Service and learning can go hand-in-hand, and a group of 31 Lipscomb biology students are combining their academics with service to meet the needs of a Nashville-based, not-for-profit organization.
Students in Dr. James English’s freshmen-level environmental biology course are working in conjunction with the Nashville Food Project to implement an irrigation plan for the organization’s Wedgewood garden.
The class visited the garden a couple times at the beginning of the semester to evaluate the land structure before devoting the fall months to creating the land management plan.
“The property is on a slight-gradient, so what you do is collect the water and bring that rain water up so that you can use it to flow down,” second-year Yellow Ribbon student Christopher Long said. “It’s kind of an intricate system, but it’s completely sustainable.
“Basically, we use mother nature to sustain the garden.”
Jamie Wilkerson, the class communications manager for the irrigation plan, is designing the irrigation system to pump water from the 5,000 gallon tank to the piping system, providing water to the garden.
“It is awesome to have a class with an actual real life application,” Wilkerson said. “It has [provided] drive and interest.”
The irrigation system is designed to use rain water, implementing a sustainable practice that has been around for generations.
Wilkerson said he hopes the irrigation system will help the Nashville Food Project with their upcoming spring crops.
“Our proposal is very detailed and has everything outlined down to the smallest materials needed to complete the project,” Wilkerson said. “I find this super exciting because we have created something that, if used, should work perfectly.”
The Wedgewood garden is one-and-a-half acres, and the food grown there is used to make approximately 600 meals a week. Long foresees that the irrigation plan will help the Nashville Food Project manage space to increase productivity, providing more support for the Nashville community.
“The Nashville Food Project took an urban garden in the middle of Wedgewood, and they are growing organic foods to feed low-income neighborhoods and the homeless,” Long said.
“They use the vegetables and fruits and things that come out of this garden and they prepare meals twice a week.”
Long says the class is working to design a plan that Nashville Food Project can take and use as a proposition for grant money.
“It’s completely not-for-profit, so all of their money and everything comes from donations,” Long said. “They don’t get paid to do this. They’re all volunteers. They volunteer their time to feed the homeless. It’s awesome.”
The class’ project for the fall is two-fold. Half of the class worked on the irrigation plan, while the other half devoted their time to creating an urban wildlife management plan.
“What we’re doing is managing the small space that we have, and how we’re going to get water to the crops and everything, and the other side of that is working with the wildlife,” Long said.
As urban areas encroach on natural habitats, the animals are being pushed out. Long says the goal of the wildlife management plan is to promote co-habitation within the garden.
“What we’ve found is that when we work with nature, it’s better,” Long said. “It was here before we were so it works. The nature system works. We just have to work with it instead of against it. So that’s what we do.”
Birds, rabbits and squirrels are not the only wildlife the management plan seeks to sustain. The class is also looking to save perennial herbs and flowers that are native to Nashville.
Although both plans are being created specifically for the Wedgewood garden, the essentials to the management plans are the same and can be used at either of the Nashville Food Project’s two gardens.
The class deadline for completing the two management plans is the last weekend in November. Long says the Nashville Food Project hopes to implement the plans immediately.
“This is kind of a precursor for the future, and by no means the end of the project,” Long said. “By the third week in November, it’s not done. It carries on. The things that we do carry on.”
Long says that the best part learning in an experience like this is diving into the work ahead.
“There is so much to learn and the best way to learn is just to get out there, get in it and do it,” Long said. “Volunteer – anything you can do to get your hands dirty.”
The Nashville Food Project is always asking for volunteers and interested students can sign up to help in the gardens or food pantries. For more information, visit their website.