‘Smell the fresh plants and just relax’: Rice officially plants its holistic garden

A formal dedication ceremony welcomes the Betty and Jacob Friedman Holistic Garden to campus

Overflowing platters of fried okra bites and sweet potato crisps — all of it grown on site and cooked up by Rice’s Housing & Dining team –awaited guests attending the formal dedication of The Betty and Jacob Friedman Holistic Garden.

Abundant crops harvested from the garden have been nourishing Rice students since last summer, so the Oct. 3 dedication was an outdoor celebration of bountiful patch of land that’s already assumed its role in campus life.

“It doesn’t look like they just stuck a shovel in the ground,” said Kevin Kirby, vice president for administration, as he took the podium for the dedication ceremony. “In fact, this place is quite mature and thriving.”

The nearly half-acre garden adjacent to the Rice Media Center was named in honor of the Friedmans’ bequest through the Houston Jewish Community Foundation. It acts as a hands-on classroom not only for community gardening projects, but also for Rice courses like Joe Novak’s popular Environmental Sustainability: The Design & Practice of Community Agriculture. The garden produces food for the serveries and Cohen House. And you’ll often find seedlings or other propagated plants from the garden on sale at the Rice Farmers Market.

“You may say, ‘Why a garden at Rice University?’’ said Novak, who taught horticulture at Texas A&M University for 32 years before coming to Rice. “We’ve got fabulous students here at Rice University and we don’t have ag, so my students come from all over the campus. And as they learn about the garden, they learn about the health benefits of the garden.”

Bob Novak and his current gardening students led tours of the garden following the dedication ceremony. (Photo by Jeff Fitlow)

Lovett College senior Jayson Taylor signed up for Novak’s course on a whim his freshman year. Four years later, the civil engineering major is the president of the Rice Urban Agriculture Club. He and other students in Novak’s course led tours of the garden following the dedication ceremony.

“Taking the class, being exposed to all the wonders gardening has to offer, has really made me so happy that I’ve stuck with it,” Taylor said. “I’ve learned so much from people.”

The word “holistic” in the title of the garden is purposeful. This is an educational garden allowing people of all ages and abilities to discover what Taylor and so many other Rice students have learned from spending a semester digging in the dirt.

“Gardening is a chance to socialize with people and meet people from so many different backgrounds,” he said. “And it’s just a nice way to smell the fresh plants and just relax.”

The Betty and Jacob Friedman Holistic Garden is located at the corner of College Way and University Boulevard. For more information or to volunteer, email sociohorticulture.rice@gmail.com.