Looking for something plant related to do outside of the lab or greenhouse? Check out these campus plant connections. If you know of other groups that we haven’t listed here, please let us know!
FH King – Students for Sustainable Agriculture
A student organization working to promote sustainable agriculture. They produce ~2000 lbs of veggies, fruits, flowers and herbs every year, grown in their 1.75 acre garden at Eagle Heights. They distribute this produce for free at their “Harvest Handouts.” Other projects include workshops, a vertical garden, and “Full Cycle Freight” cart bikes to haul compost and veggies
Open to both undergraduate and graduate students, this club is for those who are interested in horticulturally significant plants. They host meetings with food, speakers, and also have field trips throughout the year.
One benefit is getting more info about career opportunities. There are modest (10$) dues, and field trip charges (5$) They do a plant sale every year at the stock pavilion.
An undergraduate learning community housed in Leopold Hall. 86 residents interested in sustainability have hands-on learning opportunities such as workshops, cooking seminars, and access to their very own rooftop greenhouse.
An undergraduate student organization open to anyone with a love of plants. Visit them on Facebook.
A student organization for those with an interest in agriculture, cooking, food, and environmental justice. Slow Food on Campus is an extension of the international Slow Food network and of Slow Food USA. Slow Food has been expanding over the past decade from dealing with issues of quality in cooking to include environmental and sustainable agriculture, social justice, and food sovereignty, among others. The Crossing, a campus Christian center located at 1127 University Avenue, hosts the Slow Food Café. It is a student run, non-profit organization offering a weekly dining experience every Wednesday from 11:30am – 2pm, as well as a weekly dinner.
PSGSC – Plant Sciences Graduate Student Council
The Plant Sciences Graduate Student Council (PSGSC) was founded in 2000 by combining the graduate student councils of horticulture, agronomy, and plant breeding and plant genetics (PBPG). The PSGSC was created to foster enhanced communication and promote more social interaction among the graduate students of horticulture, agronomy, and PBPG, including those not located in the Moore / Hort. / Plant Sciences building. The council serves to work with the faculty, staff, and students to promote educational and social outreach and to welcome new graduate students in the plant sciences.
Edible Landscapes have been placed outside several residence halls including Cole, Sellery and Smith. They grow a variety of vegetables and herbs such as carrots, beans, lettuce, kale, beets, radishes, bok choy, basil and parsley. Anyone is welcome to visit the gardens and harvest the produce. “The main goal is to make students aware of the whole food system—the source of it, how it’s grown, how to garden, and how to take care of it,” Aida Ebrahimi, one of the projects’ founders, says. “Right now a lot of students are eating ready-made mac-n-cheese or frozen food. We want to make sure they know the whole process and how much energy and effort you need to put into these plants.” Find more information about the Edible Landscapes project on its Facebook page.
Primarily undergraduate forest science students, but welcoming to “anyone with an interest in preserving and managing our collective natural resources.” They meet monthly at Russel Labs, produce a newsletter, and have an annual Christmas tree sale in the stock pavilion.