photo provided by Claire Sammons

Autumn. A time when pumpkin spice is in the air, cool temperatures starts to set in, and leaves are falling. In sunny San Antonio however, fall doesn’t look quite the same as the rest of the globe, with pretty warm temperatures remaining, even with the occasional cold front blowing in. At Trinity University, fall is when much of the community garden is finally harvested, and the school’s gardening class and other students involved with the garden, finally get to see the results of their work.

“Normally, the garden is primarily maintained by students enrolled in a gardening class. The sponsoring department opted not to offer the class this semester because of all the concerns related to COVID,” says Sharon Curry, Trinity’s sustainability coordinator.

Curry’s office is currently helping to organize volunteers that work in the garden, and it is currently being worked on and led by a student leadership team as well.

Taylor Crow, one of the leadership team members, says that she got involved with the garden via Greek life, but that anyone can get involved.

“I got involved with the community garden through some of the girls in Alpha Chi that have been pretty involved in it the last couple of years. I joined a gardening club when I was in high school and found it to be very therapeutic and relaxing during some tough academic and personal times,” she says.

With COVID-19 controlling much of what students can participate in currently, Crow encourages students to garden, as she says it can be a method of relieving stress.

“Gardening and taking care of plants is one thing I can always count on to make my day brighter! When I heard that there was a garden on campus, I knew I really wanted to be apart of helping it flourish. I feel as though the garden could help many other people on campus in the same way that I have found it helps me,” Crow said, “I feel as though we are all going through a tough time right now trying to stay caught up and motivated in our online classes, dealing with isolation and quarantine, and just the current state of our country. Things right now are very overwhelming, but taking the time to help a few plants grow and become something beautiful would be a nice break from all of the uncertainty in our lives and the things we simply cannot control.”

Anna Shockley, a current junior who will be volunteering in the garden this fall, says that the garden provides a safe environment for a non-risky passion project during the pandemic.

“The community garden really caught my attention freshman year because it was a place where Trinity students could volunteer and learn about plants in a casual environment,” said Shockley.

“This year, I’m looking forward to volunteering because watching plants mature throughout the season is a fulfilling activity and it’s a fun way for me to feel connected in a COVID safe space,”said Shockley.

Curry says that her office has many seeds that were donated to the gardening program currently available to student volunteers for use both inside the garden and to take home to their own spaces. Students are encouraged to get involved in the garden if they are interested, via reaching out to the garden leadership team or directly to Curry’s office: [email protected] to request to be added to the volunteer email list or reach out to the garden coordinator, Isabel Chavez, at [email protected].

“Even if you can’t get involved this semester,” said Crow, “stop by to check out the garden and grab a couple jalapeños!”