that county compost, sothat we can really make sure a
lot of the waste is going backinto the compost. Then other
partnerships, let's see Officeof Sustainability takes care of
some of the green roofs aroundcampus, and so we oversee some
interns and help providemanagement and support for the
green roofs, specifically theGeography green roof. And then
recently, Office ofSustainability has started
(06:05):
helping with the UniversityVillage has a community garden
space, and so we've helpedconsult with that and help them
sort of get things organized andprovide support for their
interns that help with that aswell. And then, very recently,
also last year, I believe,Office of Sustainability has
been putting on a studentfarmer's market on Wednesdays at
the Tate Center, and they wantedsome produce to offer at their
(06:27):
farmer's market, and so westarted providing that to them
maybe two semesters ago, Iguess, at this point. And so
that ends up being really theonly produce that ever gets sold
off the farm. And that'sprobably about 30 items that go
each week to that farmer'smarket. So lots of different
ways that we work with theOffice of Sustainability.
Jordan Powers (06:42):
And we will link to the Office of Sustainability
in the show notes as well, sothat listeners can learn more
about some of those projectsthat Ty was just speaking about.
Emily Cabrera (06:50):
So I'm thinking about an operational farm, and
the day to day, the things afarmer thinks about, the people
that work on the farm that helpthat farm function.
Ty Brooks (06:58):
Yes.
Emily Cabrera (06:58):
This is a very unique place. It's a student
community farm centered aroundteaching. But just as you have
said, there are so many otherthings happening and
partnerships involved andinitiatives taking place that
you guys are not just on thefarm itself. So I'm wondering
kind of two things here, what aday to day looks like for you,
and then what would studentsexpect if they came out to the
(07:22):
farm? What does that look likefor you? What does that look
like for students?
Ty Brooks (07:26):
Just like any farm days can vary a lot. I would say
there's definitely sort of aseasonal pattern and then a
weekly pattern that you can kindof see. We'll have our regular
harvest days that are happening.
That's really where the studentsare getting involved, or
volunteers are getting involved.
A lot of times those arehappening in the morning, we'll
get things washed and packed. Alot of times, staff and myself
(07:47):
are getting to the farm beforethose start, trying to get
things that may require a littlebit more skill or knowledge
about things, get that harvestedso that we can get that washed
and packed when the volunteerscome. A lot of times, at least
right now in the summer, whenharvest is happening very
frequently, very regularly,we're normally harvesting
Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays.
Doing those sorts of things, andso that normally takes up most
(08:07):
of the morning. We do like tosit down with all the students
and interns, whoever at thefarm, and we normally have a
lunch where everybody's aroundtogether, hanging out, talking
about the rest of the day, theweek, things that are going on.
And then a lot of times in theafternoon, if we're not back
engaged in farm work, it will betour groups that are coming. It
will be classes that are showingup. We'll be hosting events.
This past week, we had our GrowIt Know It event for teachers -
(08:29):
there's a three day teachertraining. So there's always
things like that. So you'redoing your best to try and work
the farming in around writinggrants, working on these various
projects, these sustainabilityprojects you might be working
on, working with interns, tryingto teach them and make sure that
they're engaged in learningsomething and not just weeding
every day. And then still makingsure that harvest is coming in,
things are functioning. Ourcooler broke down last week, and
(08:53):
we had to pull an AC unit gutsout of one cooler and put in
another one. You know, you doyour best. Farming is a lot of
planning, a lot of prep, andthen all that gets thrown out
the window because the tractorbreaks down, and now you gotta
fix it. That's how it goes. Butlike you said, we're always
especially in the summer, we'rehaving lots of summer camps that
are coming by. We had SandyCreek brought a group by last
(09:13):
week. We had the Minorities inAgriculture summer camp that
came by the week before. So alot of times, we'll give them a
tour, and if they're around longenough, we'll try and engage
them in an activity, maybe dosome harvesting or help with
something around the farm. Soday to day, very variable, but
there are seasonal patterns andweekly patterns that are
happening.
Emily Cabrera (09:34):
So how might a student get involved? What would
they need to do to get out thereand get their hands dirty?
Ty Brooks (09:40):
It's very simple at this point for a student to get
involved, and there's numerousways to do it. Like I said, the
weekly volunteer day is probablythe easiest way, just a one-off
that you can do, get a fewhours, come out to see how
things are going, how you likeit. You can sign up through
those. Check out our socialmedia, our Instagram at UGArden,
that'll link to our Give Pulsepage where you can sign up for
(10:01):
volunteer events. Like I said,we have those regular,
reoccurring volunteer eventsthat are normally centered
around harvest. And then we'llhave work days as well that
often involve weeding or somesort of planting activity. And
then we will all sometimes havespecialized volunteer events
centered around herbal programs.
We're trying to blend tea ormake a salve or something like
that as well. For somebody thatwants to be maybe a little bit
(10:22):
more involved weekly, but notnecessarily still working on the
farm as much. There's UGArdenClub. UGArden Club is sort of
the remnant of the initial groupthat came together and put
forward the proposal to have acommunity garden on campus. And
so that club still exists. Theymeet each week during the
regular semesters on Wednesdays,I think at like four thirty or
so. A lot of times they'll justbe engaged in activity, planting
(10:44):
or weeding like that around thefarm. And then they also will
have events where they do morefun type stuff. They'll do yoga
down by the barn, or they'll doa canning workshop or something
like that. And so that club isopen to everybody. I think
normally about 40 plus peopleare in that club. So it's fairly
active, and a fairly large club.
I'd say.
Emily Cabrera (11:03):
It's like a farm party.
Ty Brooks (11:05):
It is. It really is.
Jordan Powers (11:06):
That sounds amazing.
Ty Brooks (11:07):
Yes.
Jordan Powers (11:07):
Like, so four thirty on Wednesday
Emily and Jordan (11:09):
[laughter]
Ty Brooks (11:11):
I think especially if you're not out weeding every
day, you know, weeding is verycathartic, if you're just doing
it once a week and out there foran hour, you know. But you know,
then beyond that, we have ourinternship. So I think that's
HORT 3920. You do needpermission from the department,
but I think it is open toeverybody. When you come out,
that is when you're reallystarting to get more involved
with the farm. We're going to beputting you on equipment. You're
(11:31):
going to be learning how tooperate equipment, maintain it,
repair it. You're going to betalking about whatever our
season is, that you're out thereworking. You'll be involved and
the planting, the irrigation,the spraying, all these sorts of
things that are happening outhere at the farm. And then we
have student workers. A lot oftimes, I encourage people to do
the internship, and that allowsus to kind of, them to learn and
(11:52):
to know what's going on at thefarm. And at that point, that's
sort of a pool where we can hirestudent workers from. We'll have
a communications person that'lldo our communications and
website stuff. And we'll havegeneral farm worker students
that'll help us around the farmwith whatever. And then we'll
have people that sort ofspecialize in our herbal program
as well. So numerous ways, yes.
Jordan Powers (12:11):
So many opportunities to get involved.
And then here you are managingit all, (laughter) making it all
come
Ty Brooks (12:17):
Doing my best, anyway.
Jordan Powers (12:18):
Doing your best.
You are doing an amazing job.
Emily Cabrera (12:21):
So, there are so many things happening on the
farm. How do you manage to keepit all organized and running?
Ty Brooks (12:27):
You know, we are student community farm, and so
the vast majority of the work isgetting done by students. But
thankfully, I have another staffperson at the farm, and that
would be April McCoy, our farmmanager. Without her, I couldn't
keep it all straight. You know,the day to day calendar. We do
our best, but without ourstudent workers and April, of
course, as the farm manager, Iwould never be able to keep
track of it all.
Jordan Powers (12:47):
It really, it takes a team. We also know that
you are a Double Dawg with abachelor's in wildlife biology
and a master's in agriculturaland environmental education. How
has your academic and careerjourney prepared you for this
role?
Ty Brooks (13:01):
As an undergrad, when I came in, I definitely had an
interest in plants andhorticulture and wildlife, and
so studying wildlife, it reallymakes you cognizant of
environmental issues, ecologicalconcepts, and the ways that
humans interact with these andhave impacts on these sorts of
things. And I also really thinkthat it sort of gives you an eye
for detail, because you reallyneed that in farming, and you're
(13:22):
having to pay attention to allthese things when you're
identifying plants or animalsand these sorts of things. As an
undergrad, a lot of it was veryconceptual. You're talking about
these things in classroomspaces. And then after I
graduated and got into the fieldmore, I was working mostly in
arbiculture and then in wildlifebiology as well. I actually
worked out west in Colorado,doing some wildlife biology
work. That was really where Istarted to get my first-hand
(13:45):
experience of that intersectionbetween agriculture and the
environment and wildlife.
Specifically, I worked withprairie dogs a lot on
agricultural leases in BoulderCounty. So you really see the
impacts firsthand that arehappening, and that's when I
started to actually get veryinterested in agriculture and
the ideas behind organicagriculture, specifically. I
actually had found on my onlinesearching that UGA at the time
(14:06):
had an organic agriculturecertificate program, and had
reached out about that. Didn'tend up coming back here - there
was a nine year gap between myundergrad and grad school. So,
even after when I first foundthat program, was about five
years later until I actuallycame here, and doing my graduate
program and pursued thatcertificate while I was in the
ALEC program.
Sound Effect (14:27):
[chime]
Emily Cabrera (14:30):
When Ty references ALEC, he's talking
about the CAES Department ofAgricultural, Leadership,
Education and Communication.
ALEC faculty and students focuson messaging, educational
strategies and leadershipdesigned to advance agricultural
and environmental science.
Sound Effect (14:46):
[chime]
Ty Brooks (14:47):
And of course, AgEd and communications, it's
absolutely something that I doevery day in my job. I'm having
to teach our interns, ourstudent workers. We're trying to
always educate the volunteersthat are coming, about how the
farm works, issues we may befacing, sustainability issues,
environmental issues. And sothen I'm having to communicate,
I'm having to communicate withour tour groups. I'm having to
(15:08):
communicate with these peoplethat are coming by the farm and
interacting in different ways.
Then after I graduated, after Igot my master's, I ended up
working at a non-profit sort ofcommunity garden space, which
really started helping me learnabout volunteer management and
working with volunteers andthese sorts of things. And after
doing that, I was farming on myown for a while, and now I'm in
this position, and definitelyall these skills have come
(15:29):
together and help with makingsure that I'm able to get
through these weeks and thesedays with everything happening.
Emily Cabrera (15:35):
Okay, I know it's not good practice to ask a yes
or no question.
Ty Brooks (15:39):
Okay, okay.
Emily Cabrera (15:40):
But I'm going to.
Ty Brooks (15:41):
Sure.
Jordan Powers (15:41):
[laughter]
Emily Cabrera (15:41):
Is this a dream job?
Ty Brooks (15:44):
I would say that this is about as good a farming gig
as I could hope for. You know,like said, I definitely am able
to get out in the field and dothe things that I want to be
doing, engaged outside and stillable to interact with people and
meet people that are interestedand that want to be involved and
help people, maybe learn andthink of ways that they can be
involved and engage inagriculture and the environment
(16:06):
and sustainability as well. It'sdefinitely an amazing
opportunity for me, and I'm verygrateful that I have it.
Emily Cabrera (16:12):
Are you able to get involved in research
projects out at the farm?
Ty Brooks (16:16):
Recently, we have projects like seed saving
projects. There was an heirloomseed saving collard project that
just happened out on the farm.
And the herbal program inparticular, is something where a
lot of research happens, becausewhen they first started doing
this, there wasn't a lot ofinformation on fertilization
rates and plant spacing and allthese sorts of things. And so
over the years, we sort of builtup this knowledge, and I'm very
excited that we can continuesort of doing that and putting
(16:39):
that into practice now, as wesort of try and ramp this
program up and figure out waysthat we can maybe help other
people that are into this sortof thing, sort of know some ways
that they can take care of theirplants and grow these herbs as
well.
Jordan Powers (16:51):
I don't know if it's your communications
background or just fortuitous,but that leads right into my
next question perfectly, andthat we know that this spring
UGArden's herbal tea programlaunched sales in select UGA
dining halls. And we will, ofcourse, link to that story in
the show notes. And I will putin a shameless plug for that
Tulsi tea, because it is sogood. Tell us more about where
our listeners can find theUGArden herbal teas on campus
(17:14):
and around Athens.
Ty Brooks (17:15):
Currently at Oglethorpe Dining Hall, our
chamomile is available. It isreally herbal season right now.
So we're harvesting tons ofstuff. Chamomile is almost done.
We're harvesting Tulsi and we'reharvesting peppermint and all
these things. As we're sort offinishing up these harvests,
we'll be getting more of thisstuff packaged and hopefully
offering the Tulsi and thepeppermint to the dining hall
(17:36):
and the new chamomile here verysoon. As far as other places
where you can pick up the teas.
Botanical Gardens gift shop hasa lot of our teas and herbal
products. Community is a storedowntown that carries some of
our products, and then wheneverwe have on farm sales, so we'll
have plant sales and things likethat, Throughout the year, we'll
always have our herbal productson offer at those times. There
has been a coffee shop aroundtown, Molly's Coffee, that has
(17:58):
carried some of our Tulsi tea aswell over on Macon Highway.
Especially as we move throughthe thick of herbal season here,
and we start to get things wounddown, dried and start packaging
stuff, we'll probably start tosend some of our herb interns
back out into the community tomaybe try and do some more sales
and get into some more placesaround town.
Jordan Powers (18:18):
What an awesome opportunity for the students,
right? To be on the farm, dryingthe herbs, processing,
packaging. But then also forsome people, especially people
who maybe are more in tune tobeing in a drying room or on a
farm than in a sales role, toget out there and get a product
in the community and really getthat full spectrum of what is
involved in bringing a productto market.
Ty Brooks (18:36):
Yes.
Jordan Powers (18:37):
That's exciting.
Is there anything that we'vemissed that you want to make
sure our listeners know?
Ty Brooks (18:41):
I can't say anything specific, but I want everybody
to know that in August, there'sgoing to be something sort of
big for UGArden happening, thatpeople who are into UGArden can
help support us with. So you gotto stay on the lookout for that.
Emily Cabrera (18:56):
Ooh, the intrigue.
Ty Brooks (18:57):
Yes.
Emily and Jordan (18:57):
[laughter]
Ty Brooks (18:57):
A little cliffhanger for everybody. Yes, absolutely.
So, uh, keep your eyes and earsopen. We'll be putting out our
newsletter. It'll be on blast,like I said, right around the
beginning of August. Andthere'll be a window of time
where we are going to need yourassistance.
Jordan Powers (19:12):
Okay. We mentioned earlier, but we will
have UGArden's website, socialmedia channels, etc, all linked
in the show notes, so you heardTy. Stay tuned. There will be
more. I'm excited. I don't knowwhat it is, but I'm excited.
Emily Cabrera (19:23):
[laughter]
Jordan Powers (19:24):
Well, Ty thank you so much, we do, we know you
came in from trellising melonsthis morning to have this
conversation, and we know you'reheaded right back out there. So
thank you for taking the time inthe middle of a busy season to
come in and tell us a little bitmore about UGArden.
Ty Brooks (19:37):
Absolutely, thank you. I appreciate your
opportunity to talk aboutUGArden and let more people know
about it.
Sound Effect (19:42):
[music]
Jordan Powers (19:43):
Thanks for listening to Cultivating
Curiosity, a podcast produced bythe UGA College of Agricultural
and Environmental Sciences. Aspecial thanks to Mason
McClintock for our music andsound effects. Find more
episodes wherever you get yourpodcasts.
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