Campus Community Garden
The community garden on campus is home to a variety of fruits and veggies tenderly sown and nutured by some of our very own community members. We are passionate about sustainable agriculture and providing the campus community with fresh, organic produce. Our student-run garden is dedicated to promoting healthy living, environmental stewardship, and community engagement.
The UCM campus garden was formed by master gardener De Ette Silbaugh. The original garden idea stems back to 2010 when a group of students and members of the Sustainable Engineers decided the campus needed a garden to support UC Merced’s ‘green sustainable image’. Since then the garden has gone through many location changes but is now at peace located right on Rancher’s Road. The garden is totally student supported and maintained and our current mission is providing harvests to the campus food bank. The garden is looking for new space to triple its size and ability to provide much more variety and quantity of fresh produce for the entire campus as it grows. De Ette is also actively seeking grants to bring a fruit orchard to the campus for all to enjoy.
Our Initiative
Our garden's main goal is to help fight food insecurity on campus by providing students access to fresh produce. We provide everything from tea leaves, herbs for cooking, and fruits or veggies for UC students to enjoy. Along with the campus garden providing fresh produce and reducing food insecurity, they also offer volunteer opportunities. As a volunteer you help with weeding, planting, maintaining the watering system, and overall maintenance of the garden. Eating fresh, locally grown produce is not only healthy but helps reduce your carbon footprint!
What to Expect at the Campus Garden
How to Volunteer at the Garden
Getting involved in the campus garden is a fantastic way to destress and contribute to campus efforts at the same time. There are volunteer opportunities every Friday from 9:00am - 10:30am which variable hours depending on weather conditions. Feel free to drop by our garden on Rancher's Road behind Valley Terraces and next to Half Dome on campus to start getting involved!
Meet Our Team
De Ette Silbaugh
Master Gardener
De Ette Silbaugh is the faculty adviser for the UC Merced Campus Garden. She has been teaching in the Merritt Writing Program since Fall 2008 and in 2014, she completed her Master Gardener Training. She is passionate about the UCM garden and hopes to expand it for future students, as well as bring fruit tree orchards to campus so students have more accessible foods.
Carla Villasenor
Undergraduate
Hi everyone, My Name is Carla Villasenor-Lopez. I am a fourth year from Richmond, CA studying psychology here at UC Merced. I am one of the interns in charge of managing the campus garden and our volunteers on Friday mornings. I am also in charge of making the weekly newsletter for our garden and making our flyers as well as planning events and tabling with the office of sustainability.
Christian Boyd
Undergraduate
