Getting your hands dirty every once in a while can be the best form of self-care out there, and Trinity’s community garden is a great place to do so. Both a class and a gardening club take care of the community garden. Fresh fruits and vegetables grow for everyone on campus to enjoy, and the garden provides a space for students to get outside and de-stress after a long week.

The gardening class is a small class of about 20 people that meets once a week, and students perform all the hands-on work, such as laying down mulch and planting seeds. Students also learn about the importance of biodiversity, natural growth and other aspects of gardening. The club puts on events to promote learning about gardening as well as advertise that the community garden is for anyone and everyone to visit.

The class has officer positions, similar to a club, and most of the students in the class are also active members of the club. Taylor Crow, senior psychology major and president of the gardening class, said the garden adds a lot to the campus community and culture.

“I would say it benefits the campus as a whole, not only in aesthetics because it looks pretty, but it brings everybody together,” Crow said. “Just once a week, we all come to the garden after a long, stressful week of school and classes and due dates and whatever is going on.”

The gardening class meets every Friday morning and Aly Baldwin, class officer and junior neuroscience major, said that working on the garden at the end of the week always gives her peace of mind.

“I love the outdoors, but sometimes it’s just hard to be outside […] it’s so hot,” Baldwin said. “Sometimes so many things are coming at you, like different classes and clubs and whatnot, so it’s good to just take a second and be outside.”

Chard, lettuce and tomatoes are just a few of the crops grown in the garden. However, the crops are not the primary reason class and club members work in the garden; they also appreciate the relaxing time outside that it provides.

Senior studio art and psychology double major, Sally Wyma, is the president of the Community Garden Club. She said that Trinity students are notorious for overworking themselves and that the garden is the perfect place to take a break from the stress of it all.

“There definitely is a line where you don’t know when to rest and when to keep working,” Wyma said. “Being outside is a huge break where you’re still doing something productive.”

During the pandemic, the Gardening Club went on a bit of a hiatus, but the class still took care of the garden. This is the first year that the club is back in full swing. Faith Perry, junior psychology major, is an officer in the gardening class and said that a lot of people have adopted gardening recently and that the gardening community has been especially prevalent on campus since the pandemic.

“It’s fun to interact with all the students that come and see how big of an interest there is in gardening on campus,” Perry said. “It’s really surprising to see how many people love gardening.”

Crow stated that even when everyone was having to test regularly and wear masks, the gardening class was a great opportunity to safely interact with people.

“I think it’s a great space for people to come back together after being away for so long,” Crow said. “The garden was a place where we could all take a mask off and be outside and be with each other.”

On Aug. 26th, the community garden club hosted a tote bag painting and propagating event that exceeded expectations. Crow said that when they were trying to decide how many tote bags to purchase for the event, they went with 25-30, thinking that because they hadn’t been a club for a year, the event wouldn’t attract tons of people. They ran out of tote bags before the event even started.

Wyma said that their first event and the unexpectedly large turnout made all the officers and members of the club and class excited for the future of the community garden. She said they also got a lot of attention at the Student Involvement Fair, raking in nearly five sheets full of names and contact information.

Crow said that the garden is a safe space on campus, and the food is for everyone, not just those who help to grow it. Gardening is a rewarding experience for all.

“At the end [of the semester] we actually get to eat all of the things we grow and taste them and try new foods that some people have never tried before,” Crow said. “There’s nothing like seeing the joy on somebody’s face when they’ve had a radish for the first time.”