By Afton Sullivan

The WOU Campus Garden is an organic garden at Western where the students in charge of the garden promote local food production through sustainable and organic methods.

The student-lead project only uses organic compost and potting soil and never sprays pesticides or herbicides. During our first season, we planted a wide range of vegetables and fruits, including tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, broccoli, lettuce, potatoes, herbs, strawberries and many more.

According to Dr. Doris Cancel-Tirado’s study at Western, in 2011 food insecurity rates at the university affected as many as 59 percent of students. Our mission as a garden is to reduce food insecurity among our fellow students by donating to the food pantry on campus. The garden also helps build sustainability on campus by donating to the dining hall. Our garden is completely non-profit and student-run.

The campus garden depends on the hard work of students in order to sustain the garden’s success. This term, we are relocating the garden from the area near the library to a fenced plot near the modular classrooms. We will be using raised-bed gardening techniques this time around and hope students will be involved with the rebuilding and replanting process.

If you are interested in volunteer work, community service, sustainability, or just wanting to meet other students on campus and get involved, please join us in the garden on Saturdays from 2 – 4 p.m. For more information, contact Hayden Rue at hrue08@wou.edu or Afton Sullivan at asullivan11@wou.edu.