Three harvests ago, the garden that Caroline Xia tended yielded bushels of fresh, organic greens until well into November.

This year, most of the plots in SAC’s equity garden are barren. And Xia, who leads the Equity Gardeners action group at the Ontario Public Interest Research Group (OPIRG), is banned from the premises.

“The garden has never been a priority,” she said. What’s worse, said Xia, is that the garden’s new keeper has replanted some of the vegetable beds with ornamental flowers.

“They’re perennials, so it means they want them forever,” she said. “They could have kept the perennial vegetables.”

The equity garden was set up in 2002, and run by Xia on a volunteer basis. She received several honoraria from previous SAC administrations for her work. According to SAC, though, the reason for the poor harvest this year is that it took a long time to sort out the garden’s status.

“When I got here two years ago the gardens weren’t in a good state,” said SAC general manager Rick Telfer. So last fall, SAC struck a taskforce to sort out the garden’s role and put out a report. By late spring, SAC acted on the report’s recommendation by looking to hire a part-time gardener. The position was filled in early July.

SAC chairperson Jen Hassum said that Xia did not submit her application on time. (“I have three e-mails as proof that I got it in on time,” Xia shot back during an impromptu visit to The Varsity’s offices.)

“She has a very strong emotional attachment to the garden,” said Telfer, who added that Xia is in no way attached to U of T. “We’ve had a series of very negative experiences with her,” said Telfer.

But her banning had nothing to do with the garden, he said. On several instances this spring, said Telfer, Xia showed up at SAC’s offices and threw tantrums, harassed staff, and accused staff members of racism. After repeated warnings, Telfer said she was banned from the garden. “My feeling is that she needs professional help.”

“That’s a very common charge leveled against people of colour who complain about racism,” responded Xia during an interview at the year’s first OPIRG Equity Gardeners’ meeting yesterday. Xia said she quit her doctoral work in the department of English several years ago, due to the discrimination and racism she encountered there. She would not say how long she has been around the university.

But while her days at SAC’s equity garden may be over, Xia said she will continue to act as a watchdog on SAC food policy. Meanwhile, she has reverted to the growing methods she used when she was part of the so-called Starving Gardeners in 1998. She has been growing chives, basil, and other herbs in containers on the steps outside OPIRG’s offices at 563 Spadina Ave.

“We’ll do whatever we can do to maximize food production,” she said. “Having a land garden is better-but this is better than nothing.”

A half-dozen people turned up to partake in Xia’s cooking. She oversaw the harvesting of basil plants growing in one of the containers, and watched a volunteer transplant some strands of parsley.

“Want some fresh organic food? It’s free,” Xia beckoned passersby, offering them pamphlets.

“I see Caroline as someone who seems vulnerable,” said OPIRG board member Thomas Brown, who dropped by briefly. “She is also outspoken.”

And Brown had his own theory for why SAC banned Xia from the garden.

“She was bringing too many things to light,” he said mysteriously. “She was always at the SAC garden, so she always had an ear to the ground-literally.”