What if there was a place to ease anxiety over climate change, build knowledge and community and get healthier, all at the same time?
Turns out, it already exists at Western: the community garden.
New research led by two fourth-year health sciences students shows the value of the space and has led to changes that expand the garden’s impact.
Rubiga Thanganathan
“Community gardens are super valuable, especially in a university environment, because a university is not just for knowledge cultivation. It’s more than that,” said Rubiga Thanganathan, a co-author of the report.
She said the garden helps build a deeper understanding of sustainability.
“It’s all about working with the environment we’re in. If you are a student or a professor here, this is what you want to be teaching – lifelong sustainability, not just something we do for four or five years.”
Thanganathan and Olivia D’Andrea Brooks teamed up to create their own year-long research project, taking an independent study course to make it happen. A tour from Western’s sustainability office to showcase the many green initiatives on campus sparked the idea. Their research became part of the university’s Campus as a Living Lab program, which now includes 16 different initiatives.
“Prior to that, I’d never heard of the community garden. Walking by, you don’t realize it’s there – you’re powering through to get to class on time,” said D’Andrea Brooks, whose interest was nature-based health interventions.
Olivia D’Andrea Brooks
The garden draws people away from the technology that’s ever-present in their lives and helps them gain confidence in gardening techniques and growing food.
“It’s free and the skills you take away can be huge. It’s a bit of work for a big reward,” she said.
Thanganathan wanted to explore how participating in a community garden might help build capacity and empower people to take further environmental action in their daily lives.
“The garden was a great space that connected both of our interests and allowed us to explore,” she said.
Community gardener feedback
Nestled beside the biology department’s greenhouses, just a quick walk from Middlesex College, the community garden proved to offer incredible benefits for those who scored plots and tended plants.
The students’ research found it helped not just with sharing knowledge of gardening or plant species, but also improved community connections, mental health, food security and motivation to engage in other green activities.
The community garden is a “therapeutic space and a social ecosystem,” according to the final 71-page research report drafted by D’Andrea Brooks and Thanganathan.
Olivia D’Andrea Brooks and Rubiga Thanganathan at the community garden on campus. (Christopher Kindratsky/Western Communications)
Their findings were reviewed by Western Sustainability and used to drive change.
“Analyzing our programs in this way is critical as it enables us to be iterative and continue improving. We love learning from our community and making changes that will improve the experience of participating in sustainability programming,” said Jessica Cordes, engagement coordinator in the Office of Sustainability.
A new handbook – a simple guide to educate newcomers to the community garden, including checklists and planting tips – was also created to convey garden history, the benefits of gardening and other important information.
Garden participants who were interviewed for the research project had all kinds of feedback to share with D’Andrea Brooks and Thanganathan, from the desire for larger plot sizes to calls for seed sharing or easier access to equipment.
Some of the comments they recorded:
“I’m not experienced in growing vegetables so it would be really great to have a mentor, someone who knows what you’re doing.”
“I benefited a lot from working with friends and peers that knew more than me. I was definitely the (person saying), ‘I don’t know anything, but I’ll show up and water it.’”
“Quite often you would sort of bump into other people there, either volunteers or people checking in on their stuff or organizers . . . willing to share tips with you or ask about how things were going, and it was very enjoyable.”
The students made nine recommendations to improve the community garden in future years, centred around structural changes, knowledge and community building.
“Some of our biggest takeaways were around providing more resources and tools for community gardeners,” Cordes said. “Based on the report, we’ve made some changes this year such as supplying gardening tools and watering cans which makes it easier for folks to water the plots that are further from the hose.”
Qualitative research skills key to study
Health sciences professor Lesley Gittings supervised D’Andrea Brooks and Thanganathan in their independent research course. She described both as “superstar students,” whom she taught previously in a climate change course and a qualitative research course.
Lesley Gittings
It was there the pair discovered their passion for research, they said. Gittings’ course, HS3811 Qualitative Health Research in Practice, is designed to help budding researchers understand the value and role of qualitative – and not just quantitative – work. Students design their own research questions, research tools, conduct interviews and write a final report.
“It was incredible to watch Oliva and Rubiga come alive learning about the possibilities, and understanding research can be fun, creative and responsive,” Gittings said.
“The most meaningful and empowering research happens when you collaborate around issues that are important to a community.”
She gave credit to Western’s sustainability team for welcoming and partnering on the research project, and to the students for their hard work and enthusiasm.
Both D’Andrea Brooks and Thanganathan pushed themselves to develop and apply new skills in an undergraduate research project, efforts Gittings called bold and brave.
“My hope with this report is that it can bolster the case for community gardens as a nature-based intervention,” Gittings said.
“We’re undergoing the biggest threat to humanity with climate change, including in relation to health. Eco-distress among youth is one of the biggest burdens, so we need solutions to support young people to cope and encourage them to be pro-environmental.”
D’Andrea Brooks and Thanganathan still plan to publish academic papers based on their research. They both intend to apply to medical school after graduating from Western.
Gittings said their research reinforces the importance of “walking the talk” when it comes to environmental projects.
“A community garden is a space that addresses many of our pressing needs, from a food crisis to energy crisis to disconnection from land and culture. It may not be the biggest or the loudest, but it is one of those everyday things that reminds us of who we are, what we need and what our world needs.”
