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From installing a new fruit and vegetable garden to opening a seed library and a clothing repair and alteration shop, Georgia Southern University is promoting a variety of sustainability projects on campus.<\/p>\n
Take a walk near the Williams Center and Herty Building and you may notice the greenhouse and garden with several raised beds. The garden, less than a year old, is the result of a partnership between the Center for Sustainability, Department of Facilities Services and Eagle Dining Services.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is a great educational opportunity as it demonstrates how to grow food sustainably in a central and highly visible location,\u201d said Lissa Leege, director of the University\u2019s Center for Sustainability. \u201cStudents will play a critical role in the development and maintenance of the garden and will have a chance to learn by doing.\u201d<\/p>\n
Since establishing the garden, students and other volunteers have planted cherry tomatoes, slicing tomatoes, summer squash, winter squash, snap beans, Swiss chard, watermelon and basil. \u201cMuch of what we grow will go directly to catering events and dining services so that students and other members of the University community will be able to enjoy fresh produce grown right here on campus,\u201d said Scott Blair, a graduate assistant with the Center. \u201cThe campus garden produce used in the dining halls and catering events will be labeled as such so consumers will know that is what they are eating.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe often hear about the benefits of local food: low transportation cost and consequently reduced fuel use and emissions and knowing how the food is grown,\u201d added Leege. \u201cWe can\u2019t get more local than growing food on our campus.\u201d<\/p>\n
The garden also provides another unique aspect to the University\u2019s sustainability efforts. Food waste in the dining halls is collected, composted on campus and returned to the garden to grow food that will go back to the dining hall. \u201cIt is a nice example of a closed loop system that reduces our impact on the earth and benefits campus diners with healthy, locally grown food,\u201d Leege said.<\/p>\n
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The Zach S. Henderson Library has found another way to contribute to the local food movement. It recently opened a seed library, which operates much like you\u2019d imagine. Students, faculty, staff and anyone in the community may check out vegetable, fruit and flower seeds to plant in their garden. After harvesting their produce, library borrowers are encouraged to leave a few plants in the ground to go to seed and donate some of it to the Library for others to use.<\/p>\n
The seeds being offered are considered \u201cheirloom\u201d seeds or seeds that are old and somewhat rare. \u201cIt\u2019s something that public libraries across the country are doing, and we thought it would be a good idea to do this as well,\u201d said Head of Access Services Fred Smith. \u201cThe point of it is to help keep older varieties of plants viable, and the heirloom seeds fit in with the campus sustainability initiative.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Library is distributing seeds that thrive in hot and humid climates. Tomato, turnips and turnip greens, collard greens, broccoli, basil, poppies, watermelon and milkweed are among the selections being offered. Smith added the pollinator-friendly milkweed to the seed bank to support the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service\u2019s national campaign to save the monarch butterfly. \u201cTheir numbers have gone down drastically in the last decade and they must have the milkweed habitat to thrive,\u201d he said, \u201cand milkweed grows very well in backyard gardens.\u201d<\/p>\n
The seeds are ordered from a company that specializes in heirloom varieties; however, the campus garden has provided basil and watermelon seeds. Henderson Library is hoping more people will take advantage of the seed-sharing program and it is providing additional resources for patrons who may need help developing their \u201cgreen thumb.\u201d The Georgia Southern Center for Sustainability, the Botanic Garden and the Statesboro Mainstreet Farmers Market are helping promote the seed exchange.<\/p>\n
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Last fall, the Center for Sustainability helped the School of Human Ecology open a clothing alterations shop on campus. To read more about the free service, see