{"id":9582,"date":"2014-05-05T09:56:22","date_gmt":"2014-05-05T13:56:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/creative.clemson.edu\/clemsonworld\/?p=9582"},"modified":"2014-05-05T09:56:22","modified_gmt":"2014-05-05T13:56:22","slug":"hope-grows-here","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/clemson.world\/archive\/hope-grows-here\/","title":{"rendered":"Hope grows here"},"content":{"rendered":"

You might\u00a0not ever know it was there if you weren\u2019t looking for it. A garden of five laser-straight rows nestled behind the pool at Clemson University\u2019s Outdoor Lab, home to camps Hope and Sertoma.
\nThe garden is called \u201cHope Grown,\u201d and it\u2019s the\u00a0brainchild of Joseph Williams, a soils and sustainable crop systems major.
\nIt\u2019s an expression of Williams\u2019 belief in the transformative nature of working with soil, a laboratory for the sustainable crop production techniques that he believes can change the world and the lives of the campers who visit each summer<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

A year-round effort<\/h3>\n

Camp Sertoma serves children ages 7-13 who are underprivileged or have speech or hearing impairments, while Camp Hope is for children and adults ages\u00a07 and up with developmental disabilities.
\n\u201cThe garden is less about me having an impact and more about giving the campers a place where they can have an impact,\u201d Williams said.
\nWilliams began as a counselor at Camp Hope in 2005 while attending high school in Asheville. He\u2019s worked at the camp every summer since, except for 2009 when he studied abroad in Costa Rica. When he became a Clemson student in 2010, he approached Outdoor Lab directors Norman McGee and Leslie Conrad about creating the garden.
\n\u201cWe are always looking for creative activities that our campers can enjoy and learn from,\u201d Conrad said. \u201cWe want them to experience a caring adult who is all about them at that moment. We also want them to feel the pride of doing things for themselves. We had talked about starting a garden, but we didn\u2019t have anyone with the skill or passion to take it on until Joe approached us.\u201d
\nThe Outdoor Lab gave Williams a $200 budget, and he turned to environmental horticulture professor David Bradshaw, now emeritus, for guidance.
\n\u201cDr. Bradshaw helped me conceptualize the garden. Talking with him sparked my imagination and set me on my way. He also provided heirloom seed, some of which is 10 generations old,\u201d Williams said.
\nAlthough Hope and Sertoma campers are at the Outdoor Lab only in the summer, the garden is a year-round effort for Williams. He relies on help from the Clemson Agronomy Club, and he credits Pi Kappa Phi\u2019s PUSH America national philanthropy outreach for providing much of the backbreaking labor involved with terracing the garden and building its structures.
\n\u201cI want to have everything well established and growing by opening day so the campers aren\u2019t disappointed when they arrive in summer. I apply techniques and ideas that I learn in my major to managing the garden,\u201d Williams said.
\nOne such technique is a soil preparation system called \u201cdouble digging,\u201d in which the top layer of soil is dug off with a spade, forming a shallow trench, and then the under-layer is dug with a fork. When breaking up the lower layer, organic matter such as compost is usually added to the soil. A second trench is then started, backfilling the first trench. This process is repeated until the whole bed has been treated.
\n\u201cIt\u2019s a lot of work, but it strengthens the plant roots and allows for more densely planted rows,\u201d Williams said.
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