ONLINE EXCLUSIVE — October 1st marks the beginning of the Green Team’s four-year-long dream becoming a reality.
At 10:30 a.m. of that morning, Pepperdine’s first edible and organic community garden will open on-campus to students, faculty and staff. The garden is located across from Mail Services near the intramural soccer fields.
“We started this project to bring the Pepperdine community together,” Co-President Emilyrose Reeder said. “The light that lights up in people while out gardening is like a miracle.”
The Green Team recently received funds from the Inter-Club Council (ICC) and was granted a land plot by administration to create this garden for the community to come together and cultivate it.
Preparation of the garden’s irrigation is underway to ensure the land is ready for planting on the opening day. Donated compost and Pepperdine’s own “virgin” soil will be used.
“I think of it as a Mission Field; it is the perfect concept,” Reeder said. “We can meet people’s spiritual and physical needs here.”
According to Reeder, people in today’s lifestyle can easily lose appreciation for nature’s beauty, especially a crop and how it grows to be harvested and transformed into appetizing food.
Free T-shirts, appetizers and apple cider will be available to all who come out this Sunday and enjoy “working side by side and experiencing what it mean to just come outside,” Reeder said.
Applications are being accepted this week for individuals and student groups looking to secure one of the twelve garden planters.
In addition to their plans for the garden, Green Team is beginning a new convocation series titled “Pioneering Christian Stewardship,” which they hope will allow students can grow in faith with one another while relishing the beauty of nature.
“This is not just about healthy bodies,” Reeder said. “It is also about our souls and salvation.”
But the club’s dreams don’t stop there.
“Fields, a clear greenhouse, benches, trees, chalkboards for gardening class, and an outdoor kitchen to cook the crops,” this is the ultimate vision of Co-President Emilyrose.
To learn more about the Green Team and to get a schedule of this semester’s gardening days, visit their blog at PepperdineGreenTeam.Blogspot.com.
