Photo Courtesy of Hofstra University

Hofstra University’s student garden, near Stuyvesant Hall, was inaugurated in 2013 by Will Allen, a Milwaukee-based agriculturalist and the recipient of an honorary doctoral degree from Hofstra. His book, “The Good Food Revolution,” was also the common reading assignment for Hofstra’s class of 2017. The garden is just one of several elements that have earned Hofstra the Arbor Day Foundation’s “Tree Campus USA” recognition. Along with the variety of trees and tulips, the on-campus garden sets Hofstra apart as a green campus. The university’s sustainability studies program aims to carry that environmental spirit into the classroom as well. In particular, Hofstra’s sustainability classes teach the sustainability goals of the United Nations.

“Sustainable Development Goal Two (SDG 2) is zero hunger. The twelfth goal, SDG 12, is responsible production and consumption. Our community garden’s goal is to demonstrate this to our students in a practical way,” said Ruth Bernard, a graduate student in the sustainability program. “The student involvement is hands on. We also want to connect people to where their food comes from.”

Bernard was invited to be a part of Hofstra’s garden initiative in April 2019 by professors Annetta Centrella-Vitale and Sandra Garren. Centrella-Vitale held her classes in the garden rather than the classroom, allowing students to experience and connect directly with the environment. Student volunteers received donated soil and plants, shoveled the soil into the two new planters and planted their crops. The garden has proven to be a successful initiative and constantly changes to reflect the needs of the Hofstra community. Among the garden’s recent additions is a wheelchair-accessible bed.

“The Sustainability Studies program at Hofstra remains committed to providing our students with opportunities to engage in activities toward solving current sustainability issues,” said Centrella-Vitale, an adjunct instructor in the Department of Geology, Environment and Sustainability. “I think this pandemic brought to light our need for secure access to important resources. Food is a critical resource, and learning how to supplement our food needs is a valuable life lesson. We are excited to have a universally accessible student garden at Hofstra where all students can get involved and learn how to plant and grow food.”

Garden volunteers have made it a point to plant a variety of plants and have obtained seeds for different vegetable crops. “In 2019, we planted green and red kale, bok choy, scallions, parsley, swiss chard and beets,” Bernard said. “Last summer, I was the student intern tasked with watering and caring for the garden. In the fall, we brought our harvest to the LEAF (Leadership for Environmental Action) club. Here, we had students who would be interested in being involved with the garden going forward.”

Hofstra’s campus shutdown, however, has had an effect on the upkeep of the garden. Hoping for a harvest in May, students planted sugar snap peas and lettuce in a shed that was later locked down along with other non-essential facilities on campus.

“As a result of the shutdown, our adjusted planting plans are for an herb garden after the garlic is harvested in June or July in that bed,” Bernard said. “In the other bed will be a fall crop, like pumpkins. We are waiting to be allowed back on campus. In preparation, we will begin our seeds at home.” The Sustainability Studies department had also planned a workshop in April on how to make a container garden. This would be facilitated by Mary Callanan, the master garden coordinator at Cornell Cooperative Extension, an ecological sustainability organization operating in New York state. Container planting, as opposed to traditional ground planting, has a lessened risk of soil-borne diseases and weeds, but takes up more space.

In addition to at-home garden preparations, department members have started working on courses for the fall and hope to start the semester off with a bang following this unexpected hiatus. “This fall, we will be offering our Food and Sustainability course, which will examine the sustainability of our present-day food systems from a global perspective to the local level,” Centrella-Vitale said. “It will expose students to how food production has evolved over the centuries and the direction it is headed today.”

Centrella-Vitale hopes that the university shutdown does not hinder sustainability studies education or programming. She is hopeful that this semester can be a fruitful one for students, both within and outside the classroom, despite not having a physical presence on campus. “During this time of distance learning, we are continuing to develop our online capabilities and are creating an Instagram for the garden so students can see for themselves how things are growing until we can all safely return to campus,” she said. “We are also fostering relationships with community partners that will provide our students [with] access to real world application experiences.”