Growing With the Knoll: Twenty Years in the Garden

In the spring of 2002, a small group of Middlebury College students held an interest-meeting to discuss starting a campus garden. A year of research, geological surveys, help from community volunteers, and presentations to skeptical administrators later, a knoll of land just beyond campus became the Knoll: an organic garden, outdoor classroom, and sacred space for joyful gatherings, good work, harvesting, and healing.

Growing the Knoll is a celebration of the commitments of creative and tireless students, staff, faculty, and experienced community volunteers who saw the value and potential in creating a garden that would become much, much more than a garden. Recollections, essays, poems, and art combine in a story that can serve as a resource—and inspiration—for any group interested in creating a similar community space.