Planting for Wellness, Community Gardening Opportunities

Students learned how to use plants to maintain mental health.

Story and Photos by Autumn McPherson 

On March 21, the University of Alaska Fairbanks Residence Life staff held a Planting for Wellness event at the Hess Recreation in the MBS Building. This event was held of inspiring students to learn how to care for themselves mentally through caring for plants. Students were offered a plant of their choice with a donated pot from the UAF Student Ceramics Art Guild to bring home and care for. They were also provided a sheet explaining how to care for the plant and showing how to advocate for yourself through the example of plants advocating for themselves when they need water or sunlight through their appearances.

Affirmation table.

Multiple campus programs were stationed at tables with activities for students to participate in. These programs include Mycology Club, Student Activities, ORCA, Climate Scholars, Student Health and Counseling, and Sustainability. 

During this event, The Office of Sustainability promoted its Home Grown Garden Program and Community Gardens. This program is a collaboration with the Georgeson Botanical Garden on campus, where they teach students how to prepare a garden, maintain plants, and harvest their work, which they get to bring home for personal use. Once the program has established a routine harvesting schedule, they offer fresh harvest to the food bank via donations to make produce affordable to students, as well as a market stand near the Milkshake Monday stand located in the Wood Center at 2 p.m. 

The Office of Sustainability also provides Community Gardens in the Bridge West Valley and gardens in residential areas such as Cutler apartments, where students can have their own plot for personal garden use. Both programs were created to reduce grocery prices for students as well as maintain a healthier lifestyle compared to grocery store products. For more information about these programs, you can look at their website uaf.edu/sustainability.com or their Instagrams @uafsustainablity and @uafcampuscommunitygarden.

The activities during Planting for Wellness included a stress ball making station, an affirmation station, a flower bouquet station, a decorate-a-pot station, and a Perler Bead station. Students were offered a scavenger hunt sheet with these activities, where they could be entered into a raffle once completed.