An Evening At The Campus Community Garden Workshop
By Branyan Towe
November 3, 2017
At first glance, the Georgia Southern Campus Community Garden may not look like much. Step inside, however, and you will see results of over a semester’s worth of planting.
The Garden primarily serves as a meeting place for a student workshop, either there by choice or working there in order to get credit for classes. Georgia Southern University’s Center for Sustainability organizes these workshops and several other on-campus events.
Center for Sustainability intern, Guy Brandon Hobbs, says that the workshop aims to teach students how to grow food, which is something that most of them have not done before.
At the beginning of each semester, the workshop starts by teaching students about planting and then progresses into more challenging topics such as composting and harvesting. Various plants are grown at the Garden depending on the time of year and some current featured plants include carrots, radishes and kale.
"We grow everything, depending on the time of the year," says Hobbs "most of the wintertime crops that you would think we would grow in south Georgia, we've got growing in there now."
The Center for Sustainability ‘s program coordinator, Cami Sockow, adds that students get to keep all of the food that they have grown in the garden. Sockow then explains that the supplies for the Campus Community Garden come mainly from the sustainability fee that every student pays.
The workshop itself, is a very easy-going experience. The purpose of the first meeting was discussing the different types of plants. Hobbs, goes through a printed-out PowerPoint presentation before allowing the students to break off and tend to their individual gardening beds.
History and math major, Savannah Jenkins, says that she is on her third semester working in the Garden. She adds, that her grandparents interest in gardening, along with her own inability to grow plants, inspired her to come to the garden and be apart of the workshops.
Jenkins said that she takes pride in her successes especially, the planting of her carrots. She is also proud that her group once planted and grew purple corn, which is uncommon.
Fashion major Christian Mincey, says that if people are on the fence about joining that they should give it a try.
Hobbs says that there is a growing interest surrounding the Garden. The Center for Sustainability keeps track of how many students and classes that have been involved and more people have been joining this semester.
The garden and workshops are available for all GS students to try. For those interested in getting involved, the next Campus Community Garden workshops are scheduled for October 26 and November 9, 2017 from 5:30 PM to 7:30 PM.
The garden is located on Georgia Southern’s campus next to the Williams Center. More information can be found on The Center For Sustainability’s website http://academics.georgiasouthern.edu/sustainability/ and you can email them directly at cfs@GeorgiaSouthern.edu.
"You'll meet a lot of new friends that share a common interest in wanting to grow plants," Mincey says "people that have a passion for life and nature."
History and Math major Savannah Jenkins
tends to her group's garden bed at the
Campus Community Garden On
October 11th 2017. Photo By Branyan Towe
. Fashion major Christian Mincey waters his group's garden bed during the Campus Community Garden Workshop on October 11th 2017. Photo by Branyan Towe
. Turnip Greens growing inside the Campus Greenhouse during the Campus Community Garden Workshop on October 11th 2017. Photo by Branyan Towe
