Digital Galleries : Locally Grown

Food, Gardens, and Community: The ways in which we create, market, and consume food - bioengineering and our processed, fast-food culture, as examples - are matters for national debate and concern. Community, organic, and local gardening are viewed by some as sustainable solutions to the health and environmental impact of poor food choices. Union Gardens: From Jackson’s to Octopus’s: According to The Encyclopedia of Union College History, Union College’s first vegetable garden may have been that of Professor Thomas McAuley (1805-1822). While at Union, McAuley lived at the north end of North College in what is now Bronner House. Isaac Jackson (Professor, 1831-1877) moved the plot in the early 1830s to make space for his flower and shrub garden, though his personal diaries provide evidence of continued vegetable plantings. Union Gardens: From Jackson’s to Octopus’s: Today’s vegetable garden, the Octopus’s Garden organic plot, is maintained by students, faculty and staff. Produce is donated to local soup kitchens, and is also used by Dining Services (the project’s sponsor) in the organic and local food eateries on campus, Ozone Café and Ozone Marketplace. First Purchase: The four-volume set A Course of Experimental Agriculture (1771) is from Union’s First Purchase Collection of books donated or purchased to form the college’s original library. These volumes were entered as items 186 through 189 of the collection, and the dedication was signed by the author.Union, Schenectady, and Sustainability: The Union College Community has extended its sustainability efforts and education far beyond organic gardening. U Recycle, the Ozone Café, sustainability-themed Ozone House, and participation in the “Focus the Nation” project are a few of the green activities and initiatives that have taken place on campus in the past few years. In the wider Schenectady and Capital Region communities, gardeners have been at work for centuries. Examples of their activities – from pest control to elementary school projects - can be found in area newspapers from the early 1800’s through the 20th Century. Today, Roots & Wisdom teaches local youth about sustainability and service, and the Schenectady Farmers’ Market is an active and educational presence in the city from June through October. Early Publications: While Union College has several early works on gardening and agriculture in its print collections (see First Purchase items, at right), the acquisition of the Eighteenth Century Collections Online database of texts produced in the United Kingdom added 138,000 titles to Schaffer Library’s holdings. Due to the scarcity of similar imprints in colonial America, English and Irish gardening publications were the resources to which the first American horticulturalists turned for instruction.1 American Gardens and Agriculture: Early American vegetable gardens ranged from the small and functional, as in the case of kitchen or medicinal plots, to larger operations like those that fed President Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello plantation. In the 20th Century, gardens have played important roles in the larger social context. Victory Gardens and Works Progress Administration (WPA) relief gardens were maintained by many families during World War II and the Depression, both as a show of patriotism and as a means of easing the impact of food rationing and poverty. In the latter half of the century, Americans turned to gardening for entertainment, feelings of contentment, and flavorful food. By the seventies, the economic downturn brought renewed interest in subsistence gardening. Most recently, green legislation has addressed the national desire to eat more organically.

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