The Community Learning Garden allows University of Maryland students to grow and maintain a garden while donating the produce harvested to the Campus Pantry.
The Community Learning Garden, located between Eppley Recreation Center and the School of Public Health, allows UMD students to learn more about the environment and sustainability.
“Our primary goal has two parts to it, the first part is learning and teaching students about sustainability, urban farming and ways to grow and use healthy produce,” Vice President of the Garden Archi Singh said. “ Then we also provide healthy produce to the campus pantry. So everything we’ve grown here we donate.”
Members of the garden and volunteers plant and harvest a wide variety of fruits, vegetables and herbs. The food is then donated to the campus pantry located on South Campus. These fresh food donations are essential for food pantries because most food donated is non-perishable.
Jason Skill, a member of the Garden, believes farming is a great opportunity to destress while on campus.
“It’s a good place to meet people,” Skill said. “On such a big campus it’s a good opportunity to make a community.”
In addition to teaching UMD students about sustainability and the environment, the garden is also a way UMD students are creating more food equity on campus.
“Food Justice is something that is just such a basic necessity that just hasn’t even been met,” garden intern Grace Walsh-Little. “That goes hand in hand with racism, sexism, homophobia. I think all systems of oppression can be combated with food justice.”
Any student interested in volunteering with the Garden can attend their volunteer hours on Saturday mornings. While volunteer hours were limited last semester because of the pandemic, the garden is excited to be getting back to normal this semester and welcome all who are interested in getting involved in urban farming at UMD.
“We usually get around like 10 to 20 people for volunteer hours which is really great, especially because we’re such a small space and really can’t even fit that many people,” Singh said. “It’s really great that we have those volunteers and we missed them during COVID.”
The Garden offers UMD students the unique opportunity to grow and harvest fresh produce while on a large college campus.
“My favorite aspect is just kind of watching plants grow like you plant like a little seed, and it grows and becomes like a huge thing that produces a lot of stuff,” said Singh. “That’s really my favorite part, I just like planting and working here.”