SPC Garden Volunteer Days

SERVE WITH SPC FOR THE HOLIDAYS WITH THE ST. PHILIP'S COLLEGE 100 PERCENT ORGANIC GARDENING TEAM AT ITS NEW AND CENTURY-OLD LOCATION ON NOV. 16 AND DEC. 7

From adults to accompanied children, all who drop in to plant a seed in the “green” and hydroponic lab garden with SPC this month will be able to see the benefits of giving back next year 

The St. Philip’s College 100 Percent Organic Gardening Team invites all to help San Antonio go healthier and greener by sharing knowledge this holiday season as a guest volunteer on Nov. 16 and Dec. 7 in a new working 100 percent organic community garden on a familiar 100-year-old property on San Antonio’s East Side. 

The St. Philip’s College Community garden is located in the Dr. William C. Davis Science Building on the 100-year-old campus of 120-year-old St. Philip’s College at 1801 Martin Luther King Drive. The team that opened this new garden this transition year operated from 2014-2018 in a 12-year-old old garden for a few years under an expired-in-September 2018 land use agreement with Antioch Church known at one time as the East Side Community Garden at 1715 N. Center St., according to the 2018 garden project organizers, college faculty members Kathy White, Paula Englebert and Mary Cottier.

“We had a successful run of civic engagement with the 1715 N. Center St. project, and our last day of service there was in July, so we planted in small garden beds in our college’s primary science building to continue our college’s gardening interests. We no longer have to carpool the team over from the campus into the community, because we are on the campus,” Cottier said. 

The 2018 100 Percent Organic Gardening Team experience includes volunteers planting seeds in hydroponic and growth chambers at the college’s science building to start the seeds growing in time for transplantation in the spring, according to Cottier and White.

“When they get to seedlings, we will have the plants we need for spring, so we don’t have to go and buy seedlings,” Cottier said. “The new garden is still organic. We've taken over a good portion of our [science] building’s raised landscape beds, with tomatoes and green peppers growing and broccoli in the ground---along with a whole mess of carrots. There are also leafy greens like kale or collards being grown,” said Cottier.

“Volunteers don’t put anything down to kill [in the gardening process], so they're always weeding and planting. We clean up and plan to plant for the spring on Nov. 16 and Dec. 7,” said Cottier.

It takes volunteers to both run and grow the operation as a team, and from adults to accompanied children, all who plant a seed in either the traditional or the higher tech lab garden of the college’s science building this month will be able to see the benefits of giving back next year. Volunteers are encouraged to drop by for the holidays and will be welcomed to the team, said White. Accompanied children are also encouraged to join the team for these Friday events.

Here’s a look at the remaining 2018 SPC Community Garden Volunteer Work Day project schedule:

• Nov. 16 | 9 a.m.-noon | Meet at the Parking Lot of the Dr. William C. Davis Science Building, site of the garden. The campus is located at 1801 Martin Luther King Dr.
• Dec. 7 | 9 a.m.-noon | Meet at the Parking Lot of the Dr. William C. Davis Science Building, site of the garden. The campus is located at 1801 Martin Luther King Dr.

To join the conversation on the St. Philip’s College 100 Percent Organic Gardening Team Project, reach out to 2018 faculty member organizers Kathy White and Mary Cottier and Paula Englebert at 210-486-2755, kwhite@tuwabuki.com, 210-486-2682 mcottier@tuwabuki.com, and 210-486-7241, penglebert@tuwabuki.com and visit the college web page on Civic Engagement.