Take a stroll across the upper plaza of the Morningside Campus near Pupin and Uris Halls, and you'll find what could well be called Columbia's field of dreams.
It's the Community Garden , two plots occupying about 1000 square feet, burgeoning with herbs, vegetables, berry bushes, flowers and the enthusiasm of student gardeners.
Becky Davies, CC '10, is the primary dreamer and the initiator of the garden, planned and cultivated under the auspices of the Columbia University Food Sustainability Project. Davies describes the group as "dormant for a couple of years" before she took up its leadership this past spring.
She says she first rounded up some interested people - largely first-year students, and "we decided we wanted to do a garden." Initial help came from Facilities, including the land, tools, water, bricks and expertise.
Matthew Early, Assistant Vice President, Facilities Operations, recalls receiving an e-mail from Davies, asking to talk about her idea. Early and Davies met, agreed on a location for the garden, and Davies submitted a project proposal written by Sustainability Project members.
"My guys prepared the plot, took out bushes, and took soil samples," Early says. "And we asked Becky to write up an agreement that the garden had to be taken care of over the summer or the land would be taken back." ... Click here to read more.
