Author: Barry Ramsey

Chemistry 290 – is an APPLES service-learning Course-based Undergraduate Research Experiences (CURE) course that partners with the Carolina Community Garden (CCG).  Students work in the garden to plant, care for, and/or harvest purslane (Portulaca oleracea), an edible medicinal plant, depending on the season.

Dr. Nita Eskew, Director of Undergraduate Laboratories in the Department of Chemistry) teaches the  “Chemistry of Purslane” course.

For more information, see the article in Endeavors.

Undergraduate and graduate students in the American Studies course (AMST 489) “Writing Material Culture” chose southern things related to Foodways in connection with the 2015-2017 university-wide academic theme, “Food for All: Local & Global Perspectives.”

Our experience is shaped by the material world around us. The South is found in objects, foods, landmarks, and environments that bridge everyday lived experience with a broader shared imaginary of this place, its past, and its future. From the utilitarian to the extraordinary—a scoured skillet, a worn shuttle, Scarlett O’Hara’s green dress, cotillion gloves worn once, teacakes baked with love and desire, Tennsy Mama’s poundcake—Southern things shape the nuanced substance of everyday life in the most cherished and reviled of American regions. Taken from the shelf or out of the kitchen, we seek to examine the singularity of these things, revealing unexpected encounters with a hidden iconography of the South Volume 4 of Southern Things is a compilation of insight, poetic vision, and savoring the South. Written, edited, and produced by the seminar editorial team in Writing Material Culture in American Studies and Folklore at UNC at Chapel Hill.

Under the direction of editor-in-chief Dr. Bernard L. Herman in fall 2015, students completed Issue 4 (Foodways).  Read with delight!

The Carolina Campus Community Garden recently hosted two UNC Greek organizations, Alpha Chi Omega Sorority and Kappa Sigma Fraternity for a “Greek Weed Dating” event in the garden.  Held November 13, 2015, 1:00 – 2:15 (a perfect fall day, we might add) 16 students came out to the event.  Participants spent about 15 minutes at stations before moving on to the next one and each time got the chance to meet and work with someone new.  Throughout the event, participants got to do activities such as weeding (the namesake of the event), chopping and turning compost, digging a hole that will be a digging area in a new children’s garden, and spreading wood chips on our pathways.  At the end of the event, everybody joined back together for more conversations and refreshments.

According to Alpha Chi member, Samantha Forlenza, “All of the Alpha Chi’s really enjoyed [the event].”  Moreover, Kappa Sigma member Jonah Keyserling said, “Everyone there said that they had a great time” and that he would like for more people to come to the garden in the future.

We are thankful for everyone who came out and participated and appreciate all the help that it was for the garden.  With help like this, the garden is able to provide fresh produce to University housekeepers who might not otherwise have easy access to fresh produce.

Anybody is invited and welcome to come volunteer in the garden.  The garden hosts weekly open volunteer times Tuesday, Wednesday, and Sunday from 3-5pm.  The garden also periodically host other events, like this one.  More information about the Carolina Campus Community Garden can be found at uncgarden.web.unc.edu.