By Sherri Reed, Divinity Farm Coordinator,
One of the great spaces at YDS is the Yale Divinity Farm. A community garden established in 2009 by students, faculty, and administrators, the Div Farm is a great resource for Divvies.
Year-round, people study, contemplate nature, pick herbs, meet friends, and join community events in the beautiful YDS Farm space. They BBQ, sit around the fire pit, play croquet and frisbee, and enjoy the birds and other wildlife. The garden offers a space that allows for us to continue thinking academically about our theology while actively engaging our senses with the extraordinary gift of God’s creation.
In spring, the garden is awakened for a new season of growing food, berries, herbs, and flowers. Students are invited - watch for a Div Mail in April or May - to become involved, by having an ‘individual’ plot, working and harvesting from the ‘community’ garden space, and joining in celebrations of God’s bounty. Entirely student-run, each year the garden has a new focus. Last year we expanded the area where we grow food together. This year we’ve concentrated on hospitality - the garden as a place to commune with one another and with God. (Don’t worry, there are still blackberries!) Always, we focus on organic and sustainable growing methods.
The Div Farm is also a place where other sustainability efforts find a home, such as the bins where food waste from Divinity Housing is collected and picked up by Yale as part of their campus-wide composting efforts. We also strive to create a community where knowledge is shared between gardeners, both novices and those with years of experience. As we go into the world, we will take so many things learned at YDS with us. The Div Farm hopes some of what we take will be an understanding of how to live in more harmony with God’s creation.
If you have any questions about the Divinity Farm, you can contact either the Garden Coordinator, Sherri Reed (sherri.reed@yale.edu). To learn more about the garden’s mission this year, read this story in Yale News. You can also find the Div Farm on Facebook where we let folks know of upcoming events and share sustainability ideas from around the world.
The garden needs tending until the end of October, so if you’d like to get your hands in the dirt, let us know! See you all in the garden!