Summer remains a busy time across UNMC. This week, UNMC Today will highlight some of the many happenings during summer break.
Just north of the Maurer Center for Public Health, a thriving community vegetable garden brings together students, faculty and staff from across UNMC.
Volunteers from multiple colleges and departments built the garden in early spring, and vegetables including radishes, peppers, cauliflower, and zucchini are flourishing. A trellis installed by faculty volunteer Joseph Fauver, PhD, an assistant professor in the UNMC Department of Epidemiology in the College of Public Health, is used for many of the vine plants.
Organizers aim for the garden’s impact to be felt both on campus and in the community. For student volunteers, many of whom are part of the Healthy Earth Alliance student group, the garden has become a central place to unwind with friends. In addition to creating new connections across UNMC, a major goal of the project is to grow produce to give to food pantries.
“Campus community gardens provide many benefits such as improved mental and physical health, higher academic achievement, opportunities to benefit the local community and the creation of more usable green space to support sustainable lifestyles,” said Jerrod Bley, UNMC sustainability manager.
In addition to benefiting the community at large, the garden directly supports the med center’s sustainability efforts.
“The new campus community garden directly supports one of our sustainability goals — our Sustainability Engagement Score — through visibility, awareness and education,” Bley said. “We’ve seen sustainability infused in this project. The same vendor we used for our recent compost pilot project also supplied the compost/soil mix for the raised garden beds.”
Venkatesh Varadharaj, a PhD student in the UNMC Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology in the UNMC College of Medicine, has been involved from the start.
“It’s great to work with volunteers who share my same passion for gardening and environmental stewardship,” said Varadharaj, who serves as a LiveGreen ambassador for the med center. “The UNMC garden offers a respite from academic and administrative demands, serves as a model of sustainability, plays a crucial role in preserving biodiversity on campus and is an important community sustainability effort.
“I will forever cherish the memories and eagerly look forward to continuing this journey,” he said.
Like Varadharaj, Julia Quigley, an MPH student who serves as project coordinator in the UNMC College of Public Health’s Office of Public Health Practice, has helped with the garden since its inception. Even though she doesn’t consider herself to have a green thumb, she said working in the garden has been extremely valuable.
“As someone with little to no gardening experience, it has been incredibly rewarding to watch the garden grow from an idea and a pile of wood to a vegetable-producing reality. It will be especially rewarding once we can share produce with the community,” Quigley said. “Green spaces are so important for community, and I’ve loved being able to connect with people across campus who are just as invested in using UNMC’s green space in such a great way.”
To learn more about the garden, contact Samantha McCafferty or Stephen Peters in the UNMC College of Public Health.
Would love to hear more about where and how this food is being distributed!