Matadors Pitch In to Plant Coffee Beans on Campus

  • Group of people dig holes in the CSUN Orange Grove

    Students, alumni and faculty members prepare the holes for 14 different varieties of coffee bean plants in the CSUN Orange Grove, March 4, 2023. Volunteers included Mario Giraldo, professor of geography (center, left in red flannel shirt) and Charles Humphrey (center), who serves on the CSUN Alumni Association Board of Directors. Photo by Sonia Gurrola.

  • Paulin McClain kneels on ground by several coffee plants in containers

    Alumni Association board member Paulin McClain gets ready for the Day of Planting in the CSUN Orange Grove, March 4, 2023. Photo by Sonia Gurrola.

  • CSUN Alumni Association President Felicia Conlan is ready for planting season! Volunteers made up of alumni, students and faculty planted more than 30 coffee bean plants. Photo by Sonia Gurrola.

  • Mario Giraldo, geography professor (left) and Jesse Wohtal, a California Climate Action Corps (CCAC) fellow for the Institute of Sustainability dig in for planting season-- in this case, 14 varieties of coffee bean plants. Photo by Sonia Gurrola.

About 20 Matadors gathered under cloudy (but luckily not rainy!) skies in CSUN’s Orange Grove on a Saturday morning to dig in the dirt, plant some plants and talk about CSUN’s sustainability efforts.

CSUN’s Alumni Association partnered with CSUN’s Institute of Sustainability for the event. Alumni Association President Felicia Conlan ’09 (M.S., Communicative Disorders/Teaching Credential), Ed.D. ’17 (Educational Leadership and Policy Studies) along with students, faculty and staff members donned gloves and grabbed shovels on March 4 to plant 14 different varieties of coffee bean plants. This “test crop” will determine how well the plants grow in campus soil. Most coffee varieties take three to four years to bear fruit– so stay tuned! Event organizers said this is also an opportunity to practice sustainable agriculture, featuring organic methods, low irrigation needs and lots of compost and mulch.

Together, participants planted more than 30 plants. Check out the activities from the day in photos.

, , , ,