After a bountiful first harvest from PNW’s new community garden this year, the only thing missing was more involvement from the campus community. 

“We grew a lot this year,” said Mya Elaina Bell, Food Pantry president and initiator of the community garden. “It was a nice feeling that we put so much work and love into it and it came with a really good result.

“It was very satisfying to see the growth of the garden, but even more satisfying to see students utilize the produce,” she said.

The problem has been that, once planted, too few students remained involved in tending the garden.

“It’s great that students take an active interest, everybody likes to plant,” said Grounds and Landscape Manager John Bachman, who provided supplies and advice for the garden development.  “But not many other students have helped maintain.”

A group of honors students launched the garden last spring, planting vegetables and herbs behind the Griffin Hall dorms building in Hammond. The project enabled many students to pick fresh produce and learn about growing a healthy choice of food.

Honors student Stephanie Peterson was one of the committed volunteers.

“Participating in the PNW community garden was transformative for me,” said the [YEAR], [??] major. “I was able to watch fresh produce go into the hands of appreciative students. I think expanding the garden and gaining more volunteers could be just as transformative to the PNW community.”

She said the garden is one way to demonstrate a commitment to students.agrees.  

 “We could honor this sense of home, so many students feel by providing them with nutritional food that shows that we care about their well-being as much as their academic success,” said Peterson.

Bell is already thinking about the next phase.

 “I recently saw that students at Ball State University grow [in] a greenhouse,” she said. “If we can turn to those students who did something similar, they can lend us some guidance.”