A Community of Farmers Grows in Grafton
Bounty helps pet owners afford unanticipated veterinary care
The Cummings School Community Garden, now in its second year, provides members of the veterinary school community with free plots for organic farming on the Grafton campus. In addition to growing vegetables for their own tables, the gardeners donate produce to the Travis Fund Farmers Market; the proceeds help pet owners who need assistance with the cost of unanticipated veterinary care.
The garden was the brainchild of Emily Andersen, V17. “I wanted to get people excited about sustainability on campus while expanding sustainability programming,” she says.
Farm supervisor James Phillips tilled the land, located near the Hospital for Large Animals, in preparation for planting. Library manager Betsy Like led a seed-planting workshop and provided space in the library for starting seedlings indoors this spring.
The garden is one of the many success stories cited in the Tufts Campus Sustainability Council’s two-year progress report, released, appropriately, on Earth Day (April 22).