Campus Grow continues to promote sustainable gardening, education in community
While the ground is still frozen solid, the gardeners of Campus Grow continue working toward making agriculture more environmentally friendly.
Campus Grow is a registered student organization devoted to promoting sustainable farming practices within the community.
Elena Bozzi, a senior from Clinton Township and co-coordinator of the group, said Campus Grow is working on creating workshops for the general public and students using resources such as professors, community members and local farmers.
"We also donate a lot of food to different food banks and to people that need it," she said.
The RSO wants to recruit more members, Bozzi said, and tries to do that through efforts such as putting a table out in the Charles V. Park lobby or by the Student Service Court, in the basement of the Bovee University Center.
"We need more people. We have five or so regular, solid members, but with the garden the size it is we need more people, especially over the summer," Bozzi said.
The organization tries to get food to children who otherwise would not be able to afford fresh, organically-grown produce on their own, Bozzi said.
It also does smaller things throughout the year, she said, such as picking fruit in peoples' yards who cannot pick it themselves.
"I just love to be hands-on with the food I grow. It's very rewarding to go outside and spend time in the garden," she said.
Campus Grow's first meeting of the semester was at 5:30 p.m. Thursday in Brooks 203. During the meeting, Brazil senior Emilie Jordao, the group's co-coordinator, discussed what it took to be an active member and laid out some ideas for the two gardens run by the organization.
Jordao said she liked Campus Grow as opposed to other organizations because Campus Grow is busy throughout the year with activities.
"My second meeting at Campus Grow, I was in the field being active," she said.
The group has two gardens, with a total area of about 30,000 square feet, according to its website.
The larger garden is located west of Theunissen Baseball Stadium and has an area of about 20,000 square feet. The smaller garden is on East Campus Drive, north of the Combined Services building and the Power House. It is approximately 6,000 square feet.
Jordao said one of the drives to join the organization was that she wanted to start growing some of her own food, which is a notion Romeo senior Jeff Kuhns agreed with.
Kuhns has been a member of Campus Grow for a year and said he is a large advocate of organic farming.
"I get free vegetables and it's good networking," he said. "I've met a lot of people. We get good exercise and sometimes a nice tan. Working in the garden is good for my overall fitness and nutrition."
Kuhns said the organization was a simple and mindful one.
"There is a lot of learning that goes on at the garden, and lots of conversation in the garden with people of different backgrounds and different majors," he said.
