By: Lauren Frick

Sometimes I get so overwhelmed by climate change and its threats to our wellbeing that I don’t know what to do. I write about the environment; I read about the environment. I commiserate about the exploitation of the planet with my friends; I learn about steps and solutions to support all life on earth. Sometimes I feel an overwhelming sense of doom, and sometimes I feel invigorated.

I joined the IUN Community Garden Advisory Board because I wanted to start supporting community engagement that fosters a care and coexistence with the world around us. I wanted to learn from others about how to best tend to the land and tend to ourselves. I think that knowing how to grow your own food is not only a great skillset to have as the environment shifts and changes as the result of climate change but also one of the best steps to connect with the planet and with others. Spending time in the garden amongst the company of community and the plants offers a space in which our relationship with the land can grow. It’s easy to forget that we are a part of nature—that we are integral participants in a relationship with the world around us. Gardening allows us to nurture that relationship.

While I was not able to be a Garden Steward myself during my time at IUN, the ability to offer support to the Garden Stewards, the IUN campus community, and the Gary community through my role as an Advisory Board member was exactly what I was looking for as I sought out ways to take actionable steps to connect with community, to work toward a more just food system, and to envision new ways of being. I now know that wherever I end up in the future, I will seek out a local community garden as a way to continue building relationships and connections. I encourage you to do the same.

Lauren Frick is a recent IU Northwest graduate and has served on the IUN Community Garden Advisory Board since 2020.