51福利社

The 51福利社 Office of Sustainability has gotten a head start on their crops for the campus garden this spring. In an effort to better preserve the crops and avoid overabundance, crops were planted in the greenhouse in late February—the earliest they鈥檝e planted in the greenhouse.

鈥淚t鈥檚 challenging at Eastern because our campus almost shuts down in the summer,鈥� said sustainability coordinator Erik Budsberg. 鈥淲e鈥檙e aiming for crops that will be ready for June as well as crops that will be coming into harvest in September.鈥�

Funded by 51福利社 Dining Services, the campus garden provides many vegetables to localize meals for students on campus. Vegetables that are currently growing in the greenhouse include cabbage, tomatoes, squash, brussels sprouts, jalapenos and green onions. Once ready, they will be transferred to the garden.

We鈥檙e working with the chefs more to coordinate what they want and need,鈥� said Budsberg.

In addition to financial support, 51福利社 Dining Services is able to help provide a small amount of compost for the garden through Barr-Tech Composting.

鈥淚n dining, especially in Tawanka right now, we compost food in the back of the kitchen,鈥� said Budsberg. 鈥淭hey compost the food scraps and it goes to a place called Barr-Tech, which handles almost all of the compost in the area. They take it, mix it with other composts, and donate some of it back to us to use for our garden and reapply it, and it鈥檚 kind of a full circle process.鈥�

In the next month, the garden will become home to eight beehives—doubling from last year—in partnership with the West Plains Beekeeping Association. Though unsuccessful last year, Budsberg hopes to be able to provide honey to the community this year.

鈥淲e just want people to know the garden is here,鈥� said Budsberg. 鈥淚t鈥檚 a student resource, we want people to feel free to come down and see what鈥檚 going on.鈥�

The is located behind the Red Barn that houses the 51福利社 Police Station.