She is a curious hiker, often straying off the beaten path and blazing her own trail; she is an avid reader of historical fiction, enjoying the drama of Vikings, the Middle Ages, and Greek mythology; and she is a proud environmental activist, doing her part to reuse, reduce, and recycle as much as she can in her daily life. Of course, she also composts and grows her own herbs and vegetables, all in her garden at Woodbury University. And as the president of Sustainability Club, she is being joined by many other students who actively want to contribute to the beauty that has been growing under her gentle care.
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How did you get started with gardening?
I got started with this garden in the fall of 2018... it was getting dark out, and the Edison lights we have hanging here in the garden were turned on. And they had the most wonderful, warm glow, and they hid all of the desolation that was here. Like, there was nothing growing, there was nothing alive, there was very little green -- but the lights had this softness to them, and all I could see was the potential of the garden and what I wanted to do with it. Later that night, I messaged my RA and asked if anyone could plant stuff there, and they said yes! What was the process of starting your garden like? I just started researching plants that were native to southern California. I started researching plants that did well in sun or shade or whatever. Like, I really didn't know that much, and then I was like, 'okay, you just start them in something.' Potting soil and empty egg cartons -- that's all I needed at first. For the next month-and-a-half after I began, I did not have a desk in my dorm. I had a small army of egg cartons on my desk with dirt and seeds, and after a painstakingly long amount of time, I had little sprouts! I was so excited when I saw my first one -- I think it was oregano -- and it was just a tiny, tiny speck of green in all of this brown. It gave me so much hope to keep going. |
What inspired you to maintain this garden?
When I was a kid, I actually read this book where this girl lives in an orphanage and she hops over the back wall, wanders into the woods, and finds this little house. It's just a little cottage, it's kind of run-down, but there's a few things in there, and she kind of starts making a home in there. Any time she can get away, she runs into the woods and goes to this little house. It became her own space, and I always really liked that kind of fantasy of taking something that is plain, making it more beautiful, and making it a home with just your own hands and what you have. So when I saw this garden, I was like, maybe this is my chance. "Last semester, I saw my first bee on a plant! I literally cried -- I was so happy to see a sign of life in this garden that I worked so hard to create." |
What was the garden like before you began?
When I started, there were no worms in the dirt, there were no bugs. There were no weeds, which sounds really good, but it's actually a sign that the soil is so absolutely parched and devoid of any kind of life! It was brown and dusty and it smelled like dry pine needles in the heat of summer, which is a very specific smell. It was very distinct -- it was obvious that nothing had grown here. There were rocks everywhere in the soil. I don't even know how to describe it, because I'm looking at the garden blooming now and I can't believe that it used to look like nothing. |
Did you face any difficulties while growing your garden?
There were a lot of times when I thought, 'I could just not do this,' but I decided to push through and see what happens. I came to the garden every morning that semester -- I got up early before class and watered my plants. Sometimes, I showed up to class covered in dirt, because I had to wrangle the hose back into a coil after I was done. After I planted my seedlings into the ground, some of them lived and some of them died. For example, all my tomato plants wiped out within a week... and then, three weeks later, a tomato plant just started thriving out of absolutely nowhere! There were a few plants that were here in the garden before I started and some of them looked pretty dead, but I watered them anyways. I think all of them have recovered -- they're doing very well today! |
"There's been a Sustainability Council comprised of faculty, and the university wanted to have a student side of that -- at the same time, I was also planning with a couple of my friends to form a garden club, so it worked out!"What are your future plans for the garden?
I want to get the garden to a place where it will be self-sufficient to some level. I want to plant plants that are happy where they are, like the poppies! They've done so well, because they're used to being in such dry soil, but I also want to leave behind a legacy of other students that care. I know there's a lot of them, but I want to get them organized so that there will be somebody to water the garden, weed it, look after it, and make sure that it's loved, even after I'm gone. I've actually started a club -- a student organization to look after the garden. There's been a Sustainability Council comprised of faculty, and the university wanted to have a student side of that -- at the same time, I was also planning with a couple of my friends to form a garden club, so it worked out! The goal is to spread more knowledge about the garden, make it more accessible for people, and empower them to start planting. If they have any questions or they don't know how to start, they can go to whoever's on the Sustainability Council and get those answers. |
Do you have any advice for people who want to start gardening?
It's a lot easier than you think! Everything that you learn about plants in kindergarten still holds true: you need a seed, dirt, water, sunlight, and something to put it all in! It can be a glass jar, or it can be an egg carton. Give it water every morning when you wake up, and be patient! It'll take a couple weeks for something to sprout, but trust your plants -- they will find their way up. "I'm just as happy today, looking at everything that is blooming and growing right now, as I was when I first planted my seedlings in the ground." |
How do you feel about your garden and all the work you've put into it?
I'm just as happy today, looking at everything that is blooming and growing right now, as I was when I first planted my seedlings in the ground. They were so tiny, and I thought most of them wouldn't make it, but they survived and grew to be strong and healthy! It really is the same feeling every time I look at my garden. Sometimes I hear that people have really enjoyed what I've done with the garden. It feels so right to me to have done this, that sometimes it surprises me that I went out of my way in the fall of 2018 and just started doing this. I asked for permission to start planting things one time and nobody really cared. That was the thing -- I could do what I wanted and that was kind of amazing! |
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