With their outdoor garden weather-proofed for the winter, DePaul’s urban farmers have moved four floors up where students can now grow year-round crops and give the gift of greens to the community.

During the winter, operations for DePaul’s Urban Farming Organization (UFO) moved from the outside garden on Belden Avenue and Bissell Street into the greenhouse at McGowan South. The organization has grown since starting in 2011, and so has the ability to experiment with new and sustainable practices that can withstand the cold of winter.

“There’s only so much we can do in the greenhouse so we want to supplement that by starting to do cold frames,” Megan Hoff, the organization’s co-president and environmental studies student, said

“Cold-frames are mini-greenhouses, they’re insulated wood infrastructures with soil piled into them with a window on top, and you just put that in an open space. We had three cold-frames on top of McGowan South here and we grew lettuce all winter and we just harvested them, so you can grow throughout every season.”

With hopes of expanding the capabilities within the greenhouse, members and volunteers are able to incorporate their own outside projects into the organization and provide new learning tools for other members.  Rosie Fitz, an environmental studies and studio art major, provides the organization with an aquaponics system she designed for her urban agriculture class.

“It’s a really sustainable way of growing food because it’s a closed system,” Fitz said.  “Instead of growing food in soil where you’re constantly watering it, the water is constantly filtered and circulated through with an aquaponics system.”

Students without prior knowledge or experience with farming or gardening are encouraged to come and experience it for themselves.  Members or volunteers are given the freedom to participate as much as they want, and activities can range from planting fragrant products for the residence halls to creating their own soaps from what they’ve grown.

The organization not only provides DePaul students with the opportunity to experiment and expand their studies, but also provides local schools, such as Oscar Mayer Elementary and Lincoln Elementary, the opportunity to learn about urban agriculture.

“We had girl scouts from Lincoln Elementary School come, they wanted to earn their gardening badge, so they came and planted things and came up here (McGowan South Greenhouse) and toured,” Hoff said.

At the outdoor garden, the organization works on over 30 plots to grow crops for donations or for their very own farmers markets, which operate out of the Ray Meyer Recreation Center.

“Over the summer we had a farmers market every Thursday at the Ray Meyer Fitness and Recreation Center, which is really cool, we started to get regular customers,” Hoff said. 

“(The garden and greenhouse) kind of serves as a sanctuary and a social spot, a safe space, as well as a learning space,” Kristen Holdsworth, UFO co-president and an environmental studies senior, said.  “It’s really nice because you can experiment with things like planting and you can mess up and it’s ok because it’s not your own supplies.”

Apart from the once a week volunteer hours, the organization aims to have larger events every month, from collaborations with Ted X to movie nights with the Fair Trade Organization.  As for their standing in both the school and local community, they don’t plan on slowing down.

“We’re hoping to get even more involved with the more established we get,” Hoff said.