The Center for History and Culture
Seed Bank
Providing Access to Historical Seeds
Plant seeds have a history. At TCC, we built a gardening complex with a permaculture pathway, community garden plots, and an aquaponics system inside a greenhouse where we grow food and raise fish. The seeds we harvest from this gardening complex and saved and stored at the Center for History and Culture, where students can come take some to plant for themselves and learn about regenerative gardening practices, how to heal the soil, different types of gardening techniques, forms of composting, and the cultural history behind the people who have grown these places before us.
Our motto is "Grow food, not lawns," and we encourage students to become active gardeners in the spaces around them at the homes.
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Trail of Tears Beans
This is a variety of beans known as the Cherokee Trail of Tears because the Cherokee Indians took them with them during the deadly march out of their homeland they were forced to endure by the US government in 1838. We grow them on campus at our garden complex. You can learn more about this bean on this website if you are interested, and we would be more than happy to share some with you if you want to grow your own.
The Gardens at Southeast
At TCC Southeast, students can participate in various forms of gardening through our Permaculture Project that contains a greenhouse with an aquaponics system inside, a permaculture pathway with dozens of edible plants growing, and a compost station to recycle food and plant waste.
A Persian Melon
The Toothache Plant
Rosemary
Indian Snake Cucumbers
The Aquaponics System
Aquaponics is an innovative form of gardening that has a long history spanning much earlier than the term itself, which was coined in the 1980s.
More Plants Inside the Greenhouse
A Papaya Tree with Thai Basil
An Avocado Plant
The Composting Station
At the Center, we house small composting bins that students can take home and fill up with food waste, which we then take to our composting station out in the gardens. We also hold composting classes so students can learn how to heal the soil and divert food waste from making its way to the landfill.
Let’s Grow Together
Interested in becoming a gardener? Get in touch so we can start working together.
