Gardening can be a great way to spend time in the great outdoors, tending to something that will eventually be eaten and help the environment. NVU-Johnson has helped those green-thumbed individuals achieve this release for more than a decade through the community garden beds near the campus apartments.
This joint project is done through the NVU-Johnson Garden Club and the Environmental Club. The original title of the group was Green Solutions, but was later changed to The Green Team, which it remains today.
Russ Weis, academic advisor and faculty advisor to the Green Team, has been with the gardening community since he arrived at NVU-J in the early 2000’s.
“The garden, being a co-sponsored project of the club, was something I was glad to assist with, and being a home gardener myself, I’m still glad to help it out to this day,” Weis said. “It’s a wonderful campus resource and community resource as well. In fact, under the amazing stewardship of one of our past students, Samantha Gorton, some of the garden’s excess produce was donated to the Johnson Food Shelf.”
At one time, the garden was down by the rugby field on campus, but it was later moved up to the apartments, as there was easy access to students. There are currently about a dozen raised beds for students to plant their food and flowers.
“The goal of the community Garden is to allow people an opportunity to get outside and also have a place where they can relax, grow their own food, and be part of a community while on campus over the summer,” current summer garden intern, Kayla Ball said.
With the anticipated arrival of warmer weather, interest in the garden is increasing, according to Ball. “We have a number of students who have already reserved a garden bed,” she said.