A growing inspiration: Undergraduates’ garden initiative motivates the masses

KALAMAZOO, Mich.—In the backyard of a housing complex in Kalamazoo, atop a retaining wall, a vibrant garden flourishes with an array of fresh produce—from baby watermelons to cherry tomatoes. This garden is more than mere cultivation; it’s a byproduct of Seed—an urban gardening initiative conceived by Western Michigan University undergraduate students Alexa Hempel, Lexus Lawlor, Will Roosien and Joshua VanSlambrouck.

Seed, which won the Bronco Challenge for Sustainable Impact, is an innovative app dedicated to bridging the equity gap in home gardening, particularly within urban settings. Encouraging active participation in food cultivation, the app facilitates the harvesting of produce for profit at farmers markets. Offering a wealth of educational resources, troubleshooting forums, garden sponsorship opportunities and logistical support, Seed embodies a vision that materializes in the aforementioned garden, situated in Hempel and VanSlambrouck’s backyard. 

“The problem with farmers markets is you need to have a constant supply,” says Hempel. “If you're just one small garden, you don't have enough produce to supply a farmers market’s standards, so they wouldn’t approve of you. Part of the idea of Seed was bringing a collective of all of these small gardens together so that we would have enough supply to sell.”

The ragtag group of different backgrounds came together by chance, two already having known each other while the other two were recommended by administrators, and withstood the challenges of distance. Several of the students were studying abroad at some point during Seed’s inception, leading to hours-long video calls working and discussing the project. All four group members had different focuses due to different programs, ranging from business to engineering to sustainability to Spanish. 

“It was a really great way to meet people who care about environmentalism and who want to make a difference, whether they’re in the environmental and sustainability major or not,” says Lawlor. “Because obviously you can still care no matter what your major is.” 

A farming field trip 

When Dr. Bilinda Straight, professor of anthropology in WMU’s new School of Environment, Geography, and Sustainability, heard about Seed, she was utterly inspired by what her students had accomplished. 

“It was beautiful,” says Straight. “What they were doing was demonstrating the viability of creating gardens in places that you would never think you could grow food.” 

Straight teaches a course entitled Major Environmental Writings (ENVS 3200), which focuses on both up and coming diverse writers and classics about the environment. Students read and write about landscapes, climate change and other topics related to the environment. 

“We cover multiple genres of poetry, fiction, personal essays, etcetera,” says Straight. “There’s a lot of hands-on components to the class because I have them do mini experiments, whatever we can do within the campus environment. They might be asked to head outside to a natural space as inspiration to write a poem, or they might be asked to look at something specific within the campus landscaping that’s relevant to seasonality or climate change."  

After learning about Seed from Hempel and Lawlor, who are both in the course, Straight had an idea for another hands-on experience: She decided to take the class to Hempel’s garden. As a group, the class walked the few miles from Wood Hall to Hempel’s apartment, viewed the garden and even ate some of its produce. 

“It was really exciting for me, because I got to show off this project I’d been working on for a year and show people what is possible,” says Hempel. “Hopefully I got some of them excited about doing it themselves.” 

“It was very relevant for our class,” says Straight. “It was great for us to think about as we’re reading and writing in the course.” 

Experiences in the environment 

Winning the Bronco Challenge earned the team a $10,000 award. While they've completed the project for the prize, their vision for Seed extends beyond.

“I’d definitely love to actually start Seed as a real initiative,” says Hempel. “Right now it’s just a pilot app. It's just a matter of having the time to do that, and also having the financial resources to do that. But maybe eventually.” 

Having the opportunity to collaborate with a group of fellow undergraduate students with dreams of making the world more sustainable was eye opening, according to Lawlor. 

“A lot of environmentalism has become super individualized,” says Lawlor. “A team setting is a lot more common in a lot of jobs and I think it definitely should be the case in environmental work, because that's a very interdisciplinary kind of thing.” 

The collaboration of the team was an educational one, which taught them a range of skills. From writing long papers to software development to the growth of the pilot garden, their skills were put to the test as both a unit and as individuals. 

“We all kind of felt the same way about what we learned,” says Hempel. “We had to work on writing three different long documents and through that came a lot of collaboration, obviously, but also a lot of challenges, because we all had slightly different perspectives.” 

“The Bronco Challenge for Sustainable Impact is a really great way to meet people who care about environmentalism and who want to make a difference,” says Lawlor. “Each of us had different ideas on what we wanted out of the project, so it kind of  helped us create the best version of the project possible.”

The second Bronco Challenge is currently underway. Competing teams will present their plans at the end of spring semester.

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