roots: the history of

the sustainable organic garden

Fittingly, in the Spring of 2005, the first sustainable organic garden initiative at Connecticut College, a student-organized club, was given a name: Sprout!.

The idea of the garden was conceived in the Spring of 2004, when student Alaya Morning '06 (pictured on the right), inspired by the student farm model at Middlebury College, saw no reason why Connecticut College could not initiate and maintain a similar project. It was her hope that it would soon become a highly productive vegetable garden and the center of a new "garden/local food system education" program on campus.

The intention of Sprout was to provide the Connecticut College campus and local New London community with a practical way in which to learn about sustainable agriculture and living, from supplying organic produce for dining halls on campus to networking with farms in New London. Despite its short but sprightly history (view a concise timeline), Sprout! is already an established, growing, viable organic garden project, and an organization that demonstrates the feasibility of sustainable agriculture on campus and into the community.

The founding members — Alaya, along with Ben Tressler '05, Anne Lind '06 and Anna Meyer '07 — chose the name, and wrote the constitution in the theme housing, 360 House living room. Alaya consulted and gained support for her project idea from Glenn Dreyer, the Connecticut College Arboretum director, who suggested she speak with Jim Luce, supervisor of grounds for the College. The semester ended, but Alaya's intent did not. In the Fall of 2004, she and Jim conferred, and a site was chosen for the garden. Regular planning meetings and e-mails among students and staff ensued as the project gained momentum and began to flourish.

Located beside the 360 apartments on the Connecticut College campus, the grounds designated for Sprout! were developed by students, faculty and staff working in concert, including the founding members and Luce, along with Matt Turcotte '02, the prior year's campus environmental coordinator, other members of Sprout and other members of Physical Plant (view map). In order to prepare the earth for planting, trees were taken down and the ground was cleared and rototilled. A local source was found for mushroom compost to be added to strengthen the soil. Seeds were purchased and spread throughout the garden by mid-spring, and organic plants donated by individuals and local organic farms were placed in the ground, along with the high hopes for its success.

During the summer of 2005, the garden began to demonstrate its ability to provide fresh produce for the Connecticut College campus. There came an abundance of vegetables, including tomatoes, eggplant, peppers, beans and squash, largely due to the efforts of Tressler, who had been appointed the College's first summer sustainability intern, and Luce. Through Tressler's efforts in caring for the garden, Tressler, who had been inspired by the readings of Vandana Shiva about sustainability and returning to the land, came to recognize the promise of Sprout!. “The possible benefits of the Sprout garden include establishing food security, taking action on current environmental concerns and becoming involved with local businesses,” Tressler said.

The following Fall of 2005, students returned to campus to work earnestly in the garden, and Sprout held its first harvest. The vast array of organic vegetables made their way from the soil to the campus dining halls, where they were first served to the campus community.

The process in which Sprout delivers its produce to the different dining halls on campus is relatively simple. Connecticut College Dining Services weighs the amount of vegetables received from Sprout, and in turn reimburses Sprout for the goods given to them. By creating a market for local, sustainable and organic foods on campus, Sprout is able to generate money toward the maintenance and growth of its garden. Furthermore, Sprout's organic garden initiative is a microcosm for the ability of sustainable organic farming to affect people's everyday lives.

Aside from selling produce to the dining halls, Sprout also helped to raise awareness of sustainable agriculture by hosting an event called Sproutfest. Sproutfest is held at 360 House living room with the students preparing and serving members of the faculty and staff homemade organic foods and dishes from the garden in hopes of facilitating dialogue and instilling knowledge of sustainable and organic agriculture. Members of Sprout have worked to harvest and cook for Sproutfest each year.

Since the Fall of 2006 under the direction of co-chairs Misha Johnson '08 and Cara Donovan '08, Sprout worked to literally expand its boundaries. At the conclusion of the fall of 2006, the Sprout garden expanded from its original size of 600 square feet to its current size of 4,420 square feet. Trees were felled, rocks cleared, compost from the College's own Arboretum compost piles was shoveled and added to enrich the soil. The garden has also increased the forms of produce it grows to include herbs, such as mint and lemon verbena teas, which are dried, bagged and sold in the College's "Blue Camel Café" as another fundraiser for Sprout. A "three sisters garden" was proposed for the 2007 growing season, a Native American tradition of interplanting corn, beans and squash in mounds, the plants both self-sustaining and mutually beneficial.

Sprout created an internship position for the summer of 2007 with FRESH New London, an organic garden cooperative located in the City of New London, in which a student worked with FRESH while simultaneously maintaining the Sprout garden on campus. Sprout also hopes to develop a partnership with the new, New London-based Fiddlehead’s Food Co-op, in which Sprout is looking to sell its produce in exchange for local foods from Fiddleheads to be given to Dining Services.

Sprout’s continued outreach to the local community displays its willingness to share the benefits of its increasing amounts of produce. With its persistent growth over the past two years (view timeline), Sprout has proved that sustainable organic farming has a place on the Connecticut College campus and beyond.

— Kathryn Gutleber '08, Environmental Studies major and scholar in the Goodwin-Niering Center for Conservation Biology and Environmental Studies

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