Reprinted with permission.
Staff photo by Pamela Powers /Campus garden assistant Brianna Shea, foreground, and campus
garden manager Katie Ankowicz clean recently picked vegetables that will be packed up and
sent to customers who bought shares in the garden.
News, Page 3A
Aug. 3, 2015
UW-Stout students, volunteers tend expanded campus
garden throughout summer
By Pamela Powers
Menomonie News Bureau
MENOMONIE — When her half-bushel of locally grown vegetables arrived at her office, Sandi
Duex smiled as she looked over her bounty.
“It is like Christmas every week,” she exclaimed as she pulled out dragon-tongued beans and
parsley. “I love it.”
Reprinted with permission.
Duex, UW-Stout’s director of housing, is one of 11 customers of the UW-Sprout campus garden,
which grows a variety of vegetables. People interested in eating those foods buy $200 shares to
receive weekly half-bushels of veggies during the summer.
“It’s been fun,” said Duex, mother of a 19-year-old son, Kyle, and 16-year-old daughter, Kelsey,
who also enjoy the vegetables.
The idea for a campus garden started about six years ago with students asking to have one, said
Sarah Rykal, UW-Stout sustainability coordinator. Last year there was a small campus garden
and this spring, after university housing purchased a lot with a house that was razed, the garden
expanded to about 3,000 square feet on the 66-foot by 125-foot area. The garden is located at 214
Fourth St. W.
Starting in July, garden workers deliver vegetables via bicycle to customers who bought shares,
Rykal said. The bikes have a trailer to carry coolers with vegetables in them that are then put into
boxes for customers. Vegetables will be delivered until the end of the growing season.
Donations helped the garden get up and running. The city of Menomonie donated mulch while
Cowsmo Compost of Cochrane donated compost. Baker Creek Heirloom Seed Co. of Mansfield,
Mo., donated $200 in seeds. And the Stout Student Association financed the water lines, tools and
site preparation with student green fees.
Two student employees hired through the UW-Stout sustainability office maintain the garden,
along with student volunteers, called “Sproutateers,” Rykal said. “We grow asparagus to
zucchini,” Rykal said. “We do a lot of heirloom varieties. Everything is sustainably grown. We
don’t use any chemicals.”
Duex said being part of the garden program has introduced her and her family to new foods.
“(Garden organizers) send an email with recipes. I’d never used Swiss chard before in my life,”
she said. “We weren’t crazy about it, but we tried it. The dragon tongue beans we never had
before but we loved them.”
Reprinted with permission.
Student learning
In addition to customers receiving tasty vegetables, the garden program benefits participating
students, Rykal said.
“Students are learning to grow vegetables,” she said. “They are learning entrepreneurial skills.
Environmental education students are learning about sustainable gardening. They are also
thinking about local food systems.”
UW-Stout student volunteer Laura Donovan said she enjoys her time working at the garden. On
Wednesday she picked basic. “I really like being out here,” she said. “It’s a nice feeling
connecting with something bigger than myself.”
Katie Ankowicz, the campus garden manager, is a senior majoring in environmental science with
an emphasis in plant science. She said she is passionate about sustainable agriculture.
“I really like doing things that are hands on,” she said.
Gaining experience in her field of study prompted Brianna Shea, a campus garden assistant and a
sophomore who is majoring in environmental science, to work at the garden. Along the way she
learned another reason for her effort there.
“I just feel like we are making a difference,” she said.
The garden vegetables have been popular, necessitating a waiting list for next year, Rykal said.
There is a possibility satellite gardens could be created around campus if there is enough interest,
she said.
UW-Stout is the only UW System university to have a community supported agriculture garden
on campus, Rykal said.
Duex said she likely will continue to receive vegetables through the UW-Sprout garden in the
future. “Because of it, I am able to provide healthy options for my family,” she said. “I also talk
sustainability with my kids.”