“ We ’ re basically in a food desert here ; if you don ’ t have a car , it ’ s pretty difficult to get to the grocery store . With the teaching garden , it ’ s a perfect opportunity for community members and students to get involved .”
MU | Environmental Studies
Manchester is finding inventive new ways to increase sustainability on campus . Students from the environmental studies and peace studies programs completed on-campus internships this past summer , building and maintaining several new gardens , including a keyhole garden , and doing work in the North Manchester community .
Interns Kora Beasley , Colleen Caylor and Andrew Kreps are all juniors at Manchester , and all are actively involved in both academic programs . They dedicated their summer breaks to supporting efforts to make campus and the wider community a healthier , more sustainable and accessible place to live and work .
“ We ’ re basically in a food desert here ; if you don ’ t have a car , it ’ s pretty difficult to get to the grocery store . With the teaching garden , it ’ s a perfect opportunity for community members and students to get involved .”
Each of the students became involved with these projects in a different way . Caylor needed to complete an internship for her environmental studies major , although the vision for the internship was quite different in the beginning . When Katy Gray Brown ’ 91 , professor of peace studies and philosophy , became advisor for the environmental studies students , the internship was reworked .
Caylor and Kreps first learned about keyhole gardens while on a January session travel course to Florida and Georgia . A keyhole garden is a circular raised bed with a cutout so that a person can stand in the middle and work on any area of the garden . This type of garden is drought resistant , holding moisture very well because of its many layers and compost channel . It is also more accessible because it does not require the gardener to lean over as far , and more produce can be planted while taking up less space .
All the produce from the campus gardens is free for students to pick .
“ I think that was a really exciting thing to do first because we were using this piece of Manchester history and creating something that will hopefully be an important part of Manchester ’ s future ,” Caylor said . “ It ’ s also been a really good way to connect with people as they walk by . You can tell that the bricks aren ’ t brand new , and a lot of people have been excited to hear that we ’ ve used the bricks in that way .”
The three even signed the bricks and the inside of the garden shed , which they also built themselves .
“ I was in the class that Andrew tutored for , and one thing that we explored was looking at the different demographics at Manchester to see who is more likely to be at risk of being food insecure , and how Manchester can take the approach to make sure that all students are equally cared for and that all students have access to fresh produce ,” Beasley said . “ We ’ re basically in a food desert here ; if you don ’ t have a car , it ’ s pretty difficult to get to the grocery store . With the teaching garden , it ’ s a perfect opportunity for community members and students to get involved .”
“ As things shifted and changed , I really started to view it more as becoming part of a community , being ready and accepting of doing a lot of networking and community service ,” Caylor said .
Beasley did preliminary work on the gardens through a conservation biology course and conversations with former Manchester professors Kristen Short and Suzanne Beyeler .
Kreps was a tutor for a class with Beyeler , and the final project was based on matters of food insecurity . Conversations of creating an oncampus garden started in the fall of 2022 , and Kreps was eager to do something garden-related .
By the summer of 2023 , all three students were committed to making a difference on campus .
Located across from Oak Grove , where the Administration Building formerly stood , the gardens include six raised beds and the keyhole garden made from Ad Building bricks .
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