The GreenHouse Learning Community at the University of Wisconsin has completed its fall harvest consisting of more than 200 plants and gave all of the harvested herbs to a dining facility within University Housing.
The harvest of 200 plants consisted of three pounds of parsley and one-and-a-half pounds of cilantro, according to GreenHouse community manager Tom Bryan.
This harvest is the second the GreenHouse Learning Community has given to Carson’s housing dining hall. Last year they gave the dining hall about two pounds of parsley and one pound of cilantro, he said.
According to the group’s Facebook page, the cilantro will be used to make cilantro-lime rice and the parsley will be incorporated into a falafel recipe.
The group has a garden plot in the Eagle Heights Community Garden, which is where the harvest came from, according to their website.
Harvesting during the fall semester is tricky because they do not have any artificial lights, but in the spring they have a lot more production, Bryan added. The group is also looking into growing micro-greens, which are similar to sprouts, to be used for some of the salad bars in the dining facilities, he said.
Bryan said he hopes to eventually partner with other organizations across campus to use more of the group’s produce in other ways.
“I would love to foster a bigger relationship with housing, dining and maybe union dining in the future and would love to see more student-centered greenhouses on campus,” he said.
The GreenHouse Learning Community, housed in Leopold Residence Hall, focuses on living sustainably, according to Rebecca Peine, the residence life coordinator for Leopold, Cole and Sullivan Residence Halls.
“The focus of the community is about how to provide hands-on experience, and the goal is to use head, hands and heart to live in sustainable ways,” she said.
Leopold Hall, which opened in 2013, features rooftop solar panels and electricity and water meters to monitor usage across the building.
The top two floors of Leopold Hall make up the GreenHouse Learning Community. In addition to the plot at the Eagle Heights Community Garden, the GreenHouse Learning Community utilizes a 1,000 square foot rooftop greenhouse located in Leopold Hall.
