Forge Garden Programs

Program Goals

Educating SCU and surrounding communities by using our gardens as living labs for place-based, interdisciplinary learning.
Building community resilience by produce donation, food education, farm stand operation, and neighborhood collaboration.
Helping to build a just and sustainable food system by utilizing ancestral and innovative, small-scale sustainable agriculture practices.

What is the Forge?

The Center for Sustainability's Forge Garden is a half-acre edible, organic garden that serves as a hub for sustainable food system education. Forge Garden Programs aim to build a just and sustainable food system through education, collaboration, and connectivity, using the garden as a living lab for interdisciplinary learning.

Established in 2008, the garden currently hosts chickens, an apiary, a 400-square-foot greenhouse, a compost center, over 20 fruit trees, over 15,000 square feet of garden beds, an outdoor kitchen, and the 2007 Solar Decathlon House which is utilized as public commons. Visit our history page to learn how the Forge earned its name.

Our garden is certified organic through California Certified Organic Farmers (CCOF).

Open Monday-Friday 8:00 a.m. - 7:00 p.m. and during events

Open Hours

SCU Campus Involvement

Find collaborative inclusive events and programs that foster community, nature, and sustainability.

SCU Campus Involvement

Local Community Involvement

Find events and workshops on gardening, cooking, and sustainable food systems.

Local Community Involvement

Center for Sustainability

The Forge Garden is part of the Center for Sustainability at SCU.

Center for Sustainability

Garden Resources

Check out gardening instructional guides, plant-based recipes, and fun student project ideas!

Garden Resources

Forge History

Learn about the history and milestones of the Forge Garden

Forge History

Map to the Forge

Upcoming Events at the Forge Garden

In the News

Media clips about the Forge Garden Program:

(2024) Forge Garden Manager Rebecca Nelson, Anthropology professor and Center for Sustainability Thought Leader Maia Dedrick, and English professor Amy Lueck received a grant from the Environmental Justice & Common Good Initiative and the Miller Center for Social Entrepreneurship. Their project “Native Plants for Stewardship, Harvest, and Sustainable Use in Ohlone Cultural Projects”. Read more on our Thought Leadership page.
(2023) The Forge Garden became a member of the Urban Grower Network. SCU is proud to be involved as it exemplifies the work we are already doing and how our students (especially our Forge interns and apprentices) are engaging with the local community to make real change.