Penn State Brandywine Wins Award in Local Gardening Contest

Penn State Brandywine’s green thumb just got greener.

Penn State Brandywine’s Honors Garden won second prize in the Community Vegetable Garden category of the Delaware County Master Gardeners’ 2015 garden contest this past summer. The Delaware County Master Gardeners is an organization of volunteers from Penn State University’s College of Agriculture Cooperative Extension, that encourages gardeners to learn from each other through continuing education, events and projects both at home and in their communities. According to Penn State Extension:

“The mission of the Penn State MG volunteer program is to support the Penn State Cooperative Extension by utilizing research-based information to educate the public on best practices in consumer horticulture and environmental stewardship.”

Given my passion for sustainability, I wanted to find out more about this award-winning club.

About the Club:

Brandywine’s Sustainable Garden Club has over 30 registered members. Open to students interested in organic gardening, the club is responsible for maintaining the crops and harvest from the campus garden. The Honors Garden was built in the summer of 2014 and started out with just beets, carrots and oregano but has since added lettuce, broccoli and cauliflower to the garden.

On top of donating its lettuce and tomatoes to the campus’ dining hall, the Sustainable Garden Club does great charity work as well. Last fall, they had a food drive and collected fresh produce for a hunger relief organization. Plans for this fall include partnering with the Tyler Arboretum in Media, PA to offer volunteer hours for its members for the winter months.

What is the Penn State Brandywine Honors Garden?

The Honors Garden is sponsored by the Schreyer and Cooper Honors Programs and maintained by Sustainable Garden Club at Penn State Brandywine. According the president of the Sustainable Garden Club, Kyler Jones, sophomore at Brandywine:

“Overall, we’re geared towards giving Brandywine students and faculty a medium to explore sustainability.”

Who should join?

Brandywine’s Honors Garden is a great place for students to gather and grow as a campus community. Students should join in order to hone gardening as well as leadership skills. Many local colleges, like Muhlenberg College, in Allentown, have successful sustainable gardens as well. Jones suggests that student leaders who are hoping to start their own sustainable gardens at their schools make sure to have executive boards and members that, “Genuinely care about sustainability.”

Want to follow along with the excitement growing (get it?!) on Penn State Brandywine’s campus? Like the Sustainable Garden Club on Facebook here.