By Carolina Fojo, East Coast Fellow for Bon Appétit Management Company Foundation
Left to right: Gallaudet gardeners Carolina Fojo, Marcy Knox, Nicholas Palazzo III, Ryne Worsham, Davina Kwong, Jon Terpak
Eight months ago the Gallaudet Community Garden was nothing but an abandoned volleyball court filled with sand. Today, thanks to the efforts of students and Bon Appétit — with the help of the football team — it’s a thriving garden of fourteen 20-foot-long beds that just saw its first-ever harvest!
“It was an exciting day for everybody,” reports Davina Kwong, Bon Appétit General Manager at Gallaudet University, who helped spearhead the garden's creation. "Employees from the café came out to help with the harvest, pick the fresh vegetables, and dream up ways to show them off in the café the next day."
Right: Bon Appétit café employee Tanisha Bryant picks beets from the garden.
Golden wax garden beans, cucumbers, and beautiful yellow, orange, and red beets were all plucked from the ground or the vine that day. On the horizon, we’re looking forward to some summer squash and Sweet Siberian watermelon.
The big harvest day would not have been possible without the work of the two summer interns, Ryne Worsham (’12) and Jon Terpak (’12). They’ve been jointly working the garden this summer—watering, weeding, planting, and meeting regularly with Bon Appétit staff to develop ideas for how to improve the garden. Right now they're in the process of implementing one of those ideas: a cosmetic overhaul using landscaping fabric, wood chips, and stepping stones.
Everyone is excited for all the many more harvests in the Gallaudet Community Garden's future!
Find (and Like) the Garden on Facebook here.
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