Program Goals
- Educating SCU and surrounding communities by using our gardens as living labs for place-based, interdisciplinary learning.
- Building community resilience by produce donation, food education, farm stand operation, and neighborhood collaboration.
- Helping to build a just and sustainable food system by utilizing ancestral and innovative, small-scale sustainable agriculture practices.
What is the Forge?
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The Center for Sustainability's Forge Garden is a half-acre edible, organic garden that serves as a hub for sustainable food system education. Forge Garden Programs aim to build a just and sustainable food system through education, collaboration, and connectivity, using the garden as a living lab for interdisciplinary learning. Established in 2008, the garden currently hosts chickens, an apiary, a 400-square-foot greenhouse, a compost center, over 20 fruit trees, over 15,000 square feet of garden beds, an outdoor kitchen, and the 2007 Solar Decathlon House which is utilized as public commons. Visit our history page to learn how the Forge earned its name. Our garden is certified organic through California Certified Organic Farmers (CCOF). |
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In the News
Media clips about the Forge Garden Program:
- (2024) Forge Garden Manager Rebecca Nelson, Anthropology professor and Center for Sustainability Thought Leader Maia Dedrick, and English professor Amy Lueck received a grant from the Environmental Justice & Common Good Initiative and the Miller Center for Global Impact. Their project “Native Plants for Stewardship, Harvest, and Sustainable Use in Ohlone Cultural Projects”. Read more on our Thought Leadership page.
- (2023) The Forge Garden became a member of the Urban Grower Network. SCU is proud to be involved as it exemplifies the work we are already doing and how our students (especially our Forge interns and apprentices) are engaging with the local community to make real change.
Sustainable Food Systems Program Manager
Summer Garden Intern
Summer Garden Intern
Garden Apprentice
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Garden Apprentice
Summer Garden Intern
Summer Garden Intern
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Forge Garden Managers: Rose Madden: 2012-2015 Katharine Rondthaler: 2015-2021. Garden Educator: Lisa Martinez: 2015-2021. |
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2025 Garden Apprentices: Ellie Fox. Winter 2024-Spring 2025. Jimmy Alexander. Fall 2024-Spring 2025. |
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2024 Summer Garden Interns: Jimmy Alexander Alexis Alvarez Figueroa Kirsten Elsaden Reece Hammond Will Jaspen Uriel Ramirez Lauren Sundin Jiaxi Tang |
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2024 Garden Apprentices: Abby Grimm. Winter 2023-Spring 2024. Bea Ricafort. Fall 2023-Spring 2024. |
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2023 Summer Garden Interns: Amy Kim Anna Bronzini Arden DiCicco Ellie Fox Josue Hernandez-Perez Meir Zhang Puia Shah Rajashekar Reddy Vennavelli |
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2023 Garden Apprentices: Ayla Flanagan. 2021-23. Maddy Hwang. 2021-23. Madeline Pugh. 2020-23. Madi Williams. 2021-23. |
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2022 Summer Garden Interns: Abby Grimm Alexa Pritchard Ava Solorzano Emma Young Hannah Hagen Hugo Muro Avila Jessica Luna John Redinbo Mateo Coghlan Nilay Hingarh Oli Branham Upton Sophia Bouzid Whitney Janes |
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2021 Garden Apprentices: Anjali Rangaswami: BUG Intern. September 2020-June 2021. Julia Jenak: September 2018-September 2021. James Konugres: September 2020-June 2021. |
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2020 Garden Apprentices: Kate Wyant: 2020. Sammi Zamora: 2020. Tommy Hayashi: 2020. Food System Fellow: Emma McCurry: March 2019 - December 2020. Paige Whittaker: April 2019-June 2020. |
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2018 Garden Apprentices: Everett Kinkade: Fall 2016 - Summer 2018. Meredith Anderson: Fall 2017 - Spring 2018. Ryan Kincheloe: Fall 2017- Spring 2018. |
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2017 Garden Apprentice: Beatriz Monterola-Lemus: May 2016 - June 2017. |
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2016 Garden Apprentice: Hailey Kennedy: September 2015 - June 2016. |
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2014 Sustainability Intern: Olivia Benson: Forge Garden Events and Outreach. March 2013 - March 2014. |