Many people see gardening as a hobby. But for Kelly Korman, it’s a way of life.
Korman, a second-year women’s studies graduate student, is president and co-founder of the Eternally Edible Landscaping Club, UF’s first student organization dedicated to expanding the practice of growing produce for personal consumption.
Korman, 23, said she got the idea after noticing “underutilized” space in the UF Student Agricultural Gardens.
“I had seen a lot of initiatives happening around Gainesville, but not on campus, and I saw an opportunity,” she said.
Korman and Rodrigo Castro, a building construction Ph.D. student, pitched the concept for the club during the Prairie Project for Graduate Fellows workshop in May. They received a $1,000 grant from the UF Office of Sustainability to pursue it.
On Sept. 30, the club broke ground on its first raised-bed vegetable garden, located by the bat houses on Museum Road. The members have plans to fill in a second garden Saturday, Korman said.
The club has begun growing produce, including carrots, radishes and broccoli, she said.
Active members will be able to eat any produce grown in the gardens.
Political science junior Evan Clark, 20, said the club seems like an interesting opportunity for students.
“It can’t hurt to know how to feed yourself from scratch,” Clark said.
The club will also provide educational workshops on edible landscaping, Korman said, and she hopes to develop other spaces on campus.
“How cool would it be if you could just walk down a sidewalk on campus and pick an orange for a healthy snack?” she said.
Kelly Korman, a 23-year-old women’s studies graduate student and president of Eternally Edible Landscaping Club, eats a nasturtium flower on Monday at the Student Agricultural Gardens on Museum Road.
