Hill Farm Community Garden

Nestled between University Recreation and the Lod Cook Hotel is a dwindling historical treasure. 

Hill Farm Community Garden faculty adviser Carl Motsenbocker helps new gardeners divide up their plots during the first meeting of the fall semester.

The Hill Farm Community Garden is part of the Hill Farm Teaching Facility at LSU. Its mission is to provide students with the access, resources and education necessary to grow food.

Since its inception in 1927, Hill Farm’s original 40-acre area has repeatedly downsized to make room for developments like UREC, the Lod Cook Hotel and sorority row. Today, the garden is about 5 acres, with about one-third of an acre devoted to field production of vegetables.

Hill Farm will soon face yet another disruption. The University has been working on development plans for Hill Farm and its adjacent properties, said the community garden’s faculty adviser Carl Motsenbocker.

Because the Hill Farm land is historical, the facility will remain in the same area on campus. However, Motsenbocker said he may have to reconfigure the areas and activities within the site.

“The current gardens will exist in the future in the same size, but they will probably be moved as we move forward,” Motsenbocker said.

Motsenbocker said things have changed a lot since he conducted research at Hill Farm during his academic career at the University.

“I used to use field space and grow melons for research where the Lod Cook Hotel and pool now stand,” Motsenbocker said. “I also conducted vegetable crops variety trials where the baseball fields and tennis courts now stand.”

Although Hill Farm’s area has decreased substantially over the years, Motsenbocker said there is still a strong teaching component at Hill Farm. Students and faculty use the facility’s lecture rooms, greenhouses, can yard, shade area and field space.

Motsenbocker started the Hill Farm Community Garden in 2000 after many of the students in his organic gardening class voiced a desire to continue gardening the following spring. Others in the LSU community were quick to follow suit.

The community garden now attracts 20 to 40 members per semester, said Hill Farm Community Garden president Jennifer Hay. The group has had success recruiting students from various curriculums outside of agriculture.

Accounting junior Katherine Johnson is one of the community garden’s new members. Johnson said she saw fliers for Hill Farm in Patrick Taylor Hall over the summer and was immediately interested in signing up. She said she used to grow pumpkins at her home in Lake Charles, and she is happy to be able to continue gardening at LSU.

“I really want to be able to make my own salsa,” Johnson said with a smile. “That’s the goal of my plot.”

The community garden is not limited to university students. Anyone can buy a plot for $10 per semester. The money goes toward supplies and seeds. Each plot is roughly 45 square feet, and members can grow whatever they choose.

 “I think I’m going to try growing some squash and bush beans and turnips,” retired high school teacher Sheila Soniat said as she looked thoughtfully at her empty plot.

Members grow almost anything you can think of, and everything is grown organically, Hay said. Some of the crops that are grown communally are donated to community organizations like the Battered Women’s Shelter and the St. Vincent de Paul Dining Room.  Of course, members are allowed to keep the food they grow individually.

Ideally, students will learn basic gardening skills at Hill Farm and be able to reproduce their garden anywhere.

“It’s definitely about learning to be a little more sustainable,” Hay said.