Evergreen is well known for its farm and community gardens, and there is growing interest in expanding socially inviting edible landscapes and healthy food options across campus. This program introduces students to the national edible campus movement through case studies, applied science, and hands-on management of small farms, community gardens, and edible landscapes while putting learning into practice on the Evergreen Olympia campus. Students will also explore the social dimensions of agroecology—including co-creation, knowledge sharing, food traditions, governance, and solidarity-based economies—and participate in collaborative farm management. Quantitative reasoning, statistics, and systems thinking will be applied to topics such as ratios, unit conversions, modeling, survey design, data collection, and visualization in support of agricultural decision-making. The program includes a substantial outdoor field component, with 2–3 weekly practicum sessions and day field trips in all weather conditions. Students should be prepared with appropriate clothing and rain gear. Quarter-by-quarter emphases and anticipated credit equivalencies are described below.

In Winter quarter, students will learn farm and garden planning by assessing prior season data, creating harvest goals, developing planting plans, preparing seed orders and budgets, and scheduling site preparation, sowing, transplanting, crop care, and harvest. Horticultural topics will include greenhouse management, plant propagation, soil fertility and fertilization calculations, composting, and dormant-season care of perennial fruit and nut crops.

Reciprocal FarmingEdible EvergreenSpring quarter adds economic botany, exploring our relationships with common farm and garden plants, aboveground biodiversity (pollinators and pests), belowground biodiversity (the soil food web), the circular (bio)nutrient economy, and permaculture design for resilient farms and gardens. Students will choose a practicum focus in either data-driven market farming and sales or community gardens, food forests, and campus food systems while cultivating annual and perennial crops, stewarding soils, harvesting food, and expanding edible landscapes that support campus wellness. Students who are interested in taking with Krisz Mosdossy in Summer quarter are encouraged to enroll in to begin building a relationship with the farm and campus gardens and develop a foundational understanding of pee-cycling and soil ecology.

Anticipated Credit Equivalencies: