Notes

Meetings attendees: Michael, Maureen, Kevicha, Naxielly, Shannon, Mimi, Jennifer

• Shannon gave an update on the KCC Community Farm and Garden. She will serve as a part-time administrator going forward. The new gardener will be hired hopefully by end of June. We need to plan a volunteer day to tackle the weeds. Doodle was sent out to FIG on 5/28 to see if there are any volunteers. Everything is being redeveloped and will take some time to have everything set in place.
• Maureen gave us an update on the Food Studies concentration and was excited to report that there is some positive movement in that direction. She will keep us posted as things progress.
• We discussed ordering an accessibility bed for front of the Farm space as well as different ways to have more accessibility content on the farm. Discussions of creating links between courses brought up some ideas about great collaboration opportunities between different departments and what that might look like.

FIG will convene again in the fall.

Fig was held on Wednesday, April 14th from 3:30-4:30 pm.
Attendance: Shannon, Mimi, Midori, and Kathy.

Agenda:

• Farm Update – we spent a good deal of time discussing the proposed changes to the Farm space. We discussed how changing the name from Urban Farm to KCC Community Farm and Garden can open up opportunities for grants and funding. Re-positioning the space helps meet criteria for very specific grant requirements. Discussion as to what the new roles on the farm would be, how faculty, staff, and the community may be able to interact with the re-imagined space, and ideas on how we could include more learning and research opportunities on the Community Farm and Garden for our students.
• Accessibility – discussion around the need to improve accessibility in the space for our faculty, staff, and students. We discussed potential ways that might happen, shared stories of our students struggles in the space, and discussed how grants may assist in this. We also discussed the Recreational Therapy program’s potential use of the space.
• Interdisciplinary event Ideas – discussed a variety of ideas to enhance the new farm/ garden space including potential contests for students to redesign the logo as well as include photography, artwork on gates, and potentially do some form of a mural project if allowed. Discussion surrounding other events such as yoga activities and other physical activites.

Next meeting scheduled for Wednesday, May 26th at 3:30 pm. Email Shannon for Zoom information.

Fig was held on Tuesday, March 30th from 3:30-4:30 pm.
Attendance: Shannon, Mimi, Tanzina, Michael, Jennifer, Midori, Naxielly, and Mabel.

Agenda:

• Welcome Back! Spring growing update and pics – Tanzina updated us on Food Access Research project and invited everyone to participate in ongoing study for students. Shannon presented a brief presentation of growing images from members, as well as a variety of training and pedagogical resource opportunities available for spring.
• Farm Update – interesting changes are coming to the farm – Shannon gave an update on the results of the Farm re-imagining committee. The proposal is now with President for approval of the new direction of space: Community Farm and Garden. Increased funding opportunities and new ways to use space for all on campus, as well as community.
• DropBox Update – the creation of a more comprehensive repository of pedogeological OER, growing guides, research, etc. – this will happen over time this semester and when complete, members can request access and be able to contribute. This way we have a nice library of OER and research to dip into for our classrooms and research.
• Food Access Syllabus Statement Discussion – what exists now, how can we contribute – We will continue with this task next meeting. Tanzina graciously shared an editable copy of her pamphlet as well as a statement that she currently uses. Will share with members via email, and will all come back to table next meeting with some tweaks. While others on campus may be working on this, we would like to share a statement from the FIG in addition to that.
• Grow Your Spirit Discussion – Gail will present next meeting on how she has been making this work. Members are asked to come up with ideas on how to incorporate this new initiative that will tie in well with the new farm/ community garden space.
• Event Ideas – workshops, movie screenings, come with your thoughts – Midori shared info on a great speaker Tom Angotti, we discussed having some great art projects tied in with the community garden space. Chef Dominguez shared ways to do cooking demos with students as well as with early childhood/ continuing education.

Next meeting scheduled for Wednesday, April 14th at 3:30 pm. Email Shannon for Zoom information.