Student garden sprouts at WMU

By Fritz Klug
News Editor

Location of the new Western Michigan University garden located at the old location of the Stadium Drive apartments. Fritz Klug/Western Herald

Friday morning, oxen from Tillers International will come to the land behind Western Michigan University’s Stadium Drive Apartments to till the soil for a new Registered Student Organization.

The Student Garden Organization will break ground on its 30 by 100 foot plot this Friday, April 2 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

The SGO is the brainchild of Will Derouin, an environmental studies and geography major, who transferred this year from Kalamazoo Valley Community College. He said that he wanted to start something on campus that is a hands-on organization.

“I’m looking to help create a more sustainable WMU community,” Derouin said.

Derouin has been working with about 12 students on the garden over the past few months, as well as WMU Landscape Services.

Tim Holysz, director of Landscape Services, said that his office will be donating top soil for the garden as well as helping transport manure.

The garden will be a continuation of the International Concentric Cultures Garden, a collaboration between WMU and KVCC, which was started a few years ago after the Stadium Drive Apartments were demolished.

Derouin said people can still plant and help out with the garden. He said they are planning on planting tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, potatoes, carrots, garlic, squash and zucchini, which will be harvested in July and be used for a cookout and by individual members.

The most important thing about the SGO is to build a sense of community through gardening, Derouin said. Throughout the summer he will be teaching people how to garden so those with little to no experience can participate.

“It’s all something we can do with a little bit of land,” he said.

Anyone can work on the garden, Derouin said, and they are more than welcome to plant their own crops, if they are willing to take care of them.

For more information, Derouin can be contacted at wderouin1@yahoo.com or 269-501-8551.

Short URL: http://www.westernherald.com/?p=16244

Posted by HeraldAdmin on Apr 1 2010. Filed under News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry

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