Students often pass by the organic garden hidden behind the bicycle workshop and the orchard tucked between Giovale Library and Emigration Creek, not knowing that behind those places is a purpose.
Denise Živković is the Growing Spaces program manager at Westminster University, who heads the organic garden, orchard, greenhouse and Skaggs garden boxes. These spaces were developed nearly a decade ago to be opportunities for community, learning and growing fresh food to eat.
Živković, also an alum of Westminster in environmental studies, strives to reinvigorate these spaces to connect wellness, sustainability and community.
“I think the variety of gardens on campus are crucial in supporting people’s connection with nature, especially amidst the city scape,” Živković said. “For a lot of students here on campus, they’ve come from far and wide and they’ve left their home. We have the opportunity to have those students reconnect with nature in some shape or form that sort of bridges the gap of leaving home and what you’re comfortable with and coming to a new place.”
Sonya Brunner, a first-year student, jumped at the opportunity to work in the gardens a month ago to experience a taste of home.
“I’ve always loved working in dirt,” Brunner said. “I’ve worked at a greenhouse during the summer for five years, and in things like landscaping at my own family garden. So I was like, I want to keep doing that while I’m in college. This does not feel like a job to me even though it is.”
Another opportunity that the growing spaces program provides is the ability to learn about the environment hands-on through projects and internships.
Bella Willes, a sophomore environmental studies major, received a grant last year from the Utah Native Pollinator Habitat Program for the installation of 150 Utah native pollinator plants in the organic orchard on campus.
Živković said that because the Growing Spaces program is in the early stages of developing, there is “room for growth and opportunities to do almost anything,” just like the pollinator project.
“We want professors to say, if you want to test the impacts of different fertilizers on food crops, you can do it on campus,” Živković said. “We are a university, so we are open to learning and trying new things.”
A main priority for Živković is to grow enough food so students can always stop by the garden and forage for food to eat right off the vine or to get fresh food from the Purple Basket.
“It’s good to have the ability to offer the student population something fresh,” Willes said. “What we’ve been doing throughout our fall harvest is, Denise and I will grab tomatoes from the Skaggs boxes and we’ll just put them in the lobby in Meldrum for people to take. And so it’s always nice to be able to offer something.”
Živković also plans to revamp the organic garden so professors can hold classes outside, students can pick food and hang out in nature, and clubs can host meetings there. She is also preparing to teach the Ecology of Food Systems course in Spring semester to blend environmental studies with hands-on learning.
“I want people to come out of the gardens knowing that they have community and connection, a place and a person to lean on in times of need,” Živković said. “We are here as a community to strive for positive change in any way that we can. If time in the garden teaches people about serenity and peace, that’s amazing. If it teaches them the details of how to grow a tomato, I think that’s awesome.”
