By Michael Bernaschina, Staff Writer
The Susquehanna Campus Garden, located near W. Sassafras Street and Airtower Road, is a big contributor to the local community, though not many students are aware of it’s existence on campus.
The garden spans over 1600 square feet and includes 25 individual plots. Students and faculty are able to take care of their own garden plot through the campus garden. All that is needed to start the process is to contact one of the co-coordinators.
The campus garden began as a community garden before being flooded and subsequently rebuilt to be used by the campus. Aside from its faculty supervisors, the garden is entirely student operated.
The three students in charge of the garden are senior ecology major Jacqui Meredith, junior ecology major David Huntzberry, and junior graphic design major Hannah Johnston, all of whom have been working at the garden since their respective freshmen years.
“The campus garden, to me, just seemed like a project,” said Meredith on why working at the garden appealed to her. “It was something that I could work on and see results, and really leave a mark on campus. I’m leaving something behind, and that was important.”
Something the garden heavily prioritizes is being natural in the way it operates. This includes using recycled water for the beds, as well as not using pesticides or insecticides. The garden also makes its own compost through natural means, including using food scraps from the dining hall.
“We get help from the school and we put that stuff in our compost, and then that compost goes into our beds,” Johnston said.
The garden has also worked with and donated food to many community partners, including Selinsgrove Senior Center, Meals for Seals, St. Pius X Church, and Haven Ministries.
This past year, the campus garden donated 800 pounds of produce and so far this year they’re already up to 600 pounds. This year, they’ve also installed around 30 raised beds and hope to do another 30 or so by the end of the fall.
In an article released by the Campus garden in 2016, the garden had yielded over 1,000 pounds of food in three years.
“Everything is sustainably grown and all of the produce that we grow goes to community partners, to provide access to people in the community who don’t have the money or the means to acquire fresh produce,” Meredith said.
Despite the success they’ve had and their level of involvement in the community, the campus garden still remains a relatively lesser known part of campus life, something that the three heads would like to see change.
“It was something that should have been a staple of our school, and it wasn’t as fully as I think it could have been, so coming in and building it up, and getting more students aware that we have a campus garden,” Johnston said.
“I think that was a big thing for me,” she added. “Getting students aware that we have a garden, what we do, and how big of an impact we can have on the community.”
“Some people who go to school here have never grown anything in their live, and it’s great to see them come out here and learn about it and educate people on where their food comes from,” Meredith said.
Recently, the garden held a fall harvest party, where students came to the garden and picked vegetables for donation. Last week, the garden also held an open house, where faculty, staff, and students were able to see the garden and enjoy food and refreshments.
The event not only showcased the garden, but was advertising for upcoming events sponsored by the Center for Environmental Education and Research.
An event is currently being planned where students can make and can their own apple sauce, though no date has been set as of yet.
“I hope to see the garden become more of a student hot spot,” Johnston said. “It’s one of the greenest spaces on campus, so I hope to see more students and clubs and organizations coming down and using the space.”
The campus garden has an Instagram page, @susqugarden, where students can go to follow the garden’s activities. On Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays from 4:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m., the garden offers open hours to those willing to come by and help out on whatever they might be doing there that day.
Even if you are busy during the regular volunteer hours, the co-coordinators do not want you to be discouraged. The campus garden will work with any perspective volunteer on hours on the weekend if they can not make regular hours.
You can even organize group volunteer shifts, but the staff ask that you e-mail them at least 24 hours a head of time.
“When you come down to the garden, you don’t always have to be in the dirt doing manual labor,” Meredith said. “You can come down, hang out, just enjoy the space, and get away from campus for a while.”