The Catholic University of America's Community Garden
Living Laudato Si in Higher Education
A Guest Blog Post by Holly Thompson
As Environmental Studies students at Catholic University, we are taught a combination of science and sustainable solutions, as well as the Pope’s call for action in Laudato Si. To me, this meant putting my passion for the environment into action to simultaneously protect the earth and serve people. This is what prompted me to start CUA’s community garden.
As the Student Government Environmental Initiative Director, I was able to start the community garden by working with theology professors, Cua’s sustainably office, and the maintenance and facilities department as well as other students who are passionate about environmental issues. It was a long process that involved a lot of work, research, and communication with various knowledgeable members of the CUA’s Community It took approximately six months of meetings with maintenance for this idea to be approved and implemented. Through this process, I have met wonderful people who are passionate about the earth and have helped plan out the garden with me.
We started small, with five plots made out of concrete blocks, then we expanded to eight the next year. Right now we have eight beds, sunflowers for lead remediation, a pumpkin patch, fig-trees, and grapevines. We let groups on campus sign up for plots and we even have theology and philosophy professors sharing a plot. We have annual planting days in the Spring and are hoping to have annual plantings in the fall as well.
My Co-Environmental Director and I were able to learn gardening skills by volunteering at a local garden non-profit, the Franciscan Monastery Garden Guild. They grow around 8,000 pounds of produce a year and donate it to fighting food insecurity in DC. We not only learn about gardening there but we also have been inspired to give the produce we grow in our garden to the food pantry on campus called the cardinal cupboard. We started donating food last summer and we were able to donate 8 pounds in the fall and 90 this spring.
It has been a great experience starting the garden at CUA. It has taken a lot of planning and hard work but it has taught me about dedication, patience, and the ins and outs of gardening. One of the things that I love about the garden is that it provides a peaceful place for students to get back to nature and see all the direct ways that the earth is a gift. In Laudato Si Pope Francis encourages us to “realize that a true ecological approach always becomes a social approach; it must integrate questions of justice in debates on the environment, so as to hear both the cry of the earth and the cry of the poor. “ We have created the garden for the CUA community to bring increased levels of peace, connection with nature, and food security to our community because we are called as Catholics to do these things.
We are very grateful for all of the support we have received from CUA for this project and we are excited to see how we grow in the future. The garden has been a gift and I encourage everyone if you like gardening to start a project like this because it builds community and takes care of our planet.
