Following the tour, Southern Oregon Climate Action Now held its monthly meeting next door at ScienceWorks
By Emma Coke, Ashland.news
For its August meeting, Southern Oregon Climate Action Now, a local nonprofit concerned about the climate crisis, swapped out its typical meeting space at the Medford Public Library for The Farm at Southern Oregon University Tuesday evening.
As an environmentally concerned nonprofit, SOCAN hosts guest speakers at its monthly meetings to discuss various topics pertaining to climate change. August’s topic was sustainability, resulting in SOCAN’s field trip to The Farm at SOU, near ScienceWorks. Around 20 members gathered to receive a tour from Zhu Parker, co-manager of The Farm at SOU.
Parker led the group through the farm, showcasing the food forest (a farming practice that mimics a forest), berry plots, a vineyard and compost piles. Attendees had opportunities to ask questions regarding the farm’s agricultural practices and got to pick a pint of organic strawberries straight from the bush.
The Farm at SOU spans 9.5 acres and is run primarily by a team of 10 to 13 students, term-depending, Parker said. The entirely organic farm serves as a center for sustainability education, providing students research and job or volunteer opportunities to explore agricultural practices and their environmental impacts.
An area of concern for much of what the farm does is find the most sustainable practice given the resources available. With a team of mostly students, Parker’s co-manager Stephanie Danyi, and some volunteers, the amount of labor can vary a lot.
“It’s a balance between labor and cost,” Parker said.
For instance, the strawberry patch had plastic tarps to prevent weeds, while the patch of squash had mulch.
Parker said it made more sense to throw a tarp down since the strawberries grow back each year. To re-mulch it would require a lot of labor and time. The squash, on the other hand, does not re-grow, and they will re-plant the area with another crop — it’d be re-mulched either way.
The Farm at SOU is also concerned with maintaining a closed-loop system.
“How do we have the waste we produce come back to us?” Parker said.
Much of what they grow goes directly to the university’s dining hall. Food waste goes back to the farm to be used as compost, which they use to fertilize the crops. Additionally, lawn clippings and pruned branches from landscaping on campus end up in the compost.
Shaun Franks, an SOU graduate who helped establish the farm back in 2013, was in attendance for the tour.
“It’s amazing to see it grow,” Franks said.
After the tour, SOCAN met inside ScienceWorks to discuss upcoming plans. Nick Pflug, a recent SOU graduate, also gave an impromptu speech explaining his senior project on a method of producing compost.
SOCAN’s September monthly meeting is set for 6 to 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 24, in the large meeting room at the Medford Public Library.
Email Ashland.news reporter intern Emma Coke at emmasuecoke@gmail.com.
