Being outside makes people happy. Studies have shown that kids who play outside learn better than kids who stay indoors all day. Such benefits probably carry over to some degree into adulthood. When you garden, you gain exercise, fresh food, and a sense of accomplishment. Gardening also has many environmental benefits, such as improving soil, air, and water quality, reducing the amount of processing and transportation used to get vegetables, and providing habitat for insects and other wildlife.
Campus Garden is a KU Center for Community Outreach project that encourages people to get outside while providing fresh vegetables for campus use. The gardeners meet twice a week (Sunday mornings and Wednesday evenings during growing months) to plant, tend, water, and harvest tomatoes, spinach, okra, squash, peppers, herbs and whatever else we are given. Campus Garden, located next to Grace Pearson scholarship hall, always needs more volunteers. The project is currently small, but with more volunteers could become a large producer of obviously local veggies. For more information contact Margaret Tran at earth@ku.edu
- Jessica
Editor’s Note: This post is one in a series published by students in the Sustainability Learning Community at KU. Additional posts from this series can be found under “LC” on the Categories list.
Vanessa said,
December 3, 2008 at 5:55 pm
It is really exciting to see your enthusiasm about this project, Jessica. I have heard you mention this project several times and still hear the same excitement in your voice as I did in the Fall when you were harvesting. It seems like a great project get involved in and I will definitely try to make my way over there on Sundays in the Spring.
There is something so gratifying about being able to reap what you sow.
Grace said,
December 4, 2008 at 9:14 pm
I have been interested in this gardening project ever since you mentioned it in class one day. I think it is great that such an organization has been put together. I know that at home in Chicago, there are local community gardens all over the city. They are a great way to bring nature into an area that otherwise may be too industrialized.
Guest Blogging: KU student Ben Morgan « Climate and energy said,
December 22, 2008 at 7:43 pm
[...] is one of many successful environmentally based groups around campus. E.A.R.T.H manages the KU campus community garden and this year harvested a broad array of organically grown herbs and vegetables, which they donated [...]