In an effort to introduce students to Southern Utah University’s community garden, The College of Natural Sciences hosted their annual Harvest Festival for the 4th time
on Friday, Sept.13 from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m., next to the Eccles dorm building.
Students were invited to pick up fruits and vegetables as well as food made with produce from the garden, draw with chalk, and enjoy live music. Tomatoes, carrots, mint, eggplants and other offerings were available.
Grace Parke, festival singer and senior at SUU came to the Harvest Festival for the first time this year.
“If I’m being honest I didn’t know [the com
munity garden] was there, but I came and it’s so cute and so close to campus,” said Parke. “I love that they’re letting people just experien
ce picking a carrot or other things. I just think it’s so fun.”
Rachel Gough senior at SUU has agreed with that outlook. Strolling around and tasting the products was one of her favorite festival activities.
“I love getting to taste some of the food that was made with produce grown in the garden. It all tasted so good and fresh.”
Additionally the HOPE Garden donates all of their harvest to SUU’s HOPE Pantry, providing peppers, peaches and other produce at the festival. Most of it is grown from compost made of the leaves of campus trees as well as scraps from SUU Dining Hall.
Angela Patino, community garden advisor explained that this is the reason these gardens are significant.
“What is very special about the gardens is that all the compost that feeds the soil is built from the food scraps from SUU’s restaurants, there’s no pestici
des and everything is coming from here.”
Ben Cozzens, active members of the club clarified that the purpose of the event was to create a real community to develop the gardens.
“The harvest festival is mainly to get people to enjoy our food and make them aware of what we’re doing. Actually we’re trying to create a community rather than just an event,” said Cozzens. “Really the hard thing is that the activities depend on what participants wanna do because we can only do so much with the amount of people that we have.”
Featuring a swing, fruit and vegetables and hammocks, SUU’s community garden is open to all. Community meetings are held on Mondays and Wednesdays at 7 p.m. More information about their goals and initiatives can be found on their Instagram.
Author: Fanny Felixine
Editor: Heather Turner
Photos by Fanny Felixine
life@suunews.net
