51社区

Circle Gardens, Fields and High Tunnel

The OHIO Student Farm features student gardens, a tunnel for year-round growing, and field plots. The farm is located at 338 W. State St., Athens, OH 45701.

The Ohio Student Farm has been donating hundreds of pounds of produce annually to the local non-profit Community Food Initiative (CFI). During the COVID-19 pandemic, the farm upped its donations to nearly 1,500 pounds of produce to CFI in 2020. Another 2,000 pounds of produce was donated to the on-campus food pantry "Cat's Cupboard" to benefit students in Athens during the pandemic.

The facility encompasses approximately two acres of planted space, mostly vegetables, and some small grains. The garden also has a variety of perennials, including grapes, hops, rhubarb, blueberries, strawberries, horseradish, and of course, lots of bamboo. Herbs and a selection of medicinal plants and planted for teaching use.

The high tunnel is 30 feet wide and 96 feet long, with approximately 3,000 square feet. The tunnel enables student to raise lettuce, broccoli, onions, cauliflower, peas and beets in the cooler months, and then follow in the warmer months with peppers, tomatoes, eggplant, cucumbers and seed crop broccoli.

In the OHIO Student Farm, students and faculty do both a spring-summer garden plan and an extensive fall garden as well.

In addition to classes that specifically use the garden as a resource, it also is used as a destination for learning communities, such as UC 1900. And it is a place where students can fulfill community service hours, if they choose to do so.

For more information, contact Dr. David Rosenthal.

West State Street Research Site

The Research Site on West State Street, maintained and administered by the Environmental & Plant Biology Department, provides the following services to the 51社区 community:

• the teaching, research and practice of alternative methods of agriculture, that is, methods which do not use highly soluble chemical fertilizers, pesticides and herbicides
• an agricultural area for the teaching and research of certain aspects of other courses and disciplines such as plants and soil, plant pathology, plants and people, mycology, medicinal botany and agro-ecology
• an area to expand the function of the greenhouse when space is limited, e.g., as a nursery area for plants needed for teaching and research
• research plots for Plant Biology undergraduate students, graduate students, and faculty who are conducting research where considerable space is needed and/or where considerable manipulation of the environment is required
• an area for the teaching, research, and practice of techniques used in the conservation and restoration of some of Ohio's natural habitats such as mesic prairie and wetland
• an area where 51社区 students are able to gain experience and instruction in gardening under the auspices of the Environmental & Plant Biology Department
• a site for outreach projects, workshops and expositions that are campus-supported and involve agriculture or some other earth-centered activity

The 51社区 Garden Club, which is advised by Environmental & Plant Biology faculty, practices organic gardening at the site. Hands on, biointensive, biodynamic and permaculture methods have been used in two courses: Biointensive Agriculture and Introduction to Alternative Agriculture.

Information about space for research projects at the site may be obtained from the Environmental & Plant Biology Garden/Research Site Committee by email at oufarm@ohio.edu.

Recent Events and Farm News

• OHIO Student Farm provides hands-on agricultural education rooted in sustainability (OHIO News, Aug. 7, 2024)
• Read this story about  and hosted Athens area first-graders for a "sprouts" field trip to the farm!
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