The Gibbs House is an emerging program run by the Office for Sustainability that serves as a living laboratory for students to implement their sustainable design solutions and projects. The historic 160 year old house serves as a home for our Gibbs Fellowship Program, borders the expansive Asylum Lake Preserve, and features a developing permaculture landscape full of resources and projects to get excited about. Programming at the Gibbs Site enables students to conduct research and implement projects throughout the year. Some of our latest projects include utilizing black soldier flies and a compost hotwater heater to heat our hoop houses all year long (growing wonderful greens and produce for our WMU Campus Cafe) while testing the viability of composting spent grains from Bells Brewery and food waste from multiple WMU sources. Please check out our website, stop on by, or contact the Office for Sustainability if you would like to learn more and get involved with the Gibbs House!
We host a variety of opportunities at the Gibbs House to get involved and learn more about what we do.
Typically, the spring, summer, and fall are busiest and during the winter we are busy planning for the following year including our seasonal produce stand, re-skilling workshops and demonstrations, and various community and student events.
Join us for our Friday volunteer days at the Gibbs House between 1:00 and 5:00.
Volunteer at Gibbs
Did you know 4-5 students live and work at the Gibbs House as sustainability ambassadors for WMU? Follow the link below to learn more about the Gibbs House Fellowship:
The Gibbs House landscape is currently being renovated into a fully-featured permaculture
landscape! For more information about the project Master Plan please view the following:
Click on Image for a PDF download
Some of the research and educational resources include the integration of the following:
Two double-walled insulated Hoop Houses, Seven-Layer Food Forest, Intensive Annual Vegetable Garden, Hugelkultur Beds and Swales, Living Fence, Native and Perennial Plant Beds, Outdoor Education Space, Black Soldier Fly Larvae, Vermiculture, Compost Hotwater Heater, Natural Building demonstrations, Rainwater Catchment, Mushroom research, and more!
Contact
If you would like more information, would like to schedule a tour, or would like to get involved please contact us:
wmu-sustainability@wmich.edu