Community Garden

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Anthony Bourdain Dines at UST Campus Farm During Houston Visit

During a visit to Houston in June to film an episode of his CNN show Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown, Anthony Bourdain dined at a community garden located on the UST campus. The garden is maintained by local nonprofit Plant It Forward, which works with refugees from the Congo to farm its land. Read more from CultureMap

Many people around campus have noticed the small farm that is in full bloom on the corner of Sul Ross and Yupon, across from Guinan Residence Hall. The farm is coordinated through the non-profit organization, Plant it Forward Farms, in partnership with the UST Department of Environmental Science and Studies.

The campus community garden is one of the major sustainability initiatives at UST. The UST farm sells a variety of vegetables and herbs that are all grown organically and contain no genetically modified organisms. 

All of the farmers who participate in the Plant it Forward program are economically disadvantaged refugees, many of whom were farmers, who had to flee their home country. Each farmer in the program is given half an acre of land to tend. The revenue farmers earn helps them to be economically stable and support a family.  

Roy Nlemba is the primary farmer at the UST garden. “Farmer Roy” moved to the United States a few years ago and has been farming in the U.S. for three years. He has been working on the farm at the University of St. Thomas since April 2013. Nlemba has dreamt all of his life of one day owning a farm in America.

“By the time I came to America I had one thing in mind and that was to be a farmer,” he said. “I knew I had traveled a long way, but that God was guiding me in the right direction. When I saw this land, I saw an opportunity to make a living for myself.”

Farm produce can be purchased at the garden on Saturdays from 10 a.m. – 2 p.m., and seasonally on Wednesdays.

Want to purchase a farm share? Join the CSA, Community Supported Agriculture.

Do you need community service hours? UST students may arrange to do service hours at the garden.

Contact the comittee at sustainability@stthom.edu to learn more or to volunteer!