By Pierre Yaldo

Staff Writer

Part of sustainability is not just saving, it’s producing. Yet, the ancient art of raising a plant from the ground is becoming a lost practice in today’s time.

Here at Cal State San Marcos, students with a green thumb are honing their skills in an area on campus known as the Sustainability Garden.

The garden is a 5,000 square foot plot of land located behind the childcare center, across from the police station at the back of campus, and is dedicated to student sustainability projects. Having a campus garden is outlined in our school’s “sustainability master plan”, and the great progress it has made shows our effort towards becoming a more sustainable campus.

CSUSM junior Brendan Bohen is one student who has managed to find out about and utilize this space. Bohen planted his first tomato plant a few weeks ago and is already seeing the veggies of his labor.

“For me, it’s not even about the tomatoes, it’s about learning a new life skill. I am here on campus for eight hours every day and figured if I have some free time, I may as well pick up a skill or two. Plus when they’re done, I can come down during lunch and enjoy the crunch of my own hand grown sandwich toppings,” he said.

Bohen encourages other students to come down and try to get a space in the garden, which he thinks has a chance at growing.

“This garden is devoted to us,” he said. “If the need arises in the student body for an even bigger garden, we have the power to request that, and there’s lots of space over here for it.”