Imagine a living salad bar, stocked with a mélange of crispy bunches of lettuce and arugula, snap peas dangling on trellises and the shoulders of orange carrots peeking above the soil surface. As you approach your building, the air is fresh from the abundant plants, the soil is covered with edible vegetables and flying creatures flutter about. The soil is teeming with beneficial soil microbes, the
roots filter the water, and the plants transform these resources into food for your lunch. This is the Salad Bowl Garden at UC Davis. WHO WE ARE
The Salad Bowl Garden is run by a group of volunteer students, faculty, and staff, and eaten by anyone. It is a place to pick your salad and eat fresh food while at school or work. Any UC Davis student, faculty member, staff or visitor can pick their own salad. Situated just outside the research labs, classroom buildings and offices, the PES salad bowl is an exquisite model of small scale food growing. It serves as an outdoor classroom, posting written placards and pictures. One may read about the different qualities found among tomato varieties, the amount of water saved when we converted from sprinkler to drip irrigation, or how to fertilize the soil using holistic, organic growing practices. We post pictures of insects and diseases identified in the garden, annual results from soil tests, and nutritional tidbits about specific crops in the garden. Because it is centrally located, passerby walk between its beds, reading the signs, identifying crops by their labels, all day, everyday. Day in and day out, we all watch the plants sprout, mature, die and be replanted. HISTORY
The PES Salad Bowl Garden Project began in February 2008, by a group of student volunteers and faculty advisors, with the support of UC Davis Grounds and a Campus Sustainability grant for $1800. The first planting was March 9th, followed by the first lunch three weeks later! Planted in 600 square feet at the entrance to the new Plant and Environmental Sciences (PES) building is an organic, edible ‘salad bowl’ garden. From this garden, students, faculty and staff can harvest their salad for lunch. A range of crops are carefully selected such that they (1) fulfill the preferences of those who work in PES, (2) can be eaten raw and (3) follow healthy agronomic practices. In order to reach the community, the PES salad bowl garden crew hosts ‘salad bowl lunches’ from 12-1pm once a week, which includes a wash station, salad spinner, salad dressing, and salt and pepper. Through list-serves and the garden whiteboard, the community is notified about upcoming lunches. Beyond the immediate reward of a salad harvest, the benefits include exposure to methods of appropriate food raising around human habitation, an opportunity to actively participate in sustainable living, and the increased beautification of the entrance with educational benefits. Over this brief time, it has been successful on several levels. On the basic level of providing fresh, organic salad to the campus, salad bowl lunches have a growing level of participation. Our first lunch hosted about 15 individuals and grew to 30+ individuals. Secondly, two articles have been written—one article written for Plant Sciences semi-annual “Leaflet” and more recently in Dateline. Immediately following the story in Dateline, I received more than 25 emails by readers requesting to be put on the “salad bowl lunch” list serve. Third, there has been significant external interest. Both UC Research and Extension Center at Kearny and University of Nevada, Reno Extension Center have contacted the garden PI for an interview on the project. They are hoping to begin pilot projects for research and use in their areas.
