‘The light comes back’: University of Oregon’s urban farm provides an outdoor experience during COVID-19
“It has been really sweet to have somewhere to go two days a week that isn’t just my desk in my room,” Jenna Rudolph
By Leo Baudhuin
Daily Emerald
Dec 2, 2020
Excerpt:
Like almost every aspect of life, the University of Oregon’s urban farm is working to adapt to the COVID-19 pandemic. As a space that works to foster community, the farm has made a push to continue in-person activities.
“When COVID first came right before March, at the end of the winter term, we were much stricter, because we didn’t know as much about COVID,” Harper Keeler, the farm’s program director, said. Based on the hands-on nature of the class — 40% of student grades have historically been based on showing up at the farm and participating in class — the urban farm course wasn’t feasible in a virtual format.
This meant that instead of offering the urban farm class over the summer, the group working at the farm was limited to Keeler, five team leaders and a handful of already-hired students on work study. Grace Youngblood, one of the students on work-study, said the farm’s summer situation was the most noticeable shift for her.
One of the problems they ran into was a lack of students taking the course to send home with the food they grew. As a result, the summer farm crew donated everything to the student food pantry twice a week, supporting food security on campus.
