Kayla Metcalf
Guest contributor
April 21, 2006
Milligan College students want to get back to their roots – literally. Sophomore Kim Cochran and other Milligan students are asking the college for a plot of land on campus for a student-grown vegetable garden.
The students want to put into practice all the things we are learning in Environmental Science, College and Calling, Cultural Anthropology, and even Bible classes. Hands-on gardening will teach Milligan students how to be good stewards of our Earth, our resources and our time. It will also give the student body something productive to do outside away from modern technology and in God’s creation at its simplest form: life. Not to mention that a communal garden can bring together a community.
The garden is the brainchild of a trip to Asheville I took with Kim and sophomore Bailey Carter a couple weeks before Spring Break. We enthusiastically contacted some of our fellow students and faculty to see how much interest we could generate. The replies came back in an astounding “yes!”
The concept of a garden on campus is not far-fetched or uncharted by any means. Dickinson College in Carlisle, Pa., which is about twice the size of Milligan, has had a student-run organic garden for eight years, which has proved to be an extremely successful program. Newfarm.org has a directory of over fifty student-run farms in North America. (Don’t get me wrong. We don’t want a farm, just a garden!)
Encouraged by the interest of our classmates and the success of so many programs, Kim asked Director of Student Success Traci Smith and Director of the Institute for Servant Leadership Beth Anderson whom to approach with a proposal. They sent her to Academic Dean Mark Matson. Kim sent a proposal outlining what we wanted and how it would help the college. Matson directed her to Dean of Students Mark Fox and Jonathan Robinson who forwarded it to Kevin Hurley, the supervisor of grounds. So far, they have not reached a decision.
Once we get the okay from the authorities, we are ready to buy manure and break up the ground as soon as possible. We’ll then decide what to plant and how to plant it. We plan on keeping the garden completely organic. Organic gardening is also called sustainable agriculture practices, meaning that keeping chemical fertilizers and pesticides out of the garden will keep the soil nutrients from depleting as rapidly as they would otherwise. Once the plants are in the ground, those of us nearby this summer that are interested will help weed, hoe and harvest for an hour a week with a partner, God willing and hoping that the creek doesn’t rise. Like many campus gardens, we hope to provide fresh produce for the campus dining hall and/or a produce stand.
If you are interested, please contact Kim Cochran at x1522 or me at (423) 552-0040, or email us. Let the powers that be know that we can do this.