Just a few miles from campus on West Samford Avenue, Auburn residents, students and professors can be seen tending to small plots of land.
They gather in the Auburn Community Garden, run by the Auburn Real Food Challenge with help from the College of Agriculture. With 60,000 square feet and over 100 plots, the garden is a place for members of the community to garden and commune with other gardeners.
The garden has a variety of sizes, with the smaller plots being ideal for students or those who are new to the gardening scene.
The ARFC supplies the garden with water and some choice tools and gardeners supply the rest.
"We have a variety of ages come out and garden their plot," Community Garden Manager, and senior in economics, Jaimen Perez said. "We have international students, undergraduate students and faculty who don't have space at their apartments come and garden here."
The community garden has been around for a few years, but three springs ago it became a garden run by and for the Auburn community. Previously, it was owned by the Alpha Zeta agricultural fraternity, but it needed a new program to manage it.
Perez stepped forward to manage the garden in 2012.
"The garden wasn't really a part of Auburn Real Food Challenge's original mission, which is to promote locally sourced food on Auburn's campus," Perez said. "But, it fit the overall mission and we're in our third spring now."
The community garden will now begin offering workshops to help those who are inexperienced in gardening learn the basics. They have also had a seed swap and plan on a plant sale in the future.
"It's just a really great place to go and meet other people who care about the same things as you," Founder of ARFC Rosco Davis said.
The garden is home to many different gardeners, though one especially stands out.
Claire Herren, a senior in Human Developmental and Family Studies, dedicates her plot in the community garden to a specific cause.
Plant a Row For Hunger is a national organization directed toward planting an extra row in a garden and donating the money to a local food bank.
While Herren originally began with just an extra row, she now has an entire plot that she donates to the East Alabama Food Bank.
"I got interested in the organization after taking a class and hearing about it," Herren said. "I learned we did not have a PAR chapter here so I started one. I didn't know much about gardening so I started with more enthusiasm than experience."
PARFH has donated over 20 million pounds of food nationally.
Herren had a few volunteers help her last year and goes around the plots asking if anyone can donate.
"Any donation is better than nothing," Herren says.
This sentiment runs deep with Herren, who worked at the Community Market in Opelika. Walmart and other large grocers donate most of the food at the market.
"I remember one day I was sorting through bananas and tomatoes and most of them were broken or spoiled so fruit flies were covering them," she said. "This grandfather took his 5-year-old granddaughter and was picking out the food for their week. She looked disgusted and no one should have to feel that way about what they're going to eat."
Last year, with the help of the volunteers at the garden and other organizations in the community, Herren donated 200 pounds to the East Alabama Food Bank.
A few plots are still available to reserve at the ARFC website, auburnrealfoodchallenge.weebly.com.
To become involved with PARFH, email Herren at PARauburn@gmail.com
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