Rad Dish Co-Op’s Garden Doubles as an Organic Classroom

Rad Dish is Temple University’s student run Co-Op, and once you get past the clever name you’ll realize the people behind Rad Dish are quite clever as well.

The Co-Op provides Temple students and faculty with local, sustainable, and organic food five days out of the week. Established over a year and a half ago, Rad Dish has continued to grow in popularity and reputation amongst people in the area. The newest addition to Rad Dish is their garden located right outside their cafe in Ritter Hall, which HR head Anaje Brinkley described as an edible landscape for both humans but most importantly insects.

After sitting down with Anaje, I realized my perception of their garden was skewed. I was under the impression that I’d be seeing fresh produce jutting out of the soil, but Anaje quickly informed me that this garden was used more as a learning tool than a source for produce.

The garden was made over this past summer by Rad Dish members along with the help of the Temple Community Garden Club, with goals to not only provide a pleasant ambience, but also to introduce people to the plants that serve as a staple in our local ecosystem.

Rad Dish holds sessions in the garden informing whoever is interested on the various plants and insects in their little ecosystem, and their importance to the environment around us. Anaje explained how Rad Dish is reaching out to clubs across campus, and schools across Philadelphia in order to spread their message.

Everyone is encouraged to participate in the garden sessions, and in order to get involved you can either show up the Rad Dish Cafe in the annex of Ritter Hall and ask in person, or email Rad Dish showing your interest at info@raddish.coop.

On a college campus, were processed foods and sugars are staples in the average persons diet, ready for purchase around every corner an organization like Rad Dish acts as a saving grace. As they attempt to tackle that issue, they are also aiming to improve our ecosystem with providing the general public with a proper education using their new sustainable garden. Rad Dish is trying to clean up our campus, a rather thankless job, but a very important one. One may say the Co-Op has a lot on their plate but at least it’s all organic.