Last Thursday, while syllabus week was in full swing, Morven Kitchen Garden — a one-acre farm located off Grounds — was hard at work preparing for their fifth annual Gazpacho in the Garden event.
The Morven event featured homemade gazpacho, tours of the garden and live music from the Ragged Mountain String Band.
Emily Salle, garden and event manager, graduated from the University this past May and is staying on as the garden’s manager until the end of the growing season in November. To Salle, this event was an opportunity to showcase Morven’s mission as stated on its website: “to provide student leadership opportunities in sustainable market farming, inspire community participation in local food systems and to offer an outdoor laboratory for agricultural research.”
“We went all out to make sure this event [was] a good time for people and to show off how legitimate our organization is and how many people are involved in making it so great,” Salle said. “We used it as a fundraiser and asked for donations to support our garden. We want this event to get us on people’s radars [so they] understand that what we’re doing is important.”
While Gazpacho in the Garden is Morven’s major event for the fall semester, there are many ways to get involved throughout the school year. Since Morven is run completely by students, there is a constant need for volunteers to help maintain the garden. Second-year College student Allison Arnold, one of the leaders of the garden, volunteers regularly at Morven.
“[Volunteering] feels right and I really like to get out of the U.Va. bubble,” Arnold said. “Whenever I come back from Morven, I feel so relaxed, content and fulfilled.”
While the garden is student-run, it provides produce to the greater Charlottesville community. In order to support this venture, the garden is managed through a framework called Community Supported Agriculture.
“We grow all of our fruits and vegetables and each week people get a box of the freshest crop that we’re growing,” Second-year College student Erika Stadsklev said. “Usually it’s a mixture of different fruits and vegetables that are in season, and we can either deliver it or people can pick it up.”
This process not only allows University students to benefit from the produce, but also encourages the entire Charlottesville community to take part.
“Not only are you helping students, but you’re helping the greater community,” Stadsklev said. “Just being at our past event, Gazpacho in the Garden, we had tons of families come...it’s great to see that we’re helping people that are three times our age.”
While the garden currently hosts a large number of volunteers, a year ago, this was not the case. In the fall of last year, Morven Kitchen Garden had two dedicated volunteers and Salle was the only one working directly with the produce.
“[Last year] was really terrifying to look at,” Salle said. “I spent all last year building up our leadership infrastructure, and now we have over 30 people involved with leadership.”
Arnold, Stadsklev and fourth-year Nursing student Audrey Baker are the three leaders who will fill Salle’s shoes after her term is finished in November. While Salle has immersed herself in Morven during her time at the University, she feels this experience will carry into a future career.
“Every single person who has had a manager or intern role at this garden has entered a career in the environment,” Salle said. “That’s about nine people who have fully dedicated their lives to this after being a leader in the management ... Maybe we’re not the best at growing vegetables because we’re all novices, but we’re inspiring people to really dedicate their lives to something.”
Whether you are an aspiring environmentalist or a first year thinking about volunteering, there are opportunities for a range of interest levels at Morven Kitchen Garden.
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