Since it’s opening in 2009, Santa Clara University’s Forge Garden has transformed the site of a 19th-century blacksmith’s forge into a half-acre educational garden. Today, it offers apprenticeships, practicums, internships, living labs, a farm stand and kitchen.

Through these programs, students can learn about food justice, security and environmental sustainability while gaining hands-on experience in agriculture.

Sustainable Food Systems program manager Becca Nelson oversees programming at the Forge. A Gonzaga University alum, Nelson has a background in agriculture and urban farming, including experience at a Bay Area urban farm and a study abroad program in Costa Rica focused on sustainable development.

Nelson said her experiences shaped her understanding of the relationship between environmental sustainability and community needs.

“We are addressing not just the needs of our climate, not just the needs of our planet, but also the needs of our communities,” said Nelson.

One of the Forge’s initiatives is Nourish Nights, a weekly program that offers students free, plant-based meals prepared using produce grown in the garden.

The Forge operates on a student-centered schedule. On Tuesdays and Thursdays, volunteers weed, cultivate garden beds, sift compost and complete other maintenance tasks. On Fridays, students harvest produce for the farm stand. Each Monday, the Forge team prepares a meal for interested students.

Nelson joined the Forge shortly before the launch of Nourish Nights in 2022, leaving limited time for the team to prepare—but it didn’t stop them from jumping right in, learning through the process.

“We didn’t really have time for a lot of planning because I started, and then two or three weeks later we were just going to launch ourselves into it and learn as we went,” said Nelson.

The new team began collaborating instantly to meet the tight schedule—calculating the required resources, researching University and city policies, preparing the space for hosting and practicing cooking for large groups. As they prepared, a culture was built along the way.

“It took a little while to figure that all out, but I think what it has formed into is a really amazing, self-sustaining program that students really do all the work,” said Nelson.

The intention of Nourish Nights was not only to provide students with access to free, nutritious dinners, but also to promote a return to gathering at a table and sharing a meal as a community. Connecting over food that has been prepared with intention and homegrown ingredients has become an art form as well as an opportunity for meaning for the Forge.

“For our health—mental health and physical health—the more that we….break bread and share a meal around a table, the better,” said Nelson.

Overall, her central mission at the Forge has been to foster the “community aspect,” and cultivate “an open and inclusive space opposed to just research and academia” through the implementation of programs like Nourish Nights.

Awareness of the program has grown through the involvement of student organizations. One of the first collaborative nights at the Forge was the “Gays in the Garden” event co-hosted with the Rainbow Resource Center.

“And that, I think, was a really big turning point because since then we’ve had, each quarter, more and more student groups sign up to be meal leaders,” said Nelson.

Student voices are crucial to the garden’s goal of engagement and connection, and the culture is carefully fostered by the apprentices comprising Forge leadership.

“It’s just a really great way to get involved if you’re at all interested in environmental justice, climate justice, trying to be a place of food sovereignty, trying to provide a space for students on campus to just have access to nutritious food,” said Bianca Schultz ’28, a Forge Garden apprentice. “One of the biggest ways to get involved..with any sort of environmental justice issue is doing outreach with local community members and students.”

Inspired by a love for gardening, Schultz has been volunteering at the Forge since February 2026. This past summer, she completed her internship and began her first year of official work in the garden.

One of Schultz’s main passion projects has been learning about food sovereignty and how to address the concept on a community level.

“Food sovereignty…is that a community has access to their own food production,” said Schultz. “They don’t have to rely on other places to get their food shipped to them…Food deserts are areas, like cities, that do not have as…much access to grocery stores and places to buy fresh, nutritious food.”

Each Forge project takes action to not only improve resource availability at Santa Clara University, but to mobilize the community and involve as many people as possible in sustainable practices at large.

“That’s really special…people seeing where their food comes from…they can pick this up at the farm stand and eat it,” said garden apprentice Olivia Imai ’27, who discovered the Forge at a community event her first year.

As a result of the open access to classes and events, volunteers are directly involved in how their food is grown and prepared. To garden apprentice Benjamin Archuleta ’29, the Forge is an opportunity to “do actual, hand work and then interact with the other apprentices.”

Archuleta has been involved with the garden since the winter quarter of his first year, and finds meaning in watching how his labor contributes to a movement larger than himself.

At the Forge, food sovereignty and insecurities are approached from a place of compassion and momentum.

“Everybody deserves access to food…I think it’s a human right and I think that we should be involved with the things we’re passionate about,” said Schultz.

For the students involved, the garden has become a sacred place free of judgment and full of encouragement to follow their interests.

“There’s this pocket of a garden I feel like is a safe haven for a lot of people,” said garden apprentice Yesenia Carrasco ’27. “You can just come and relax every time the gate is open.”

The Forge provides Santa Clara University with a space to honor the environment through hard work, discussion and good food. Nourish Nights welcome everyone to this space, whether they want to be involved in the center’s sustainability movement or simply enjoy a meal. It is there, around the long dinner tables, that true community is built.