Sowing the seeds of a community
More than 50 faculty and students in the Landscape Architecture and Environmental Planning (LAEP) program tackled weeds and a massive pile of compost at the Cache Community Garden in Hyde Park on Thursday. With shovels and rakes and tillers and bare hands, they cleaned and prepped the garden.
Senior Nathan Felton spent most of the morning operating a tiller, breaking the ground so people can plant tomatoes next month. He said, “LAEP Week is a tradition. We celebrate our profession and do a service project. We like to see how we can use our manpower and do something good.”
The service day is an annual event, part of LAEP Week. The week is sponsored by USU’s student chapter of the American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA). April is international Landscape Architecture month.
The LAEP department head, Sean Michael, said, “Student chapters of ASLA are doing service projects like this all over the globe.”
He said, “Service projects in the past have typically been design and planning of landscapes such as community parks and nursing home grounds. These students have been striving for a more hands-on project. So the effort here is really apropos. And plans for the future include multiphase service projects to benefit the community garden.”
Michael said the new leadership of the ASLA student chapter is looking next to design and build a straw bale structure at the garden for a community gathering place.
Michael said, “The agrarian history of this valley is really important to us all, but especially as the agricultural university of the state, in perhaps, the greenest valley in the state. This community garden, the largest in the state, is a great foothold in the valley but we know by demand that more are needed. And, kudos to St. Thomas Aquinas Catholic Church in taking the initiative to allow this land to be used for a community garden.”
As the land-grant university of the state of Utah, USU strives to positively impact the communities of Utah. The effort at the community garden is only the latest in the projects generated by USU colleges and departments that achieve this. USU-Cache County Extension sponsors the community garden in conjunction with the Utah Conservation Corps, Americorps and St. Thomas Aquinas Catholic church.
The community garden offers the public a place to grow vegetables, fruit and flowers. USU Extension Horticulture Agent Taun Beddes has managed much of the garden’s planning and maintenance.
He said, “We broke ground on the garden here three years ago, and we have had increasing numbers of participants each year. Last year the garden served 80 patrons.”
Gardeners range from students to retired couples to growing families to special groups.
Beddes said, “The garden is perfect for people like students who don’t have ground of their own to work. Vegetables grown in the garden are much cheaper than buying them and taste better too.”
Beddes praised the students’ efforts.
He said, “The work they accomplished was a phenomenal help to the Cache Community Garden. They completed more than we expected. I can’t thank them enough.”
The service day is one part of LAEP Week.
Felton said, “We have other activities including an awards banquet and a bowling tournament, students versus faculty.”
The faculty won last year so the students are looking for an upset.
Michael said, “We beat them at disc golf too. Whatever it takes to beat the students.”
For more information about the community garden, call USU Extension, 752-6263.
– tam.r@aggiemail.usu.edu