Martha D. Saunders
I inherited my love for gardening from my mother. She could grow anything. As a child, I got used to people stopping and admiring everything that was in bloom in our garden. Mama’s seasonal collaborations with Mother Nature have always been, in a nutshell, mind-blowing. I realized a long time ago that I would never reach his skill level, but I love getting up in the morning, putting on my work gloves and spending time playing in the dirt. Right now my lilies, agapanthus, petunias, roses, herbs and tomatoes make me proud, just in time for National Gardening Week.
UWF’s 1,600-acre campus welcomes us every day to immerse us in Florida’s natural beauty. We have been designated Tree Campus Higher Education by the Arbor Day Foundation and our beautiful Camellia Garden on campus has been listed on the National Camellia Trail. In addition to the legacy, our students, faculty and staff have come together to create two impressive gardening projects: the UWF Community Garden and the Argos Edible Campus.
In the shadow of the Pensacola Campus Water Tower, you’ll find a beautiful hidden gem: the UWF Community Garden. In addition to nourishing the plants and beautifying the campus, the UWF Community Garden gives us the opportunity to develop relationships with community members. We welcome anyone who shares our passion for digging in the dirt and watching plants bloom.
The Community Garden has been an active service project of the Kugelman Honors Program since 2009. Dr. Greg Tomso, Honors Program Director, and Chasidy Hobbs, Earth and Environmental Sciences Lecturer, are our enthusiastic garden leaders. . The garden’s mission is to create a community at UWF around growing food in a sustainable, local and organic way. Depending on the time of year, you can pick grapes or tomatoes, or one of my favorites: beets. Anyone who puts equity in the garden can bring home the premium of the harvest. It started as a small project, but now the garden has seen over 300 volunteers including students, teachers and staff, parents, grandparents and Boy Scout groups over the years. And there is something for everyone. If you don’t want to get your hands dirty, you can relax on one of the benches and enjoy the scenery. We thank Guardian Ad Litem for raising funds for the benches.
Chasidy’s work in the garden inspired her to launch the Argos’ Edible Campus program this year and we need to give it the green light. The program will give students access to fresh fruits, nuts and vegetables, free of charge. The first planting event took place in March, with over 200 trees planted on campus. The goal is to have 1,000 fruit trees and shrubs by 2024.
Initiatives, such as the UWF Community Garden and the Argos Edible Campus, provide students with learning opportunities and help the university take the next step in the fight against food insecurity.
Former First Lady Lady Bird Johnson wrote: “Where flowers bloom, so does hope. It is the same for a university. Here we are surrounded by hope, in our classrooms and now, in our gardens. I couldn’t be more proud of these two projects and the hard work they inspired. Mom would have loved it.
Martha D. Saunders is president of the University of West Florida.