Kelly McClendon, one of the lead members in the community garden club, is showing the cookies that she baked for the meeting attendees to enjoy for Valentine’s Day. The club welcomed new members along with the interest of allowing anyone to participate.

All the members, who call themselves “plant bees,” are voting for seeds they want to see in the community garden. All these seeds were donated by the local food bank that collaborates with Bods Feeding Bods, the commodity pantry on campus.

Kate Coulter, WSGA marketing director, is currently running for WSGA presidency and gave a presentation on her campaign. She gave the presentation on behalf of herself and Ryan Durst, WSGA parliamentarian, for the upcoming election where she gave a brief overview about the importance of connection and development for students.

Emily DeShazer, community garden manager, shows different kinds of seeds to the attendees. One of many seeds that she explained was the dragon tongue bean.

DeShazer talks about last year’s gardening where they grew kitchen basics like peppers and tomatoes. The community members had also provided their harvest to Bods Feeding Bods pantry.

The community members introduce their plan for the semester as well as ask for advice from the volunteers. Kaylyn Hobelman, biology department lab manager, suggested growing bottle gourds for loofahs, which the biology department can support by providing bamboo stacks.

The community garden is located behind the Living Learning Center. The new beds for the garden were all ready, the garden will be renovated starting Saturday, March 1, 2025.

The charts show carrots, peppers and dragon tongue beans got the highest vote from the community members. The community planned to grow various vegetables and promote healthy eating on campus.