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Tucked behind Glen Rowan House, the mansion designed by renowned architect Howard Van Doren Shaw, the student garden is a quiet and secluded corner of campus. It is so secluded that many Foresters are not aware it even exists, an issue that has only become more prominent since the pandemic years when it lie untended. Glen Rowan is also where some of the cooking on campus happens. Seeing the students hard at work inspired Parkhurst Chef Nick Saponaro to propose an auspicious partnership.

After receiving a box of produce from the garden last year, Saponaro approached the student gardeners with an idea: Parkhurst would buy whatever produce they couldn’t sell to individuals in the community, and that food would be served in the campus Caf.

“When the chef de cuisine and I were catering an event at Glen Rowan just a few weeks ago, we saw the students working in the back, and we stumbled into the garden to check it out,” Saponaro said. “They invited us in and showed us everything that was growing. To actually see it and understand the hard work they are putting into growing things has been a huge motivating factor for this partnership.”

Environmental Studies Department Assistant Anna Evans ’22 manages the student workers in the garden. Evans brings practical experience and wisdom to the role; having grown up on a farm, she is able to advise the students on planting and harvesting methods and assists with the garden chores. The rest of the planning, however, is up to the students.

“We’re just trying to grow as much produce as we can,” Evans said. “We talked with Parkhurst at the beginning of this season after they approached us about purchasing food from the garden. We chose what to grow based on their needs, so we’re growing lots of roots, radishes, carrots, parsnips, lots of leafy greens like arugula, kale, all sorts of lettuces, mustard greens, bok choy, and spinach. Our peppers and our tomatoes and our eggplants are still coming up. We’ve also got broccoli, cauliflower, melons, squash, beets, all sorts of things. We don’t have any fruit yet, but they’re coming.”

So far, the Caf has showcased the garden’s yield in the salad area of the dining hall in small quantities. The June Board of Trustees dinner also featured a salad with arugula, kale, chives, and radishes from the student garden.

“For us, this partnership is about a lot more than utilizing the vegetable from the garden,” Saponaro said. “It’s about creating a stronger bond between the College and Parkhurst Dining. That connection goes both ways in terms of motivating and inspiring us to be creative in utilizing life’s bounty.”

The initiative underscores the College’s commitment to sustainability. Bowen Murley ’24 was excited to work on the garden’s partnership with Parkhurst.

“Compared to a truck driving from California to bring produce to Illinois, being able to grow some of it right here, even if it’s not a huge quantity, helps sustainability efforts on campus,” Murley said. “We do the planting ourselves. We do our best to grow organically, thought we do need to account for any pesticides sprayed by neighbors.”

The partnership also includes a further sustainability element: composting. Parkhurst sends its kitchen food scraps to the garden, and those scraps are added to the compost heap that helps facilitate plant growth.

“I appreciate that we can demonstrate full cycle by using our veggie scraps for the compost and creating rich soil to grow more vegetables and then use those vegetables in the dining hall,” Saponaro said. “That full cycle is the goal. This is just the beginning.”

For Murley, the garden was part of the reason she enrolled at the College. After finding the garden in a state of disuse following the onset of the pandemic, she approached the environmental studies department about rejuvenating the garden once the College returned to in-person activity.

“A lot of us, including me, did not have a lot of garden experience before working in the garden,” Murley said. “It was a huge learning curve for all of us.”

International relations major Andrea Sandoval-Torres ’26 also works in the student garden. Originally from Mexico but calling England home, Sandoval-Torres is an international student and a Davis Scholar who attended UWC Costa Rica. She finds the time she spends watering the plants as the sun goes down relaxing.

“I’ve always really liked being engaged in like gardening and nature in general,” she said. “At home in England during the pandemic, we actually tried to start a garden, so when I saw that this student worker position was open, I thought it would be a good opportunity to learn more about gardening and botany.”

Besides producing fresh produce, the garden is available for students and others to visit. Murley hopes students find solace and peace within its bounds. “The main thing I want is to have people come in and feel welcome. The garden is such a quiet space away from the rest of the campus, and it is so peaceful,” she said.

So far, there is a table where students can sit and complete work and chairs where they can lounge and read among the greenery. Murley encourages her peers—as well as faculty and staff— to stop by and soak in the good vibes.