Week 1

 

 

Tu 8/28    Course Overview & Introduction to Urban Agriculture

 

 

Th 8/30    The Metabolic Rift and Local Food Systems

 

• John Bellamy Foster. 1999. Marx's Theory of Metabolic Rift: Classical Foundations for Environmental Sociology. American Journal of Sociology 105(2):366-405.  Read pages 373-385 through 2nd paragraph

• Jack Kloppenberg Jr., John Henrickson & G.W. Stevenson. 1996. Coming into the Foodshed. Agriculture and Human Values 13(3):33-42.

 

F 8/31        LAB: Introduction to the UCB Student Organic Garden

 

 

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Week 2

 

 

Tu 9/4        Urban Agriculture in the Developing World

 

• Rene van Veenhuizen. 2006. Introduction. Cities Farming for the Future. RUAF.

• Mike Davis. 2004. Planet of Slums: Urban Involution and the Informal Proletariat. New Left Review 26(2):5-34. (read through p. 27)

 

Video: RUAF, Urban Agriculture

 

Resources:

Structural Adjustment Participatory Review International (SAPRIN)

Reality of Aid Network (see RoA reports)

 

Further Reading:

David Harvey. 2006. A Brief History of Neoliberalism. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Mike Davis. 2006. Planet of Slums. London: Verso.

 

 

Th 9/6        Community Food Security

 

• Serena Unger & Heather Wooten. 2006. Executive Summary. A Food Systems Assessment for Oakland, CA: Towards a Sustainable Food Plan. Oakland Mayor’s Office of Sustainability/UCB.
• Mark Winnie. 2000. Community Food Security: Promoting Food Security and Building Healthy Food Systems. Community Food Security Coalition.

 

F 9/7        LAB: Bed Preparation & Tillage

 

• Albie Miles & Martha Brown (eds). 2003. Unit 1.3: Propagation/Greenhouse Management & Unit 1.2: Tillage and Cultivation. Teaching Organic Farming & Gardening: Resources for Instructors. UCSC Center for Agroecology & Sustainable Food Systems.

 

 

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Week 3

 

 

Tu 9/11    Soil Physical Properties

 

• TOFG, Unit 2.1: Soil Physical Properties.

• Fred Magdoff and Harold van Es. 2000. Introduction and Ch. 1 – 6. Building Soils for Better Crops. Sustainable Agriculture Network Handbook Series Book 4.

 

 

Th 9/13    Soil Chemistry & Ecology

 

• TOFG, Unit 2.2: Soil Chemistry and Fertility.

• Building Soils for Better Crops, Ch. 7.    

 

 

F 9/14    LAB: Transplanting, Direct Seeding, Irrigation

 

 

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Week 4

 

 

Tu 9/18    Plant Plumbing, Water Use & Irrigation

 

• TOFG, Unit 1.5: Irrigation: Principles & Practices.

 

 

Th 9/20    REVIEW

 

 

F 9/21        LAB: Irrigation, Plant Propagation

 

 

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Week 5

 

 

Tu 9/25    Soil Fertility Management (Overview/Mulching/Composting)

 

• Building Soils for Better Crops, Ch. 8, 9 & 12.    

• TOFG, Unit 1.7: Making and Using Compost.

• Christopher J. Starbuck. 2001. Making and Using Compost. Horticultural MU Guide, University Extension, U. of Missouri-Columbia.

 

 

Th 9/27     Soil Fertility Management (Cover Crops/Nutrient Analysis)

 

• Building Soils for Better Crops, Ch. 8, 9 & 10.    

 

 

F 9/28        LAB: Composting & Vermicomposting

 

 

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Week 6

 

 

Tu 10/2     FIELD TRIP: City Slicker Farms (map)

 

 

Th 10/4    Agroecological Principles & Biodiversity   

 

• M.A. Altieri. 2000. Agroecology: Principles and strategies for designing sustainable farming systems

• M.A. Altieri. 1999. The ecological role of biodiversity in Agroecosystems. Agriculture, Ecosystems & Environment 74:19-31.

 

 

F 10/5        LAB: Weed Management

 

• UC Division of Ag & Natural Resources. 2000. Weed Management for Organic Crops. UCANR Publication 7250.

 

 

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Week 7

 

 

Tu 10/9    Biological Control of Insect Pests

 

Guest Lecture: Dr. Clara Ines Nicholls, UCB ESPM/CLAS

 

• Miguel A. Altieri and Clara I. Nicholls w/ Marlene A. Fritz. 2005. Ch. 1 – 4. Manage Insects on Your Farm: A Guide to Ecological Strategies. Sustainable Agriculture Network Handbook Series Book 7.

 

Additional Resources:

 

• ATTRA, Farmscaping

 

 

Th 10/11    Agroecological Disease Management

 

Guest Lecture: Dr. Bob Raabe, Professor Emeritus, ESPM

 

• Preston Sullivan. 2004.  Sustainable Management of Soil-borne Plant Diseases. ATTRA Soil Systems Guide.

• ATTRA, Plant Disease slides

 

 

F 10/12    LAB: Pest Management

 

 

 

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Week 8

 

 

Tu 10/16    Fertility Management & Assessment/Crop Planning

 

NUTRIENT BUDGET ASSIGNMENT (Quiz 3 & 4)

 

Th 10/18    Garden Design

 

Guest Speaker: Christopher Shein, Wildheart Gardens & Merritt College Landscape Horticulture

 

• ATTRA. 2002. Introduction to Permaculture: Concepts and Resources. 

 

 

F 10/19    LAB: Crop Planning

• Using the sowing schedule
• Vegetable sowing schedule

 

 

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Week 9

 

 

Tu 10/23    MIDTERM Review & Distribution

 

• Midterm Review with key concepts
• Midterm for download

 

       Urban Livestock

 

• Rick & Gail Luttmann. 1976. Chickens in Your Backyard: A Beginner's Guide. Emmaus, PA: Rodale Press. Ch. 1-6, 8-9, 14-15.

 

 

Th 10/25    FIELD TRIP: Berkeley Youth Alternatives (BYA), (map)

 

• Laura Lawson. 2005. City Bountiful. Ch. 5: A Look at Gardens Today (pp. 264-286)

 

 

F 10/26    LAB

 

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Week 10

 

 

Tu 10/30  FIELD TRIP: Spiral Gardens and/or community garden (map)

 

 

Th 11/1    MIDTERM DUE by 3:30PM in 137 Mulford

 

                Extension & Education

 

FIELD TRIP: Berkeley Technical Academy (map)

 

Guest Speaker: Justin Watkins, UC Cooperative Extension

 

• Emily Ozer. 2005. The Effects of School Gardens on Students and Schools: Conceptualization and Considerations for Maximizing Healthy Development.Health Education & Behavior 34(6):846-863.
• Graham & Zidenberg-Cherr. 2005. CA Teachers Perceive School Gardens as an Effective Nutritional Tool to Promote Healthy Eating Habits. Journal of the American Dietetic Association 105(11):1797-1800.

 

F 11/2        LAB

 

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Week 11

 

 

Tu 11/6   Urban Agriculture and Public Health

 

Guest Speaker: Eddy Jara, UCB School of Public Health

 

• Jane Dixon et al. 2007. The Health Equity Dimensions of Urban Food Systems. The Health Equity Dimensions of Urban Food Systems. Journal of Urban Health 84(1):188-129.

• RUAF Fact Sheet. Urban Agriculture, Food Security and Nutrition.

 

 

Th 11/8    FIELD TRIP: MLK Middle School Edible Schoolyard (map)

 

 

F 11/9        LAB

 

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Week 12

 

 

Tu 11/13    Urban Pollinators

 

Guest Speaker: Prof. Gordon Franke

 

• Urban Bee Gardens website

 

 

Th 11/15    Action Research

 

                  Small group work to identify actors in local food systems, and to develop questions for action research

 

                  Grantwriting     

 

Reference Material:

• John O'del. 2001. Grants and Grant Proposal Writing.

 

F 11/16    LAB

 

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Week 13

 

 

Tu 11/20    Regionalism & Food System Localization

 

 

GUEST DISCUSSION PANEL:

• Navina Khanna, UC Cooperative Extension Alameda County
• Rob Thayer, UC Davis Landscape Architecture
• David Roach, Mo' Better Food

 

Readings:

• Patricia Allen. 2004. Together at the Table: Sustainability and Sustenance in the American Agrifood System. University Park: Pennsylvania State University Press. Ch. 7. Politics of Complacency? Rethinking Food-System Localization (pp. 165-180)

 

Th 11/22    NO CLASS (Thanksgiving)

 

F 11/23    NO LAB (Thanksgiving)

 

 

 

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Week 14

 

 

Tu 11/27    WORK DAY IN GARDEN

 

 

Th 11/29    REPORTING BACK ON ACTION RESEARCH

 

 

F 11/30    NO LAB: WORK ON PROJECTS IN THE GARDEN

 

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Week 15

 

 

Tu 12/4    FINAL PROJECT PRESENTATIONS IN GARDEN

 

 

Th 12/6    Presentation of Oxford Tract Broccoli Research, Course Evaluation, Final Discussion

 

 

F 12/7      BROCCTAIL PARTY IN THE GARDEN @ 3PM!!!