One Garden's Beginnings

“The main obligations of the gardener are to be mindful of the garden’s needs and to be observant each day of what is going on in the garden.” Those words from the late U.S. poet laureate and thoughtful gardener Stanley Kunitz were particularly relevant to the work of three MHC interns this summer who planted and cared for the Mount Holyoke Student Garden.

Hatched as an independent study by two students long since graduated, the project and its supporting hands have been given a small piece of land by the college for a pilot program that is just beginning to define its vegetative and curricular goals. The three interns—Sarah Lince FP’09, Morgan Lindsay ’09, and Ally Neher ’07— were paid by the Center for the Environment to make the garden’s first season a productive one. A founding gift from the class of 2007 helped launch the project.

Acorn squash, pumpkins, potatoes, basil, parsley, dill, and cilantro grace the plot’s half acre at the south end of Prospect Hill, next to the college’s botanic garden nursery. The vegetables and herbs were sold to Dining Services in the fall. Thus, students had a bigger taste of truly local produce, which is rapidly becoming a mantra for consumers of all stripes concerned with transportation costs, freshness, and support of community producers.

The garden’s underlying vision, “crops for closer community,” is based on keeping the garden student-oriented, related to local farming, and research friendly. The interns are already comparing soil sections that have been amended with compost with those more traditionally fertilized, and noting hungry insects.

Professors have expressed a healthy interest in the garden, too. The interns point to a small patch of mustard greens and cabbages being investigated for particular bugs by Stan Rachootin, professor of biological sciences. Beth Hooker, a visiting assistant professor in the same department and an adviser for the project, will use the garden for research in her sustainable agriculture class.

“The possibilities are endless,” says Lindsay, who adds that the goal is not only to bring the garden into the classroom but also to bring interfaith conversations, a harvest festival, and discussions of land and justice into the garden.

The project joins a raft of college-sponsored community garden projects across the nation, some of which the interns have visited when they are not weeding, experimenting with irrigation methods, or thanking their lucky stars for anti-deer fencing.

Whatever the garden’s ultimate composition, students can hope to find the inspiration, understanding, and transformation that Kunitz came to know in his garden. For, as he noted so profoundly, we are ultimately all candidates for the compost pile. —M.H.B.

Photo by Mieke H. Bomann