The Pacific Garden Program, with its interactive edible gardens, has an educational mission; its purpose is not to grow produce, but to show how produce is grown. We bring together people of all generations to grow food, learn to be more responsible consumers of food, have an enriching encounter with nature, and build community in a common space.

Our main beneficiaries are students at University of the Pacific - our interactive gardens are meant to be experiential learning spaces where students can connect classroom learning to hands-on learning, and we expect the lessons to go far beyond the basics of food growing. 

 

 

 

Robb Garden
Our Gardens
Ted & Chris Robb Garden

Thanks to the Ted and Chris Robb Garden, organic produce is grown right on Pacific's Stockton Campus and made available to students, local community members, faculty and staff. The Robb Garden has produce throughout the fall, spring and summer. Timing of crop plantings and harvests are synchronized with the semesters so students can be involved as much as possible.

The idea for a campus food garden on Pacific's Stockton Campus first arose from former Pacific students Fiona Kelly ’08 and Vinny Johl ‘10. Their vision was made possible by a gift from former Pacific Regent Walter Robb, who, at the time, was CEO of Whole Foods.
 

Our Gardens
Bon Appétit Native Plant Garden

The Pacific Garden Program partners with Pacific's Grounds Department to tend the Bon Appétit Native Plant Garden, which was established on the Stockton Campus in 2015. Seventy varieties of California native plants and rock specimens were selected by Pacific faculty members in the biological and geosciences departments. The garden serves as a learning laboratory for students to explore their interconnectedness with the environment.

native plant garden
Sacramento garden
Our Gardens
The Community Garden in Sacramento

The Community Garden was created and is maintained primarily by the students studying in various programs on Pacific's Sacramento Campus. It came about in 2010 when a coalition of students in the McGeorge School of Law's Environmental Law Society became interested in establishing a community garden. Today, any member of the Sacramento Campus community can tend to a section of their own or assist with overall upkeep and harvesting.

Apply for a student job as a Robb Garden Intern - we hire for the academic year and also for the summer sessions. Positions are posted on Handshake.

Become a registered volunteer and join our Grow Team. If you are interested, let us know by email to SustainingPacific@pacific.edu. You will be contacted by our Volunteer Coordinator, who will arrange an appointment for you to go through our orientation and registration process (which takes about an hour). From then on, you will be on our list for all volunteering activities.

Registered Volunteers can be trained to work independently on our Robb Garden Food Security Project. We've set aside a section of the garden exclusively for raising vegetables to be donated to local charities addressing food insecurity in our community. Volunteers work collaboratively with one another to prepare the beds, start seeds, plant seedlings, take care of weeding and pest control, and harvest the produce for donation.

Make the garden part of your course curriculum. If you would like to do a project in the garden to earn Research (197) or Internship (187) credits for your major, get in touch and we can help arrange it. Or just use the garden to do a short-term project for a class. Ask your professor to arrange a class trip to the garden!