“We pooled money together with the garden too,” psychology senior and current resident of Hedrick House Scott Kallek said. “Whoever wanted to be involved split the cost.”

Kallek said the garden helps bring the house together, especially in the summer during the transition period when old tenants meet the newcomers. The garden provides an opportunity for the house’s 15 roommates to meet each other and work together.

Additionally, the garden increases the sense of community between Hedrick House, its neighbors and surrounding co-ops, whom Kallek said they share their harvest with. He said neighbors are welcome to the produce, and Hedrick members also contribute to events hosted by other co-ops, such as potlucks.

Jennifer Opie, an interdisciplinary studies senior who is also a member of the house, said they have used the plants they produce in the garden to make dishes that include pesto, kale chips, vegetable stir fry and — her personal favorite — pizzas.

She said these ingredients come from abundant harvests of tomatoes, basil, peppers, spinach, zucchini, carrots, brussel sprouts and more. The garden also boasts a healthy bed of flowers.

Kallek said they sourced some of their crops from Green Eagle Farm, a family farm in Onondaga, Mich. Steve Grose, co-owner of the farm, said Kallek traded labor for the crops, and Grose offered him the “odds and ends” of plants at the end of the season last year.

“It (has) been a slow year for everyone, but successful,” Kallek said. “We’ve had more food than we can eat.”

Opie attested to this, but indicated the excess food can be convenient.

“I just had frozen pasta sauce that we made last year from our veggies,” she said.

Kallek said in the summer the Hedrick House residents who have stayed on campus don’t necessarily cook communally due to their varied schedules. However, it becomes more structured in the fall when the crops are complete and harvested, he said.

A community garden like the one in the yard of Hedrick House can contribute to the sense of belonging, which Grose said is important today as many people make little effort to meet their neighbors.

“People can be dispersed even if they’re living next to each other — they don’t know each other,” he said. But a garden, “it brings people outdoors in(to) an immediate neighborhood.”