The salad bar in the dining hall, lined with fresh ingredients — vibrant spinach, juicy cherry tomatoes, colorful peppers and green cucumber — are grown closer to your plate than you think.

The Bailey GREENhouse was completed in 2012, allowing students from MSU’s Residential Initiative for the Study of the Environment, or RISE, experience hands-on learning about organic growing methods, composting and the food cycle.

Students have begun planting, harvesting and growing herbs and microgreens using soil from university composts.

Assistant student manager and horticulture and environmental studies senior Jorhie Beadle first began volunteering at the greenhouse after transferring to MSU, unsure of where her food came from, nervously eating in the dining hall.

Since volunteering at the greenhouse, Beadle’s perception of greenhouses has changed.

“We like that we’re small,” Beadle said. “We demonstrate that food can be grown in a small space.”

The greenhouse, primarily operated by students, has started exploring with bees and other crops, including herbs to produce a line of tea.

All of the produce grown by the certified organic farm is sold to MSU dining areas — Brody Square, The Gallery at Snyder and Phillips halls, the McDonel test kitchen and Kellogg Center.

With dreams of being an alternative medicine herbalist, student manager and horticulture and environmental studies junior Allison Stawara said the farm has narrowed down to what she envisions doing in the future.

“I’m passionate about sustainable and organic farming,” Stawara said.

Stawara said getting as close to being a stable entity with economic independence is a goal of the Bailey GREENhouse.

The new tea line, brainstormed by RISE students last year, was introduced to Kellogg Center this week.

Using excess herbal leaves and stems, students at the greenhouse begin the process by dividing the extra product from the purchased. The students the clean and dry the extra leaves and stems in order to grind and blend the leaves into a uniform size.

In addition to student farmers, the tea line also has incorporated MSU business and packaging students in preparation for the release.

With the extra help from outside majors, Beadle said she is still surprised when students outside of the horticulture major volunteer at the greenhouse each week.

“They still love growing food and getting their hands dirty,” Beadle said. “It’s our ancestors, what we’re rooted in.”

Beadle and Stawara both believe education and student involvement is important when it comes to the greenhouse.

“Getting people more connected with food that they’re eating is one of the benefits of the greenhouse,” Stawara said.

The Bailey GREENhouse also uses the rooftop and outdoor space, investing in different revenue.

Beadle said diversifying the species of vegetation and plants grown aids in sustainability and makes the greenhouse more like a natural environment.

“Diversity is key to making things work, we embrace it,” Beadle said. “We replicate an ecosystem, something less managed.”