Friday, August 28, 2009
In just two seasons, the University’s Campus Garden has donated more than 100 pounds of produce to community members in need.
In light of the milestone and the start of a new semester, volunteers at the garden are hosting a garden party open to the public to celebrate.
Margaret Tran, Derby senior, and Cindy Vu, Wichita sophomore, pick carrots in the Campus Garden Thursday afternoon. Vu and Tran are both coordinators of the EARTH Garden Party which will be held on Sunday from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m
Students and members of the community can stop by the garden party for a tour anytime from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. Sunday. It is located off of Louisiana Street between 13th and 14th Streets.
The party will include live music from at least two local bands, rock painting, sign making and treats from produce grown right in the garden, said Margaret Tran, Derby senior and Campus Garden coordinator with Environmental Action to Revitalize the Heartland, or EARTH. In 2007, EARTH and its student volunteers took over the garden, which was originally founded in 2005 by a KU student.
Tran said that walking through the garden Sunday, students will see a field lined with marigolds and geraniums and rows of produce including peppers, squash, cucumbers and carrots.
She said the garden could grow at least 50 varieties of produce in one season, ranging from tomatoes and cauliflower to strawberries and honeydew – all on a plot of land no bigger than a two-car garage.
What: Campus Garden Party, featuring free food from the garden, live music and arts and crafts
Who: EARTH student volunteers
When: 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. Sunday, Aug. 30
Where: Campus Garden, off Louisiana Street between 13th and 14th streets
“The garden serves as a symbol of sustainability on our campus,” Tran said.
Not only are the plants grown naturally, but the older seeds are also donated from local businesses that would have thrown them away otherwise. Tran said some of the businesses that donated seeds included Sunrise Garden Center and Cottins Hardware and Rental.
The Campus Garden donates its produce to Douglas County’s East Central Kansas Economic Opportunity Corporation, or ECKAN, a distribution center for food pantries and other organizations that provide food to the hungry.
Jeanette Collier, human services coordinator for ECKAN, said the Campus Garden donated items the center didn’t receive otherwise, such as herbs like parsley and basil.
“We appreciate each and every donation we receive because we are seeing far more households than we can serve,” Collier said.
She said the center served 30,000 individuals in 2008.
Between 60 and 80 students volunteered throughout a semester, Tran said, about 15 of whom were fairly regular.
“It’s a great way to meet people, learn how to grow your own food and help the community,” she said.
Volunteers with the garden said they were always in need of more helping hands.
“If you know how to pick a blade of grass, you can add something to the garden,” Omaha, Neb., senior Katelyn McGill said.
McGill has volunteered with the garden for two years and said she often watered and weeded the garden between classes. She said the garden reminded her of home, where she had helped her father with the family garden since she was little.
“It’s nice to have some ownership in that — feeling like you really accomplished something by growing your own food,” she said.
Working with the garden, she said, taught her that anyone could have a garden, even college students.
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