PROJECT UPDATES: INDIGENOUS GARDEN

Within the Indigenous Garden, there was a yurt built in the 1980s with a redwood plank roof and flooring. CCAT dismantled the Yurt in 2022 at the FSL’s request, and donated the redwood planks to the FSL. With class engagement from NAS 333: Food Sovereignty Lab Course, NAS 332: Environmental Justice, and our student and community volunteer program, the planks were sorted, measured, refinished, and indexed for the intended construction into raised beds. FSL Research Associate Karley Rojas directed the refinishing work and designed custom raised beds that incorporated the reclaimed redwood. The Steering Committee expressed the importance of using a construction material which is consistent with traditional building methods of the region. Freshly milled redwood was also purchased to support the construction. The aforementioned classes and volunteer program then worked to assemble the pieces, which included dovetail joinery pre-cut by Rojas, on site. This process took the bulk of the Spring semester. Three raised beds are completed, holding 12, 27, 57 cubic feet of soil respectively. The beds were filled with soil, donated from Royal Gold, the delivery of which was funded by the Cowell Foundation. They have been planted with Tarweed, Native medicinal herbs, and vine tea.