This years Harvest Party at Lobo Gardens was a success! Students and community members from around the University of New Mexico gathered Friday afternoon behind the Real Estate Department (RED) building. Located off Girard Blvd, the RED Garden is tucked into the campus’ northeast corner, yet despite this lack of visibility more than sixty people visited over the course of three hours. The Lobo Gardens’ Class, run through the Community Engaged Learning Research (CELR) program, hosted the event. During the semester, students in the class utilized Green Fund applications to catalyze their projects over the 8 week course. The Harvest Party was the culmination of the semester and the opportunity to not only display the student’s hard work but also to invite garden participation. Visitors were invited to help stain the three layer compost bin with linseed oil, to paint a newly installed seed library, to help put donated plants into the soil from Plants of the Southwest and to participate in a plaster relief workshop where material collected from the gardens were pressed into clay. An Intro to Art and Ecology class joined the Harvest Party as well as Mary Clark from the Physical Plant Department who has helped allocate funding for projects in the garden. Appreciation was shown to all of the garden’s supporting members, faculty, students, and community, who have made the garden’s ongoing existence possible. Lobo Gardens’ plans to remain a consistent presence year-round on campus through workshops hosted by the Lobo Gardens’ Coordinator and other collaborating UNM community members. Look for flyers and Lobo Gardens pop-up sites like our new seed library!
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