| Bastyr University » Give to Bastyr » Bastyr Magazine » Spring 2005 | November 20, 2009 |
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Spring 2005: Vol 2, Number 2
The Garden of Eatin’Pete Soucy, Bastyr’s food service manager and cafeteria director, feels lucky. “As part of our job, those of us who work in the kitchen get to go out and pick herbs from the garden whenever we want to,” he says. “It gives us a chance to walk through the garden, take those few minutes to gather the herbs and enjoy the quiet. And what a difference in taste between those fresh greens and the supermarket ones wrapped in plastic!” Soucy isn’t the only one to notice the difference between fresh-from-the-garden produce and the store-bought variety. Bastyr’s cafeteria is one of the most popular spots on campus for good reason: packed with the goodness of freshly picked herbs and vegetables, its food is outstanding. “I would say we go through about 65 pounds of mixed salad greens a month from June through late September,” says Soucy, explaining how much of the garden finds its way into cafeteria dishes. “We also use about 75 pounds of kale and 25 pounds of beets per month, plus a little less of other vegetables.” Those “other vegetables” may include chard, baby spinach, carrots, onions, scallions and handfuls of herbs like rosemary, mint, tarragon and thyme. Soucy’s work with the Bastyr garden isn’t limited to harvesting and cooking with its bounty. Soucy is Bastyr’s virtual King of Compost, overseeing the earth-tub system that turns pre-consumer organic waste into fertilizer gold. “I guess I sort of earned the title by osmosis,” says Soucy. “The composting program started out as a student-run initiative, and I’d do my part by gathering up kitchen peelings and so forth. But as each of the student managers would eventually graduate, I would take on more and more composting duties.” Not that Soucy is complaining. In fact, he seems to have discovered a latent talent for the intricacies of organic composting. “I really enjoy it. I’ve gone to composting seminars, including one sponsored by King County.” He explains that it takes a good six months to turn peelings and clippings from university kitchens and landscaping into useable compost. It’s then spread as “top dressing” on various landscaping beds around campus and, of course, on the all-organic herb garden. This demonstration of nature’s circle of life doesn’t go unnoticed by the students who work the garden nor by Soucy and his colleagues in food service. “The garden is an ever-changing, living thing. Each year it reflects a different dynamic. Working closely with it gives you a chance to think about the earth and how it nurtures us. It helps us think, in turn, how we should be nurturing it.” 
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