As a crew member at the UMass Permaculture Garden I know that the work that I do in the garden matters. We grow healthy, fresh and sustainable food for the University. It feels pretty great to give back to the students, faculty and staff that have supported me over the past three years. There’s something magical about seeing pea plants sprout from seeds we plant, watching kale plants grow lush and big, unearthing a perfectly round radish, or discovering a bright red strawberry. Growing food offers a satisfaction I’ve never experienced in any other job. But perhaps the best part is walking into a dining hall and seeing the crop we harvested four hours ago on peoples plates. At the beginning of the summer we made a list of group norms for the garden crew. One of them was, “cultivate community while cultivating crops.” The permaculture garden creates community, not just among the crew members who work there, but within the larger UMass community. |
UMass Permaculture Crew Member Summer 2017