Sophomore Iliana Krehbiel is trying to take the concept of going green to the next level by creating a community garden at Baker University.
The project began as an independent study and sociological project, but now Krehbiel is in the early stages of working on a grant proposal that would bring fresh produce to Baker students.
“What we’re trying to do at Baker is build some awareness of the issue (of sustainability) at Baker,” she said.
Krehbiel pointed out the food production system of the United States right now has negative environmental, economic and health effects, and she believes community gardens help mitigate all of those problems.
“I’m focusing on the fact that our food system currently is really broken in every way possible,” she said. “In an environmental sense, industrialized food is being produced in ways that hurt the earth. Economically, it’s not sound.”
With rising food costs, Krehbiel said garden-grown food is becoming a cheaper and healthier food choice. The health benefits of a community garden appeal to Catering Coordinator Tanya Sieber, but the logistics pose problems.
“I support the goal, but I don’t think it will ever be able to replace entirely our food ordering system,” Sieber said.
Sieber said one problem is the Kansas growing season, which is April to October and means students are only on campus for a few months of the season.
Earth We Are President Justine Greve said that is her biggest concern with the garden.
“It’s a great idea if we can work out the logistics,” she said.
EWA has tried to promote sustainability at Baker in the past through January’s resource conservation summit and last year’s trayless Thursdays.
Another issue is the amount of food consumed in the cafeteria. Sieber said 800 meals are served each day with the cafeteria going through 300 to 400 apples, 300 bananas and 800 heads of Romaine lettuce each week.
“I love the idea to build awareness of the issue, and I think for the university to be moving in a greener direction, the most important place to start is with food service,” she said.
Krehbiel said her beginning goal for the garden is growing produce that could supplement the cafeteria’s ordering system with hopes to expand to the community.