Buying Seeds & Planting Starts!
Rosemont College’s Rosegrow is committed to nature’s voice and protecting nature, one step at a time. This week, Mia Hoppel and other Rosemont College Rosegrow students have done great work moving their plans for a vegetable garden forward. Mia met with fellow Rosemont College Rosegrow students Pearl, Gianna, Mark, Tori and Lucy, and faculty co-advisor Professor Joanne Campbell. Together they went to buy organic vegetable seeds, soil, and supplements.
The garden areas have been mapped out, approved, and planned to start the seedlings in ice cream cones and egg cartons on Monday, March 17th, St. Patrick’s Day. Ice cream cones and egg cartons are both biodegradable. The idea is that a seedling may begin development indoors in the containers and later be transferred directly into the earth after the risk of a hard frost has passed. In Rosemont College’s corner of the world, this is typically after Mother’s Day. Rosemont College’s Rosegrow is grateful to be able to buy these supplies with money donated for the Patrick Herman Community Vegetable Garden. Rosegrow is also excited to get to work making the Rosemont College campus and our world a more beautiful place.
Rosegrow Celebrates & Remembers Patrick Herman
Monday, March 17th was St. Patrick’s Day. It was also the day of our dear friend Patrick Herman’s memorial service held in Rosemont College’s Immaculate Conception Chapel at 12pm. Rosegrow wanted to get the seeds started before the service. The idea was that when the family came to visit the vegetable garden site, they could see what was planted and how Rosegrow was utilizing the greenhouse – despite the lack of electricity!
Rosegrow planned and met in advance of the service at 10:00am in the Gertrude Kistler Memorial Library to plant those vegetable seeds! Seeds were sorted and separated by Rosegrow in advance of the meeting. The categories were those that will be planted now, and those that we will start later in the summer. Rosegrow wants to make sure that it has produce throughout the summer. We also wish to prepare for a good harvest to share campus wide at the fall Octoberfest!
Sustainability Shared by Rosegrow & Professor Radley Reist
We were all thrilled that not only Rosegrow students came, but an entire section of Rosemont College’s Introduction to Sustainability course showed up! They were a great help in ensuring all of our seeds were planted properly and in a timely manner. It was lovely to have such a large group of students working together. And then Sustainability Professor Radley Reist decided to join us! Professor Reist gallantly volunteered to fill all our containers with dirt. At the same time, all the students were planting outside at the site of the future Patrick Herman Community Vegetable Garden.
It was a great joy to share Rosegrow’s project with the extended Rosemont College community and have so many students and faculty involved and excited about our plans and activities. Rosegrow members were surprised and excited – and continue to be – by the outpouring of support and commitment to make a better planet!
Rosegrow Plans & Works to Restore the Greenhouse
After starting our seeds, our group took the containers up to the Rosemont College greenhouse. Professor Campbell and Campus Minister Eric Starrs spent some time cleaning up the greenhouse while we all planted. Rosemont College’s greenhouse is still in progress, but evening temperatures are no longer so deeply cold. It is now warm enough – even without electricity – to support our new baby vegetables. This was an opportunity to show the greenhouse to students who had never experienced it. It was also an opportunity to invite everyone to come help Rosegrow students work on completing its restoration at the upcoming campus wide Earth Day climate teach in!
After mostly everyone left, Pearl Smith, Professor Campbell and Mia stayed behind to organize the seedlings in the greenhouse. They also were able to clean up a little bit more, in preparation for the Patrick Herman family visit later that day.
Rosegrow is SO thrilled with the progress made so far! As spring begins, Rosegrow has more and more people dedicated to these projects. All of the passion and love is evident in the work and dedication that has taken place to date! Check back for more updates on this and other Rosegrow projects.
– Article adapted from a blog post by Mia Hoppel, Sustainability Intern
