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What started as an idea to bring some fresh plants to dining hall menus, New Mexico Tech quickly blossomed into something bigger: a circular food production and food waste disposal program.
Ideally, getting from point A to point B was not a straight shot. Daniel Leatherman, the school’s director of dining services, said the department was looking for a way to create something that would be loud, but sustainable — to encourage student participation. Persistent, naturally. Another goal was to break into the community.
When discussions about a garden began a year ago, Nowka Gutierrez, director of auxiliary services on campus, heard about a group of students who wanted to start a community garden and club. Ultimately, Chartwells and New Mexico Tech, with the support of the local community and Socorro County Options, Prevention and Education (SCOPE) coordinator Samantha Winters, developed a proposal and sought funding for the initiative.
Chartwells pledged $5,000 annually to the garden; SCOPE chipped in $1,500 and the city and Rotary Club donated $2,500. The city is donating irrigation lines and timers, sprinklers and equipment, not charging for water services.
Crops like squash are offered to students.
The partners searched for a suitable place for the garden, and finally they settled on a weedy place. “The site belonged to the university, but it wasn’t being used for anything,” says Gutierrez. “Then we had to figure out how to prepare for the garden.”
Ground was broken in January this year. The Chartwells and the school officially launched the New Mexico Tech Garden Club, with more than 30 new members doing their best to establish and maintain the plot. They got help from Leatherman, Gutierrez, several faculty members, and a few local residents. Other campus clubs helped with the site, labor, clearing brush and hauling railroad ties and mulch, and local growers contributed some plants. The Facilities Department provided acorns from trees cut on campus.
The 12,000-square-foot facility—double the size of a basketball court—consists of eight raised beds and produces squash, sweet and hot peppers, tomatoes, lettuce and herbs. Another bed gives annual flowers. Peach, apple, fig and walnut trees and grape vines were also added, although all of these were too immature to yield.
Once the vegetable issue is resolved, Leatherman envisions New Mexico Tech expanding an already ongoing program that diverts food waste to local hog farmers. He sees the garden as providing “a good opportunity to convert some of the waste for composting purposes”.
In the year In the first three months of 2022, the program diverted 1.3 tons of food waste, providing 72 pounds of food for composting to feed farm animals and sending nothing to landfill. Chartwells can measure the impact of waste with Waste Not 2.0, a proprietary software. The software tracks water usage and CO2 footprint and ultimately helps maximize vegetable production.
While legal issues prevent dining services from including the garden’s bounty on their menu, produce is available to students and other volunteers who work at the garden, Leatherman said.
“It really creates a culture of great appreciation and consideration,” he said. “I think that was one of the main purposes of the garden — to create a community culture that puts sustainability at the forefront.” In addition to strengthening ties with the local community, the garden also serves to teach students about the role of agriculture in producing food, he said.
Now that the garden is established, Gutierrez hopes to develop a consistent work schedule. During the spring semester, the schedule was a bit erratic; Over the summer, students enrolled in Upward Bound on campus help keep the garden going by planting micro-greens and handling regular weeding and watering.
The garden addresses the problem of central New Mexico’s status as a food desert. “It fills the gap for the students to be able to cook fresh vegetables and herbs for themselves,” Gutierrez said.
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