Friends of NWTC Magazine Friends Fall 2019 | Page 20

“
When you’re working with the soil and
working with your hands, something
magic
happens.
- Amanda Chu
Bounty Garden
is good for students
and other living things
Meet sustainable garden manager
Amanda Chu
Talking to Amanda Chu frequently involves seedlings,
orioles, bare feet—and surprises.
Chu manages NWTC’s Bounty Garden—a 2 ½ acre urban
farm on the grounds of the Green Bay Botanical Garden.
It is where Sustainable Food and Agriculture System
students learn to grow and market sustainable produce,
flowers, plants and other products.
It is a resource not many people expect to find in Green Bay.
“NWTC was one of the first few colleges to start organic
agriculture education in the United States,” she said.
Chu and Sustainable Agriculture instructor Val Dantoin are
keeping the garden and its lessons at an elite level, partly
through partnerships with growers, chefs and seed breeders
at places like the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
“We find out what varieties are working and characteristics
of certain varieties,” Chu said. “If there’s a flavor issue, we
can pinpoint it and hybridize. We find out advantages of
organic versus conventional methods.”
Chu became interested in organic agriculture in college by
accident while earning her degree in health promotion
and wellness.
“Between taking environmental science classes and food
ecology, I had an ‘Aha!’ moment. It all kind of clicked.
Growing our own food was important and it was the way
I could do my part to change the world for the better.”
After graduation, she and her husband signed on with
Worldwide Opportunities on Organic Farms to learn
about agriculture in Central America and Southeast Asia.
WWOOF is a worldwide movement linking volunteers with
organic farmers and growers to promote cultural and
educational experiences.
“We were able to travel the world and come to understand
all these different cultures through the lens of what organic
and sustainable farming means to those countries and
regions,” Chu said.
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As a woman of Hawaiian, German, Mexican and Chinese
descent, Chu draws from a rich cultural heritage. Her
background is the soil that helped her interest in gardening
grow. “I grew up with my grandparents from the island, so we
had papaya trees growing in the back yard, pineapple, some
citrus, coconuts, and then herbs,” she said. “My grandpa had