On the east side of the HHS lacrosse fields lies a garden planted and maintained primarily by students involved in the Student Wellness Committee and Project Focus.

“The garden is all about having students understand where food comes from. Students learn how to raise their own food and how to be organic,” said Ms. Bobbi Pointer, nurse.

Instead of renting a plot from the Hopkins Community Garden located in Valley Park as they had done in previous years, this year Project Focus, a club whose mission is to end hunger and homelessness nationwide, decided to pair up with the Student Wellness Committee and Pointer in order to learn more about gardening and composting systems.

“Ms. Pointer heard about Project Focus and about our club’s mission. She contacted me and that’s how the partnership got started,” said Alexis Dorfman, senior and Project Focus president.

Pointer has previously led the Student Wellness Committee garden at HHS in the past, with all the plants harvested at the garden going to Royal Cuisine in order to create the food eaten at HHS.

This year, however, the two clubs will continue the Project Focus of donating the harvested vegetables to the ICA food shelf. The ICA food shelf serves 7 local communities in the western suburbs of the Twin Cities, offering hope along with food assistance.

“Being able to donate fresh, organic produce is one of the main focuses,” Dorfman said. “Gardening is a great way to for all of us in Project Focus to relax, so it’s not only worthwhile for ourselves, but for others too.”

Pointer said that HHS has had a garden for five years, and despite the fact that she has never measured the amount of food produced, Pointer acknowledges that the garden has subsequently produced more vegetables with each year that passes. The garden is planted in the spring and harvested in the fall. During the summer, it is maintained solely by student volunteers.

“Part of the goal of the garden is to plant things that don’t require much maintenance everyday and are harvested later in the year,” Pointer said “We don’t plant lettuce or spinach which need to be picked everyday.”

Although the goal is make the garden as maintenance-free as possible, the garden still needs to be watered daily. In order to ensure that the garden is maintained, Project Focus creates weekly and monthly schedules that each team member can take care of the garden.

“It’s a great way to get involved or just have new activity–even if you don’t know much about gardening,” Dorfman said.

This year, Project Focus and Student Wellness hosted three planting days in May. Some of the fruits and vegetables planted in the garden this year include tomatoes, peppers, onions, beets, cantaloupes, potatoes, cucumbers, carrots, kale and eggplant.

Pointer’s favorite part about the garden is the strawberries.

“There is a patch of strawberries that was put in a few years ago, and the berries are prolific,” Pointer said. “Anybody who passes by and wants to grab some fresh strawberries is welcome to, they’re delicious.”

Pointer believes that gardening seems daunting at first, but once a person decides to get involved, it becomes easy and enjoyable.

“Gardening is a lifelong skill. You will never taste a vegetable that is as tasty as one that is grown in your own garden,” Pointer said.