It’s true! Tom Thumb’s Student Garden is open to anyone in the Tufts community! Check out the different interests and experiences of a few of our members
Michael Rogove
Major(s): Biology
Hailing from: New Jersey
What I do in my free time: Sing, read
Other gardening/farming experience before joining the student garden: I worked a summer at the Rutgers University Student Sustainable Farm, which was a fully functional, 150-member CSA. I wrote the newsletter for part of the season and watched the tomatoes carefully.
Favorite thing grown in the garden: Tomatoes, duh
Why I joined the garden club: I joined because I wanted to grow something in the summer.
Favorite song right now: “Hello Weekend” by Biscuits and Gravy
What I would do if I could ignore the limits of physics and money: Turn the entire roof of Tisch into one big farm
Ivan
Major(s): International relations (Fletcher School, grad student)
Hailing from: Danville, Kentucky
What I do in my free time: Garden then cook what I grow
Other gardening/farming experience before joining the student garden: Part time work gardening in Kentucky, helping family at home with the garden, and farm/ranch work in Texas and Louisiana for family
Favorite thing grown in the garden: Tomatoes
Why I joined the garden club: I enjoy eating what I grow!
Favorite song right now: Bat Fruits, “When you love someone”
What I would do if I could ignore the limits of physics and money: Colonize Mars with the garden crew
Liz Stockton
Major(s): Biology
Hailing from: Los Alamos, New Mexico
What I do in my free time: Hike, read, cook, study plants!
Other gardening/farming experience before joining the student garden: None to speak of
Favorite thing grown in the garden: Snap peas. yummy
Why I joined the garden club: I wanted to get outdoors and meet cool people who also like plants and hangin out outside. I love how informal and laid back our group is.
Favorite song right now: Oviedo by Blind Pilot (it’s so good. listen to it if you haven’t)
What I would do if I could ignore the limits of physics and money: I wanna be able to fly (not in a plane, with wings) back to bawstooonnn. I miss the garden kids
Minh Leu
Major(s): So like I have a couple. Economics, International Relations, and Spanish
Hailing from: da ‘burbs – West Hartford, Connecticut.
What I do in my free time: I usually just bop around campus. Sometimes Boston if I’m feeling adventurous .
I’m also that weird/annoying person who goes to Tisch to “do homework” when really I’m trying to socialize. shhh don’t tell anyone. But I do spend a lot of time in Tisch because classes are hard and that’s where I post all of my ARC tutoring sessions.
Other gardening/farming experience before joining the student garden: None!!!!!!! I watched food channel just ALL THE TIME and they would sometimes have short videos of gardens. That’s the extent of it though.
Favorite thing grown in the garden: The FRIENDSHIPS!!!!! (between gardeners)
Why I joined the garden club: Because watching greenness magically appear from black dirt and tiny brown balls is just wonderful.
Favorite song right now: I’m a sucker for Adele. I’ll have to say “Someone Like You”. I transcribed it for Music Theory and after listening to it 923134 times to figure out the notes and stuff, I still love it!!
What I would do if I could ignore the limits of physics and money: I would spread my wings and soar up high and fly with the eagles. And then I would make them my besties and we would fly to fun places together and find rainbows to frolic around in. then we would fly to Spain and bop around there for a little bit and be merry.
Victoria Stevenson
Major(s): History
Hailing from: Candyland
What I do in my free time: Go hunting for the jabberwalki.
Other gardening/farming experience before joining the student garden: I spent a lot of time in my garden at home, but other than that I did not have much experience before joining
Favorite thing grown in the garden: Salad greens
Why I joined the garden club: Because I love being outside and I love food
Favorite song right now: Old’ 55 – Tom waits
What I would do if I could ignore the limits of physics and money: I’d go flying with puff the magic dragon.
Eric Seigel
Major(s): International Relations (Middle East)
Hailing from: Menlo Park, CA
Other gardening/farming experience before joining the student garden: I helped out around my mother’s garden since I was little and WWOOFed for a short time the summer after high school, but in the last couple of years I’ve really started to get interested in where my food is coming from and have fallen in love with getting my hands dirty.
Favorite thing grown in the garden: Tomatoes, hands down
Why I joined the garden club: Coming back from abroad, I had a new-found interest in food systems and decided to check out the garden club’s January GIM. I hardly knew anyone in the room, but everyone was so welcoming and friendly and eager to share what they knew. All the gardening stuff aside, it’s just a great community to be a part of!
Favorite song right now: Piano Man- Billy Joel
What I would do if I could ignore the limits of physics and money: Freeze time so I could read everything on my ‘to read list’ while sitting in the shade of a big tree.
Stefanie Yeung
Major(s): International Relations
Hailing from: Chadds Ford, PA
What I do in my free time: Compulsively bake.
Other gardening/farming experience before joining the student garden: My dad and I have gardened together, not always willingly on my part.
Favorite thing grown in the garden: Basil because it’s in two of my favorite cuisines, Italian and Thai.
Why I joined the garden club: I joined the garden because I liked how ‘tangible’ the club was. We’re actually creating something and gaining skills that we can use daily. Also, I think the smell of dirt is a wonderful thing.
Favorite song right now: Luminol – Miracles of Modern Science
What I would do if I could ignore the limits of physics and money: I’d stay in China for another year and use my limitless supply of money to travel to all the provinces and try all their dishes.
Micaela
Major(s): Biopsychology, French
Hailing from: Santa Clara, California
What I do in my free time: cooking and baking with seasonal ingredients, exploring the unknown, making terrible jokes, and learning to use my film camera
Other gardening/farming experience before joining the student garden: Volunteering at Full Circle Farm in Sunnyvale, CA! (after joining the garden)
Favorite thing grown in the garden: sage and basil
Why I joined the garden club: the tomatoes and peas are just as sweet as my fellow gardeners, and I love the dirt under my nails
Favorite song right now: “Rayos de sol” -Juan Magan
What I would do if I could ignore the limits of physics and money: jump (or hop) from country to country across the world and make pestos out of every herb imaginable, all while taking every class at Tufts that could not fit into my four year schedule.