On April 25, a new DU community garden was introduced on the corner of Race Street and Iliff Avenue. The garden’s official name is University of Denver Bridge Community Garden, and it is replacing the old permaculture garden by Cherrington Hall and the Community Bridge Garden by Centennial Halls, which were both turned into construction sites over the past year.

Jess O’Toole, a junior majoring in geography and international studies from South Burlington Vermont, is one of the garden’s main organizers and is thrilled about the experiences that lie ahead. She’s the president of the Students for Sustainable Food (SSF) club at DU, and coordinates all of the student involvement in the garden. She is also part of the team that organizes the actual development and budgeting of the garden.

“It can be difficult to eat healthy and buy organic for many people due to high food costs in grocery stores, and the garden is a great place to get this food on to your plate at [a much lower] cost,” said O’Toole. “It’s also a good way to connect with what you are eating. The process of gardening teaches people what it takes to make the food we eat on a daily basis. It requires some effort to weed and water and plant, but not in an overwhelming way, and it is our hope that through the building of community people will help each other out when life gets busy and people need help maintaining their plots.”

Despite the current excitement, O’Toole says it was not easy to make this all possible and she has received a lot of much-needed help.
“Funding is coming from The Center for Sustainability, and The Sustainability Committee, which operates under USG,” said O’Toole. “The garden would really not be possible without this funding, and we very much appreciate the support we have received from both of these groups.”

In addition to the funding, many people and groups on campus have lended a helping hand. O’Toole says she owes a big thank you to Chad King, DU’s University Sustainability Coordinator, who worked with DU to get permission to take over the space.

She also says the groups who have reserved plots have been crucial to the garden’s success.

“32 of the 38 plots will go to members of the community, faculty included, and six are available to students and student groups,” said O’Toole. “Students for Sustainable Food has a plot, Sodexo has two plots, which will be maintained by SSF, a grad student group will have a plot and the other two plots will be raffled off to interested student groups next week in order to get the [greatest] amount of students involved as possible.”

Several faculty members have also volunteered to help out, and are playing big roles in the garden, according to O’Toole.

“The development, building and organization of the work days has been run by Julie Morris of the biology department, Megan Kelley of the writing department and SSF,” said O’Toole. “Brianna Johnson, who is the coordinator of the environmental Living and Learning Community (LLC) has been extremely involved as well. LLC students have been helping with work days, and will also have plots in the garden.”

When the garden opened on April 25, O’Toole and other organizers hosted a party to spread awareness about the new space and celebrate all of the work that was put in to make it a reality. The party was full of entertainment and activities made possible by the DU community.

For entertainment, there was live mural painting by Conor Dowdle and Danny Epstein, and live music by Nick Anderson and Brendan Schuster of the band “The Northern Empty.” Live music was also played by Brian Cogger and Eunha So. All of these artists and musicians are DU students who volunteered their talent.

For activities, there was garden pot painting, flag painting and a “grow-your-own-plant-in-a-mason jar” station. Students from DU Greek Life also came to help fill the garden beds alongside other event attendees.

For those who are interested in the garden, O’Toole says the best way to get involved is to join SSF and garden through their plot.

“This is the first year of the garden, so we are really trying to gauge interest and then we will modify the plan for the garden next year, should there be more or less interest,” said O’Toole. “We really want the garden to be a place where different student groups from around campus come together to work towards a common goal of growing delicious, healthy food.”

To learn more about the University of Denver Bridge Community Garden, follow its official page on Facebook at “University of Denver Bridge Community Garden” and the SSF Facebook page at “Students for Sustainable Food.”