Community garden connects
students and the environment
By Jocelyn Stone
The Metropolitan State University St. Paul campus houses a community garden that has had positive effects on students, faculty and the surrounding residents.
The garden is located on the east side of the St. Paul campus library. It was started by Associate Professor August Hoffman of the psychology department after he started teaching at Metropolitan State last year. The approx. 20 ft. by 20 ft. plot is next to an unused greenhouse originally built by the state Department of Agriculture for insect research.
During both fall and spring semesters last year, Professor Hoffman required his students to choose between writing a five-page paper or donating 10 hours of community service in addition to the regular coursework. Many of his students chose to fulfill their community service by working in the garden on Saturday mornings, and some even stayed on to help beyond the end of their semesters.
A school-sponsored community garden is a familiar concept to Professor Hoffman. Before moving to Minnesota, the native Californian taught at Compton College in Los Angeles, and helped cultivate a community garden on that campus over an eight-year period. In an area of L.A. that is crime-ridden and lacking green space, the garden gave students a feeling of ownership of their school and helped a large commuter student body connect to the community and each other.
Professor Hoffman has already seen that same effect here at the Metropolitan State garden. “Whenever people are given a super-ordinate goal, meaning one goal that requires everyone to pitch in and help,” says Hoffman, “our perceptions of each other improve.”
Hoffman says that, because there is a large commuter group here as well, working in the garden has helped him connect with students outside of class. It has also helped students connect to each other and debunk attitudes and stereotypes.
The garden is currently producing fruit and vegetables such as cabbage, cauliflower, tomatoes, corn and potatoes. Also surrounding the greenhouse is a variety of trees bearing stone fruit, plums and Honeycrisp Apples. As it ripens, the food is offered to the residents of the adjoining Swede Hollow neighborhood. Community members occasionally stop by to admire the garden and help out. The pastor at the nearby First Lutheran Church has been a great resource, sometimes offering the church’s water supply for the garden.
Right now Hoffman is planning to work the garden until weather no longer permits. Due to the economy and related budget cuts, funding for the intended insect research was eliminated and the greenhouse near the garden now stands unoccupied. Professor Hoffman and some others have expressed interest in Metropolitan State acquiring the building and allocating it for an indoor garden and lab space; much of the fate of the greenhouse will probably depend on the financial ability of Metropolitan State.
Hoffman and his helpers work on the garden Saturdays from 9 a.m. until noon. For more information on how community service brings people together, Hoffman has co-authored a book titled, Unity Through Community Service Activities: Strategies to Bridge Ethnic and Cultural Divides; he also uses this book in the curriculum for his community psychology class.