Welcome to the Pitzer Student Garden!
An Ecological and Educational Haven
About the Garden:
Pitzer College’s Student Garden has deep roots, dating back to 1994 when the late Professor John Rodman led the charge to convert the 12,000-square-foot Mead Hall parking lot into a garden with fruit trees, vegetables, and of course, a coop for Pitzer’s chickens-in-residence. Starting with a Community Garden Day, the asphalt was jackhammered and removed, then replaced with “The Farm Project,” an organic garden and orchard. The garden has been tended to and maintained by students ever since, and the chicken coop has been a favorite place for the community to visit and a popular Admission tour stop. Over the years, some of the garden had become fallow, and the absence of students from March 2020 to August 2021 due to the pandemic had not been kind to the space.
Fast forward to today: The Student Garden has sprung back to life, thanks to a community-wide effort and the support of a fundraising campaign for the Student Garden Revitalization Project launched on August 20, 2021. The vision for the revitalized student garden was developed by students, staff, faculty, and offices across campus, ranging from the Student Garden Club to the Grove House and Robert Redford Conservancy staff to Pitzer’s Office of Facilities and Campus Services. With support from the Office of College Advancement and the Student Garden Fund, the student garden has new equipment, a more spacious chicken coop, and a Chicken Cam.
Mission Statement:
Welcome to Pitzer’s Sustainable Student Garden and Chicken Coop, where we are learning together how to use regenerative farming and agroecology techniques to prioritize soil health. The garden space is a pesticide and GMO-free haven for interdisciplinary experiential learning. Our student-run garden projects include caring for chickens, recycling nutrients with our compost, and growing fresh produce for our community. We believe that working with the earth can promote communal healing and wellness and we actively strive to embody Pitzer’s core values in our practices and partnerships. Our goal is to cultivate resilient food systems and use our garden as a space to advocate for healthy, accessible, and culturally relevant food for all people. We are extremely excited to be back in this space and are looking forward to transforming our garden with you. Come Grow with Us!
