HS401, Spring 2012-16, Solar Greenhouse, UNC Campus Community Garden, Chapel Hill, NC, resulted in a $2,500 value for design and $25,000 value for landscape construction
The Carolina Campus Community Garden (CCCG) grows vegetables and fruit so that all employees have access to fresh, sustainably grown produce through the shared efforts of staff, students, faculty, and local residents, and to serve as a learning community for developing gardening skills, healthy living, social responsibility, and interdisciplinary academic pursuits. Each week, fresh produce from the garden is provided to the university janitorial staff free of charge. 25% of the janitorial staff are Burmese refugees. The garden attempts to grow to produce appropriate to their diet.
CCCG is a partnership between the North Carolina Botanical Garden, the UNC Center for Health Promotion and Disease Prevention, and the UNC Employee Forum. In addition volunteers from the local community, help make this garden a success. Other uses on the site include growing mushrooms, beekeeping, and year-round gardening in tunnels.
CCCG director Claire Lorch asked us to help with the design of a solar greenhouse. The student’s specific task was to choose a site and produce preliminary designs for an 8’ x 10’ passive solar greenhouse that can be built by a team of students in the future.
The greenhouse is used for potting plants and growing seedlings, starting in February, when the heat is needed, to get an early start on the garden, and also in late August and early September for the fall crops, when coolness is needed. Starting seedlings requires heat, not sunlight. Other uses will include curing sweet potatoes; a teaching facility for university and high school students; storing flats and other seedling growing materials and tools; outside storage for garden rakes and hoes.
Student drawings were used by Ms. Lorch and architect, Philp Szostak and his team to develop construction documents, procure approvals, and build the solar greenhouse in 2017.
Read more about the project by UNC Sustainability, The Carolina Campus Community Garden Turns Greener, May 10, 2017, Three Zeros.