{"id":30680,"date":"2023-05-30T16:09:09","date_gmt":"2023-05-30T21:09:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.und.edu\/und-today\/?p=30680"},"modified":"2025-04-29T20:23:51","modified_gmt":"2025-04-30T01:23:51","slug":"und-gro-learning-garden-takes-root-on-campus","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.und.edu\/und-today\/2023\/05\/und-gro-learning-garden-takes-root-on-campus\/","title":{"rendered":"GRO.UND learning garden takes root on campus"},"content":{"rendered":"

Educators plant seed for lifelong environmental stewardship, sustainability and responsibility<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Boy
A LESSON IN SHARING AND CARING:<\/strong> A young Sprout reaches out to feel the sturdy stalk of a sunflower plant in the greenhouse classroom inside UND\u2019s College of Education & Human Development. Associate professors Joshua and Cheryl Hunter partnered with a local Head Start program to give the 3- to 5-year-olds an early lesson in environmental stewardship. The GRO.UND learning garden project is teaching the youngsters all sorts of other important concepts such as growth, sharing and caring, and diversity. Photo by Janelle Vonasek\/UND Today.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Joshua<\/strong><\/a> and Cheryl Hunter<\/strong><\/a> have been planting far more than tomatoes, strawberries and sunflowers in their greenhouse classroom inside UND\u2019s College of Education & Human Development<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n

This spring, the associate professors in the graduate program for Educational Foundations & Research<\/strong><\/a> are sowing the seeds of community, environmental stewardship, responsibility and sustainability with the launch of their GRO.UND learning garden. (The GRO part is pronounced \u201cgrow\u201d and is a play on words, not an acronym.)<\/p>\n

\"Girl
A sunflower masterpiece. Photo by J. Vonasek.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cGardening and being outside surrounded by nature always has been a shared passion for us,\u201d said Cheryl Hunter<\/strong><\/a>, a former elementary teacher. She and her husband have done extensive research in experiential and embodied learning \u2014 the latter described as an educational approach that focuses on the body and feelings as opposed to concepts that are more academic in nature.<\/p>\n

If that sounds a bit convoluted, it might be easier to think of it as learning to ride a bike vs. learning your multiplication tables. Both are valuable lifelong skills, but you master them in very different ways.<\/p>\n

That said, one of the biggest benefits of a learning garden is that it has no particular educational division lines, Joshua Hunter<\/strong><\/a> added.<\/p>\n

\"Children
Ready, set, transplant. Photo by J. Vonasek.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a whole world of life and learning right out our back door,\u201d he said. \u201cIf you think about it, learning gardens let you explore almost any subject \u2014 literature, art, social studies, math, science \u2014 it doesn\u2019t really matter.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe awesome thing about learning gardens is they have no boundaries. They can cross all academic disciplines.\u201d<\/p>\n

That\u2019s likely the same reason they\u2019ve become so popular at K-12 schools in recent years. Not only are they uniquely suited to give real-life meaning to students, but they also offer current and future teachers almost infinite methods to demystify difficult concepts.<\/p>\n

\"Cheryl
COMMUNITY BUILDING AT ITS BEST:<\/strong> Cheryl and Joshua Hunter have done extensive research in experiential and embodied learning, and they developed their first successful learning garden at their own children\u2019s elementary school in the heart of Cleveland. \u201cIt\u2019s so important for kids growing up to connect with their food source and know something about where it comes from, how it\u2019s grown and how it gets to them. We wanted them to understand \u2018Just what<\/em> is<\/em> a healthy food? What\u2019s the difference between an apple and a bag of Doritos?\u2019\u201d Photo by Janelle Vonasek\/UND Today.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Hands-on and in the dirt<\/h2>\n

Joshua Hunter is the director of UND\u2019s Outdoor Leadership and Environmental Education<\/strong><\/a>, a minor degree program that builds leadership through strong communication skills and a broad foundation of experiential education and field-based applications. The program\u2019s goal is to foster physical, emotional and cognitive connections to the outdoors while also encouraging smart environmental conservation.<\/p>\n

\"Girl
One more dose of dirt will do. (J. Vonasek)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

And a learning garden is a natural fit, especially for students seeking bachelor\u2019s degrees in Education<\/strong><\/a>, Biology<\/strong><\/a>, Wildlife Biology<\/strong><\/a>, Environmental Studies<\/strong><\/a> or Atmospheric Sciences<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n

The Hunters noted that learning gardens are distinctly different from community gardens established for the primary purpose of producing food. With learning gardens, the produce is a bonus but just a byproduct.<\/p>\n

The real bounty is the shared sense of place within a community. The garden provides a gathering space to connect and learn about others as well as the whole process of growing our own food from seed to compost.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe want every student to feel connected to this place and to feel connected in a way that they want to protect it,\u201d Cheryl Hunter said. \u201cThe community building, the caring and protecting come first. Everything else is kind of secondary.\u201d<\/p>\n

And that apparently wasn\u2019t a hard sell when the Hunters sent out an invitation for people to attend an informational open house in February. At least 80 people showed up just for a chance to plant a sunflower and learn more about the project.<\/p>\n

\"Sloth
Sloth teaches a lesson. Photo: J. Vonasek.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cHonestly, finding people who are engaged and interested in getting involved in this project is not hard. There\u2019s a palpable desire for this type of program,\u201d Joshua Hunter said. \u201cThat\u2019s the easy part. More and more people have been talking, and it just keeps growing kind of organically.\u201d<\/p>\n

The college provided funding to give GRO.UND a jumpstart for the first three years, and the Hunters are creating three student fellowships to help manage the project and develop grants, programming and new partnerships to sustain it.<\/p>\n

Facilities Management<\/strong><\/a> helped locate a spot for the garden kitty-corner from Archives Coffee House and behind the College of Nursing & Professional Disciplines<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey were super supportive and did a tremendous amount of work helping us with tilling the soil, bringing in mulch, prepping everything,\u201d Joshua Hunter said.<\/p>\n

\"Children
LEAVES, STEM AND GROWING ROOTS:<\/strong> What the Sprouts lacked in gardening experience, they made up for in exuberance during a rousing round of \u201cLeaves, Stem and Growing Roots.\u201d The Cheryl Hunter original is sung to the tune of \u201cHead, Shoulders, Knees and Toes.\u201d Leaves, stem and growing roots, growing roots. Leaves, stem and growing roots, growing roots. Out comes the sun, and up I like to shoot. Leaves, stem and growing roots, growing roots.<\/em> Photo by Janelle Vonasek\/UND Today.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Setting roots, branching out<\/h2>\n

Since February, several partnerships have been forged throughout the Greater Grand Forks community \u2014 including with master gardeners and multiple organizations. Among them:<\/p>\n