University of Utah Edible Campus Gardens

FALL 2017 Volunteer Shift Schedule
Monday- 8:30-10:30 at Pioneer Garden
Tuesday- 5-7 at Pioneer Garden
Wednesday 3-5 at Sill Center
Thursday 8-10 at Pioneer Garden (prep for Farmers Market)
Thursday 5-7 at Pioneer Garden
Friday 10:30-11:30 at Pioneer Garden

For over a decade, the University of Utah has hosted two campus organic gardens: the Sill and the Pioneer gardens. Since 1996, Biology Professor Fred Montague established and used these gardens as living laboratories for an organic gardening class taught over the summer semester. The Sill Garden, nearly 1,000 square feet in area encircles part of the Office of Undergraduate Studies east of the Union Building while the Pioneer, nearly 3,000 square feet, is located on Lower Campus just east of the Pioneer Memorial Theater.

With Fred Montague's retirement in 2010, a coalition of students, staff and faculty launched a garden preservation campaign, by implementing various value-adding initiatives like a four season harvest paradigm, selling produce to the campus cafeteria and broader community, and integrating the gardens into the curriculum of various disciplines beyond the Biology department like Architecture, Social Work, Nutrition, Chemistry, Art and Urban Planning.

Following a successful pilot year as an official garden program, the gardens are now overseen by the Office of Sustainability, and has hired a Garden Coordinator along with two interns who help with garden expansion, student recruitment and advancing the U's sustainable operations.