Get Involved!
Garden Workdays
PICA offers Garden Workdays 2-3 days a week- rain or shine! Students can choose between a variety of hands- on activities to participate. A free garden grown organic lunch is always served. We hope to see you there!
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Hands- on activities listed below !
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Propogation
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Sowing seeds
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Upplanting
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Thining
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Gardening
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Trimming
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Weeding
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Planting
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Digging Beds
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Composting
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Sifting
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Turning
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Building
Cooking
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Harvesting
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Cooking with our solar oven- exciting!
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Preparing our delicious lunch
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Location
We meet in A- Quad at the entrance to the Village at UCSC. Check out the google maps below or click here for directions!
Sustainability Workshops
PICA hosts hands-on sustainability workshops each quarter related to gardening skills, social justice issues, and conscious cooking. Previous events have included: food justice, fermentation, permaculture, fruit tree pruning, worm composting, canning, cob oven building, cheese making, seasonal cooking, sprouting, and many more.
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Academic Classes & Student Run Projects
Students pose with a "Insect Hotel" project that attracts local pollinators. Photo by Andrew Blackwelder.
The PICA's gardens have served as an outdoor classroom for the College Eight core course, College Eight 150, Education for a Sustainable Living Program, Environmental Studies 133 Practicum class and other campus courses. PICA has also hosted Environmental Studies internships. If you are interested in bringing your class to PICA, please contact us.
Projects at PICA created by classes or interns include the Urban Garden Demonstration Site, a cob oven, a cob bench, a permaculture key hole bed, a rainwater catchment system and an herb spiral. PICA is a space for hand-on learning open to all UCSC students.
Student Garden Market Cart
Student gardeners at the Market Cart on Science Hill.
At the Student Garden Market Cart, campus gardeners have previously given away free produce to UCSC students! At the Market Cart, students would learn about upcoming garden workdays and connect with campus gardens. In the past PICA has collaborated with the Kresge Garden, Stevenson Garden, Friends of the Communtiy Agroecology Network, and the College Eight Garden. We would set up in front of the Science and Engineering library twice per quarter. Currently we are not running the student market cart, but hope to soon!