Garden Project is Cool as a Cucumber

A garden project stemming from a unique University of Hartford class is bringing different campus members together, and now a local nonprofit is benefiting from the fruits (or vegetables) of their labor.

Student volunteers are growing tomatoes, greens, squash, zucchini, bell peppers, jalapeños, and purple string beans this summer for the House of Bread’s meal program, having cultivated a donated portion of Dining Services’ community garden. The idea grew out of a University Interdisciplinary Studies course on hunger and food insecurity, taught by adjunct Professor Susan Reid.

Reid explains that the course covers local and world hunger, including a lack of access to food and, in some cases, to healthy food specifically. Students visit local hunger relief organizations, including the House of Bread, and examine how U.S. farming has an impact on other countries. 

“Half the course is about problems, and the other half is about solutions around the world,” she adds. “I always say don’t write about a problem unless you have a solution. So students focus on solutions that they think might work.”

And that’s exactly what students have done with their garden efforts. Reid’s class developed the proposal, and for the summer, other students living on or near campus volunteered to grow the organic veggies. Reid also hopes classes from programs across campus will use the garden plot as a learning opportunity on the importance of organic community gardens to sustainability and the future of food. 

One summer volunteer, Myalia Durno ’24, describes herself as a psychology major passionate about environmental issues. “We brought a box bursting with produce to the House of Bread, and the nice woman working there accepted it with open arms and gratitude and asked to have a picture with the zucchini! It is important to me that resources be used in a way that helps people,” Durno says.

The student volunteers this summer have had past garden experience. But all hoped to do more, and coupling that with a chance to give back was a win-win. “The House of Bread is doing such upright and exemplary work in the community of Hartford and I wanted to support their efforts as much as possible,” says Campbell Pagel ’25, a prosthetics and orthotics major.

As a graduate student, Elizabeth Schneller M’24 views the project as a way to get more involved on campus while helping others, and hopes to continue into the fall. 

“It has been so gratifying to see that all of our hard work and dedication has rewarded us with so much produce to donate to House of Bread, where it will be prepared and served to those in need,” Schneller says. “It’s remarkable how much we were able to accomplish in just a few short and rainy months.”

The group is grateful to Jeff LeBlanc with Aramark Dining Services for donating a portion of the existing garden, as well as their sprinkler system, tools, and topsoil, and to Acting President Stephen Mulready, who supported the idea when it was first presented and visited the plot this summer.

What’s next for the garden project? Becoming an official club that anyone can join so that the learning and service work continue. Email susanreid@hartford.edu to get involved in formalizing the group and participating in the future.