The mission of the campus gardens:
- to propagate, nurture, and harvest organic food
- demonstrate ecological and regionally appropriate food systems
- provide living laboratories that broaden student’s academic experience
We are continuing to strengthen and build our thematic gardens or “living laboratories.” Creating manageable cross-sections of larger food production systems on campus provides demonstration and research opportunities for our students without the burden of significant capitalization requirements.
The Garden Program also provides many campus work-study positions, including garden production and garden planning and development. The gardens currently include:
Larson Eco-Garden: permaculture and biodynamic principles.
Memorial Perennial Garden: perennial culture, herbs, fruits, flowers; including pollinator and butterfly habitat.
Larson High Tunnel Greenhouse: off-season production of cold-hardy plants, experiment with unique summer varieties.
Nursery Greenhouse: seed starting, container gardening, plant breeding and propagation.
Orchards: management of current fruit tree species and establishment of new nut and fruit cultivars.
Apiaries: beehives and pollinator gardens; bee breeding program.