Hello friends of the Westmont Gardens! It’s hard to believe that it is already September, and everyone is back on campus for an awesome new school year. While things are certainly quieter at Westmont over the summer, the student garden employees and I can assure you that the gardens have been bursting with all kinds of delicious fruits, veggies, herbs and fresh eggs (from our beautiful flock of hens) all summer long!

Thanks to all the hard work from student garden helpers Kenny and Frannie – the garden looks more beautiful and bountiful than ever! Here are some photos to catch you up on all that’s taken place in the garden this summer…

The Westmont Gardens are supported by Sodexo’s Dining Services team, as a way to bring more fresh, local produce to the Dining Commons! If you are a student who would like to be a part of enhancing the dining experience at Westmont, consider joining the Student Culinary Council! The Student Culinary Council meets once a month and is a way for students to make positive change around sustainability, health and wellness, and help implement new initiatives + special events in the DC. To learn more about joining this team, please email Michelle: maronson@westmont.edu.

Hello from the Westmont Gardens! 2016 is already off to a wonderful, rainy start – and we are thrilled to have Westmont students and faculty back on campus. First, I would like to introduce myself – I am Michelle Aronson, the new Garden Manager & Sustainability Coordinator for Westmont Dining.

My background is in education, sustainable farming, and the culinary arts, and my life passion is all things in the realm of food and farming. I am thrilled to be a part of this special community and am eager to get growing!

The new year is one of the most exciting times to be a gardener. There are few things that are more enjoyable than sifting through stacks of seed catalogs full of unique fruit and vegetable varieties, and dreaming up a new season of bountiful harvests.

This year, the Westmont Dining Garden Program hopes to scale up production, to provide even more fresh fruits and vegetables to be used by our chefs in the Dining Commons. We also hope to increase student awareness and involvement in the Garden Club, which meets every week to work in the garden, go on farm tours, enjoy potluck meals, and much more. The Garden Club also hopes to establish a more formalized student-led Sustainability group, which will work implement more environmentally friendly options around campus. If you would like to learn more about the Garden Club, send us an email: westmont.garden@gmail.com.

Better yet, join in our first workday! Friday, January 15th from 3pm-5pm. We will first meet in the Track Garden. (If you need directions, email westmont.garden@gmail.com)

Back to the gardens themselves... we are grateful for all the much needed rain, thanks to this year’s El Nino! Maggie Iba, Westmont’s wonderful previous Garden Manager/Sustainability Coordinator, planted lots of winter cover crops and other cool weather veggies, which are happily sprouting thanks to all the moisture in the soil.

In addition to lots of flourishing greens and herbs growing this time of year, the garden also has figs + strawberry guavas galore!

Hungry yet? 🙂

We hope to see you in the garden for another wonderful growing season! Please do join us this Friday in the Track Garden from 3pm-5pm for our first Garden Club workday of 2016.