Bethany Doudna
Staff Writer
The new agrarian club at Franciscan University of Steubenville provided seeds and helped students plant them at its first public event Saturday afternoon in the Assisi Heights Community Center.
The Catholic Agrarian Club, a new gardening club on campus, hosted 25 people at its Seeding Day.
Club leaders supplied a variety of seeds to participants. A local almanac that describes what plants ought to be planted in early April in the Steubenville area was used as reference. Seed selections included over 20 types of vegetables and herbs and 20 types of flowers.
Gardening gloves and trowels were available for attendees to use as they filled seeding trays with potting soil out of a large tub.
Paint, markers and other craft supplies filled a long table where attendees made decorative labels for their seeding trays.
Pizza and snacks were provided before planting while members socialized.
The seeding trays will be kept in the greenhouse behind Saints Cosmas and Damian Hall for a few weeks, said senior Nathan Ware, vice president of the Catholic Agrarian Club.
The club members intend to transplant the seedlings into the community garden in the Heights during the weekend before finals, which is the first weekend of May.
“College life is very artificial in many ways,” Ware said. “We want to give students the opportunity to connect with a more natural way of life.”
The Catholic Agrarian club was instituted this semester, but it already has over 120 members.
“We are the fastest growing club on campus,” senior John Paul Anthony, club president, said.
Students who are interested in joining the Catholic Agrarian Club can find the link to the group chat on fliers around campus, or may email Kaleena Montez, [email protected] to be added.