Seeds of Change: BISV’s Community Garden

Vitamin D is a nutrient integral to the human body. During periods 4, 5, and 6, BISV students are offered the opportunity to run in the sun and absorb some of this vital element. However, others opt to seek shelter under the shade of the Grove, a home to an army of red and black tables. This year, a new addition appeared at the front of the Grove: a garden. The first seed of this garden was planted by Arshiya K., a rising senior at the home of the Bobcats and the humble caretaker of our earthy yard. 

Daksha and I interviewed with Arshiya on a bright, sunny August afternoon. Our conversation is detailed below.

Q: How are you doing? 

I’m doing great. How are you doing?

Q: I’m doing well. How’s school? 

School’s fine. I’m a senior, and senior year’s fun. 

Q: Great. So tell me a little bit about this garden. How did it start? 

Sure, let me give you some backstory. Over COVID, I got really into gardening, like my whole family did. We had our own personal mini vegetable farm in our backyard and grew peas, tomatoes, corn, strawberries, blackberries, oranges, lemons, a little bit of everything. And as COVID ended and we all started coming back to school, however, I wasn’t able to spend that much time gardening anymore. But I really thought that it was such a fun experience, and I honestly learned a lot about nature.

I learned how to make my own fertilizer. I learned what plants grow best in what conditions, when the sprouting times are, and how to help plants bloom. I thought all of that could be really helpful in a school environment. And I thought that the community that it fostered would be really beneficial to a school like BISV, as we don’t have that much nature or natural stuff surrounding the school.

Q: Interesting. You say you had this idea during COVID? 

I had the idea for a garden during COVID, but for the community garden, it happened during my junior year of high school. I then brought the idea up to Mr. Farrell and Ms. Kolb, who continue to help me and assist me in getting it approved and created.

Q: Are you planning on expanding past this humble little spot next to the parking lot? 

Currently, we might expand a little in the nearby areas, but honestly I don’t know if BASIS has enough outdoor space. We scanned other potential locations before we decided to create it at this one. So, there’s always the possibility that we create a garden at one of the other locations we had in our minds. 

Arshiya starts sorting through the plants, tossing leaves this way and that.

Q: I see you’re sorting through some plants right now. What are you doing? 

Since we have trees above, a lot of their stems, pollen, et cetera, gets dropped onto our plants. And when that happens, sometimes things start sprouting. And when things sprout that we didn’t plant, they take nutrients away from our plants and that leads to less water for our plants and less nutrients from the soil. So I’m just kind of sorting through some of those just to ensure that my plants get all the nutrition they need. 

Q: I see. I should have asked this before, but what’s the purpose of this garden? 

Of course. The purpose is mainly just to kind of foster a community at BISV amongst the volunteers who help out. Alongside this, we plan on donating produce either to a homeless shelter or women’s shelter, or providing them to the food science class at BISV to continue for their use. 

Q: How can we help? 

The easiest way for you guys to help is if you ever have a full water bottle while passing by the Grove and you’re heading out for the day, dump some of the water on the plants. Any plants that you can pick your favorite or you can look at ones that you think are in a little need of watering. If you’re interested, you can always reach out to me to see if there’s anything you can do to help or to set up a watering schedule with me.

What types of vegetables slash plants are being grown here? 

We have a lot of produce here.

We have a lot of tomatoes, a lot of peppers. We were attempting to grow some squash and zucchini as well. Those haven’t been as successful, but we’re still trying. Tomatoes are best for fast growing plants. As you can see here in my hand, I have a few cherry tomatoes that I just harvested.

We were able to get some peppers as well—they’re currently not here because they were plucked. 

Q: You’re a senior. That means you’re graduating soon. What do you want to happen to these plants when you go away? Do you have a plan? 

Yeah, of course! Last year, I was partnering with the Political and Environmental Activism Club, which I don’t believe is in session this year, but a lot of members from there expressed that they’d love to help keep maintaining it through their high school career. So I assume it will just continue passing down through the grades as people graduate. 

Would you like to try some of the cherry tomatoes I harvested today? 

Twisha: Yes. Oh my god.

Arshiya hands Twisha a few small, pea-sized cherry tomatoes, the color of an elderly clownfish. Twisha nibbles at them appreciatively.

Twisha: These are delicious. They have that tanginess that I particularly look for in cherry tomatoes. Truly impressive that they were cultivated right here in the heart of BISV. Thanks so much, man. 

Arshiya’s currently looking for helpers to support the BISV Community Garden. Make sure to show your interest in helping out by filling out this Google Form: https://forms.gle/uhpoUoZiyZnsQnCb6