Mennonite Weekly Review

HARRISONBURG, Va. — An expanding campus garden at Eastern Mennonite University will soon, for a second season, provide food for the cafeteria while giving students a practical exercise in sustainability.

Juan Perez and Heidi Hershberger work in the EMU garden as members of the Relating to the Land senior seminar class. — Photo by Lindsey Roeschley/EMU

The garden includes a plot between Brunk House and Martin House on campus and an area across the street. The garden is being expanded in square footage and in involvement from students and community members, including university classes that are participating in the project.

Already this spring, Relating to the Land, a senior seminar class, planted spring oats in the garden while learning about cover crops.

Doug Graber Neufeld, professor of biology, will teach a new class, Sustainable Agriculture, the fall semester that will use the garden as a test plot. The upper-level course will cover topics such as soil science and crop production.

Peter Dula, assistant professor of Bible and culture, was the driving force behind the creation of the garden last spring. As a member of the food procurement sub-group of EMU’s Creation Care Council, Dula realized that a garden was the most affordable and efficient way to supply the cafeteria with locally grown food.

Several students volunteered to help and turned a section of campus lawn into a garden.

Last summer, the garden supplied enough lettuce and spinach to stock the cafeteria’s salad bar during the Summer Peacebuilding Institute. Dula and the students also planted and harvested tomatoes, peppers, butternut squash, radishes and grapes.

“I’m interested in encouraging students to have a garden of their own once they graduate,” Dula said. “I’m hoping that working on the garden is cultivating and instilling sustainable habits among students.”

Abigail Spurrier, a junior culture, religion and mission major, has been part of the project since the beginning and helped over the summer.

“It’s really exciting to see the garden grow and know it’s a team effort,” she said. “I’ve found it’s a good place to meet new people and have conversations with professors outside of the classroom.”