01. plant materials test kitchen
Plant Materials Test Kitchen is a research stream at LEAF with a focus on exploring natural materials that can be grown, harvested, composted and regenerated, while treating plants ethically and considering their lives and well-being as we work.
3. sharing foodways
Sharing Foodways is a design research project that explores commensality – the ways people come together to make and eat food. Inspired by the lineage and methodology of Community Kitchens, our goal is to cultivate the conditions for relational learning and interdisciplinary dialogue on topics such as cultural foodways, food sovereignty and food justice.
leaf affiliated projects include:
The Creative Food Research Collaboratory
02. leaf seed bank
The Kitchen & Lab infrastructure
includes a freezer dedicated to long term storage of plant seeds. We are currently collecting seeds for artists materials and dye plants, as well as local, heirloom and rare varieties of food plants. Get in touch if you have any questions, requests or seeds to share!
4. roots union garden
Roots Union Garden is a co-operatively run garden on the fourth-floor patio at ECU down the hall from the LEAF Kitchen & Lab, where ECU community members grow vegetables, flowers, and dye plants for the enjoyment and use of all- including local pollinators. The LEAF team has been collaborating with the ECU Library to maintain and improve the Garden for the 2026 season and the future, growing and tending plants, improving the beds and planning future programming such as workshops and events to take place there, while observing and nurturing plant and insect biodiversity. If you are part of the ECU community and want to garden with us or learn more: