CCAT courses are back this spring. One of the classes on the roster this semester is Organic Gardening. In this one-unit course, students will learn the basics of gardening. Students grow their plots in the campus community garden using sustainable techniques.
Since the pandemic disrupted CCAT operations, the course has not been offered. Now, the course has returned, and students have a lot of work ahead of them. Ben Cross is a political science major who’s more than excited to be back in the Buckhouse.
“I’ve got lots of passion for this, and it’s an amazing area to learn it,” Cross said. “If there is a place I’d want to take this class, it’s at Humboldt. I want to have my garden and tend to it with confidence.”
Julia Simmons is the student instructor of ENST 123.
“We’re teaching the basics of what goes into gardening,” Simmons said. “I want to focus on how plants affect each other. Some plants have nitrogen-fixing properties and support other plants in the soil. I want to teach students to cultivate ecology and grow food forests.”
Food forests are a farming technique that mimics the natural patterns found in ecosystems. Growing plants interact with each other in a network of reciprocal relationships. The result is healthy biodiversity, nutrient-rich soils, and a sustainable food source.
Agroecologic farming methods have the potential to localize food systems and make them more efficient. A 2018 study titled “Permaculture—Scientific Evidence of Principles for the Agroecological Design of Farming Systems” by the EU Institute for Environmental Science establishes environmental damages caused by industrial agriculture. Monoculture causes biodiversity loss, soil degradation, and alteration of biogeochemical cycles and greenhouse gas emissions. The study cited food forests to remedy the damage done by monoculture.
Monoculture is the standard agricultural practice in the United States. Crops are planted in rows, where they can be most efficiently harvested by machine. Though it is convenient for machinery, this practice does not benefit plants or local ecologies. Without ecological support and context, isolated crops require fertilizers and pesticides to grow.
Plants can fend off pests and fertilize each other in food forests. One example Simmons describes is the three sisters. This pairing of beans, squash and corn, comes from traditional ecologic knowledge.
“They grow really well together, and they use each other to grow well,” Simmons said. “The beans provide nitrogen for the other plants to grow. Ground cover [from the squash leaves] keeps weeds from growing.” The tallest sister, corn, acts as a trellis for the beans to climb up. Growing together, they protect each other and help one another flourish.
“We’re going to be working in the community garden. We’ll design food forests with their own ecologic networks,” Simmons said. “I want anybody to be able to garden, and everyone should garden.”
CCAT plans to keep pigs on campus to reduce food waste
Humboldt State University’s Campus Center for Appropriate Technology plans to house two pigs on campus as soon as next week.
CCAT will loan the pigs from the Tule Fog Farm in Arcata for the duration of the fall semester. CCAT plans to feed the pigs food waste from HSU’s J dining hall.
Jacob Gellatly, environmental resources engineering major and former CCAT Co-Director, helped lead the project from concept to reality.
“We want to show how animals can be raised in a residential environment, and how you can use urban byproducts such as food waste to raise animals in an urban setting,” Gellatly said.
EnvironmentalRresource Engineering majors Jacob Gellatly (right) and Kong Vang (left) prepare a log on Sept. 6 to be used for the roof of a pig pen. | Photo by James Wilde
The plan to house the pigs began last fall when students in the CCAT Student Club vocalized interest in keeping animals on campus. CCAT contacted Shail Pec-Crouse from the Tule Fog Farm in Arcata. Pec-Crouse recommended pigs as the most viable animal.
“The easiest animal for us to raise would be pigs,” Gellatly said. “The reasoning for that is—a big thing is predators. So it’s a lot harder for something to come and get a hold of a pig as opposed to a chicken.”
As part of their plan, CCAT realized they could feed the pigs food waste from the J. While CCAT couldn’t feed the pigs food thrown away by customers of the J, CCAT could feed the pigs pre-consumer waste, such as food trimmings or spoiled foods not suitable for people.
“Another goal with the project was how can we divert food waste on campus,” Gellatly said. “And with that we can feed almost, and in some cases, their entire diet from food waste that’s at the school here.”
Once CCAT decided to loan the pigs from the Tule Fog Farm it needed approval from HSU’s Associated Students, Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee, Facilities Management, Risk Management and an environmental health and safety specialist.
The pig pen-in-progress on Sept. 6. CCAT plans to house two pigs in the pen for the duration of the fall semester. | Photo by James Wilde
Humboldt State’s IACUC reviews the use of animals on campus to ensure the animals are treated humanely under the requirements of federal and state law. College of Natural Resources Associate Dean Rick Zechman, who chairs IACUC, said the IACUC proactively reviews and inspects over 100 animal-involved projects on campus each year.
“There’s varying kinds of emotional feelings about the use of animals, and that’s respected and honored in the system of review,” Zechman said. “And that’s why the Animal Welfare Act was developed, to prevent mistreatment of animals. And I think, you know, in our committee, that’s sort of our first principle.”
While Zechman could not comment on the details of CCAT’s proposal, which is still pending, CCAT has worked over the last year to assuage concerns raised by various HSU faculty.
CCAT started by building a pig pen out of reclaimed wood from a local logging operation in Fieldbrook. CCAT has since integrated plans for a roof to prevent flooding of the pen and security to prevent people from getting harmed by the pigs.
In the long run, Gellatly hopes the project might convince the University to keep animals around for good.
“Big picture, I would like the school to see this and see, with what we’re having to deal with—getting rid of all this food—we could be raising meat for the school and have locally-produced meat with a byproduct of our current dining system,” Gellatly said.
Environmental Rresource Engineering majors Jacob Gellatly (right) and Kong Vang (left) working with a log for the pen. | Photo by James Wilde
CCAT’s plan to house pigs has only recently become known to the wider HSU campus. Saraí Escalante, psychology graduate student and president of HSU’s Vegan Club, sees the value of reducing food waste but wonders about the sustainability of the project.
“I think the underlying problem is that we see them as a convenience, as objects, so we see them as a tool to help us fix a problem or make our problems or our lives easier,” Escalante said. “And from a sustainability point of view, you still waste a lot of water in all of the slaughter process and the cleaning up of the meat. In that way, it wouldn’t be sustainable.”
Escalante said she’s considering starting a fundraiser to purchase the pigs and send them to a sanctuary instead of a slaughterhouse. However, Escalante said she plans to talk with CCAT to exchange thoughts, as she does like the idea of reducing food waste on campus.
Gellatly, for his part, noted that the current plan as registered with Tule Fog Farm and IACUC is for CCAT to house the pigs only for the rest of the semester.
“I think it’s, in theory, possible for them to buy the animals from the farmer if that’s something they’re inclined to do,” Gellatly said. “But, as far as our scope goes with the IACUC, once the project’s done, we’re taking the animals back to the farm and that’s where it ends for us.”
The project’s beginnings are dependent on approval from IACUC, but the pigs could arrive at CCAT as early as the week of Sept. 8 through 14.
Margaret Peck, a Biology major with an emphasis in ecology and evolution, moved to Humboldt this past June. Photo credit: Kyra Skylark
Margaret Peck, a Biology major with an emphasis in Ecology and Evolution, moved to Humboldt this past June. While drawn to the school’s Science department, Peck found great value in a class outside her major.
“My Native American Studies course, I want to go into land management and a lot of that is working with the tribes of an area to get them back on the land,” said Peck. “To give the land back to them and have a kind of co-management. So I’m learning a lot of techniques to better understand where they are coming from and learn more about their history. So much of their history is not actually taught to us in our education or if it is taught to us, it is not anything remotely true or factual about what actually happened to them.”
Learning history and communication skills in addition to her core science classes helps prepare Peck for possible career opportunities in the future.
“I wanna help get people on the land and I really just want to be outside, that’s where I’m happiest,” said Peck.
Darrian Francki, a second year Forestry major with a concentration in Wildfire has changed his original goal since taking a variety of classes here at HSU. Photo credit: Kyra Skylark
Darrian Francki, a second-year Forestry major with a concentration in Wildfire has changed his original goal since taking a variety of classes here at HSU.
“When I first started at HSU I was thinking more of [a career in] national parks, but now that I’ve learned more, I’m open to anything within my major,” said Darrian Francki. “Whatever comes my way.”
Cindy Luke, an Environmental Science and Management major just started her second semester. Photo credit: Kyra Skylark
Cindy Luke, an Environmental Science and Management major just started her second semester.
“What brought me here was knowing that this was such a good place to be for environmental studies,” said Cindy Luke.
Focusing specifically on Environmental Education and Interpretation, Luke hopes to teach individuals of all ages the value of being outside in nature.
“Teaching all people in general, it’s important to start when they are younger, but it’s also important to know that they don’t stop learning,” said Luke.
Luke is excited to be apart of the HSU community,
“I have always loved the outdoors,” said Luke. “I was a single mom, so I went into accounting and business, payroll, because I already had an associate’s there. But I’ve always wanted to be outdoors and I’ve always wanted to share that love.”
Conrad Stielau, a Forestry major in his second year is stoked to be going to school in the redwoods. Photo credit: Kyra Skylark
Conrad Stielau, a Forestry major in his second year is stoked to be going to school in the redwoods.
“It’s the Harvard of Forestry colleges,” said Conrad Stielau. “I’m a Forestry nerd, I deeply care about the trees, and there’s not a better place to learn.”
Focusing on Wildland Fire Management within the Forestry concentration, Stielau is loving learning tools applicable for his future career.
“In my Fire Ecology class, we’re understanding fire regimes,” said Stielau. “Basically how fire suppression in the United States has led us to the problem that we are in now, which is why we have more expensive wildfires and more severe wildfires every year.
Stielau is enjoying all of his classes more than he anticipated.
“Natural Resource Conservation is very cool, J. Dunks the man,” said Stielau.
Stielau hopes to use what he leans at HSU to improve the current system.
“I want to fix the US Forest Service,” said Stielau. “Basically fix America’s forests. I’m a younger generation of educated people in Natural Resource Science, all the people who have been making decisions in the last hundred years are old men. They don’t understand, they don’t think the same way. They still use plastic water bottles or they still drive their car half a block to work, they just don’t understand our sustainability mission.”
Humboldt State’s commitment to environmental awareness and sustainability is what draws many students to the university, and they carry that after they graduate.
“To bring a young fresh idea to it, a person like me who gives a shit– I give a lot of shits–it’s something I care about, I’m deeply passionate about Forestry,” said Stielau.
With the start of the new semester upon us, students like senior Environmental Science major Kelcey Hein, strive for continued success during their time here at HSU without any added stress.
“This year I want to enjoy the classes and appreciate what knowledge comes out of them without stressing out more than I have to,” said Hein.
One way she plans to stress less is through her study methods. According to Hein, she only uses a quality pen and notebook because it is more motivating for her to have clean and fluid notes that she knows she’ll review and refer back to later.
Quality notes are one tip HSU Alum Mary Osteen would give for student success, though that’s not the only one.
Osteen, who graduated in 2004 with a degree in Political Science, said that it’s important for students to get to know and build a relationship with their professors.
“Don’t remain a name on a paper, go the distance to build a relationship with each professor because education, to be deeply meaningful, is personal.” said Osteen.
A statement recent Psychology graduate Dezi Villagomez would agree with.
Villagomez said it truly pays off to go to your professor’s office hours, even though it may be a little terrifying.
Dezi Villagomez after graduation
“They are here to help you and your needs,” Villagomez said, “go to them for advice, homework questions, or even academic and career advice.”
Though professors aren’t the only resources on campus for students, Villagomez was one of many students who took use of the school libraries services.
The libraries services include research help, checking out books, using computers and printers, reserving a study room and different skills workshops among others.
It’s library resources like this that can help keep students focused on their classes and study sessions. Whether you are studying with a group or by yourself, our alums advise to not procrastinate, study a little everyday and not wait until Sunday.
Tarah Moleski, environmental management and protection major in the environmental planning option. Photo by Claire Roth
Tarah Moleski is originally from Sacramento and is an environmental management and protection major in the environmental planning option.
Moleski’s choice of major stems from her interest in multiple fields of study.
“I chose my major because I was switching from psychology and was learning a lot about the environment and this one really spoke to me,” Moleski said. “My emphasis is policy and I figure that was the only way to make changes in this world. I’m not too sure about that now.”
As for the future, Moleski plans to take a break from academics to see what the outside world has in store.
“I’ve been in school since birth basically, I’m tired of it,” Moleski said. “ I’m going to take some time for myself and travel, but then eventually, I want a federal job somewhere trying to plan for either wildland conservation or maybe sustainable transportation.”
Jett Hagerty, environmental science major in the ecological restoration option. Photo courtesy of Jett Hagerty
Jett Hagerty is from Placerville, California and is majoring in environmental science under the ecological restoration option.
Even before attending HSU, Hagerty always felt an attachment to the natural world.
“I choose my major because I’ve had a strong connection to the outdoors my whole life and grew up on a beautiful watershed near Lake Tahoe that I’ve been passionate to protect,” Hagerty said. “I want to mainly leave the most positive footprint I can with my life and do something that protects what’s truly important.”
Following graduation from HSU, Hagerty wants to take up hands-on work involving the environment.
“I’m thinking that I can see myself being a ranger for a while or working in sustainable fisheries,” Hagerty said.
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