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Celebrating Earth Day 2011

a man holding a piece of paper

Professor of English Marc Hudson read "For the Coming Garden," a poem he had written for the occasion.
"To be mindful is not easy, yet necessary for all to live," Hudson wrote:
"It's not so visionary

to do this: to widen our compassion

not simply as stewards, after a fashion,

of this planet, but as real gardeners

of this real Earth, laboring as partners

with its processes, teaching a practice of care

to our children. We don't make it out of thin air

but out of soil and rough hands grown tender:

We kneel on the earth and plant. Now. Here."

 

a sign in front of a fence

Faculty and students gathered Thursday to celebrate Earth Day (a day early) and to formally dedicate an expansion to the Wabash Community Garden project begun last year by the Students for Sustainability and the College's Environmental Concerns Committee in partnership with the College's Bon Appetit food services.
Included among this year's additions was a sign made by Art Department Assistant Tony Kashon.
 
 

a group of men digging in the ground

ECC Co-Chair Professor Doug Calisch directs the planting of 15 fruit trees for the plot's new orchard, while Assistant Professor of Philosophy Mark Brouwer digs a hole for one of the trees. 
The expansion of the garden in its second includes a fence (the old home run fence from Mud Hollow, donated by the baseball team), a much larger area, and a gardening shed designed and built by students.
 
 

a man digging a hole in the ground

Ellen Swift went quickly to work, digging the first hole for the waiting trees. 

a group of men digging in the ground

Professors Brouwer and Eric Olofson (right) put their back into it with the help of Brad Carver ’13. Carver will tend the garden this summer as part of internship that will also include working with the Tranquil Ridge CSA and Bon Appetit.
 
 
 
 

men standing next to a building
Brad Carver and Dirk Garriott ’11 chat beneath the garden shed's passive solar hinged south wall in it's porch roof configuration.  Garriott designed and built the shed with his Art 210: Architecture classmates Matt Scheller and Jake Strasbaugh. The genesis of the project was a convergence of two of Garriott's interests. He had been planning to build a shed for the garden, and when he found out that his architecture course final project was to be an installation on campus, he asked Professor Michael Bricker ’04 if designing and building a shed would qualify. Bricker liked the idea, attached a few conditions (the building had to be contemporary and in keeping with sustainable practices), and Garriott, Scheller, and Strasbaugh (with able assistance from Carver) went to work. "The building is a great example of upcycling (the process of converting waste materials or useless products into new materials or products of better quality)," Bricker said. Garriott explained that the framing came from structure built for the Phi Gamma Delta fraternity's "FIJI Island" celebration. The flooring is made of boards milled from trees that were going to be burned. The siding is from an old barn that was falling down.  Garriott says his team is proud of the completed shed.  "It's one of the best things I've done here," Garriott says.     

a wood planks on a wall

A close-up of some of the barn siding used on the garden shed.
"There were a lot of people interested in that barn," Garriott said. "We were in pretty tight competion with the Amish!" But there was plenty to go around.
 

a man wearing glasses and tie

 Garriott points out a hole cut into the shed to allow a hose to fit through.

a wooden building with a blue barrel

Garriott also designed the shed's rain barrel, with some help from Campus Services, which donated this discarded container.

a man and child eating food

 Soren Olofson runs around the garden while junior Evan Bayliss enjoys the garden dedication meal provided by Bon Appetit.

a man and a man planting a tree

Professor Hudson and James Kennelly ’12 plant one of the 15 fruit trees. 

a group of men sitting on grass in a park

After the dedication, supporters enjoy conversation and a locally grown meal by the garden's new sign.

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