“It’s nice to wake up in the morning and know that the things I’ve just planted will be ready to harvest in a couple of weeks,” says Darika Djusupova ’28, one of two student managers at Pete’s Giving Garden this summer. “The vegetables will be donated, and somebody will get to enjoy the tomatoes I’ve grown.”

That simple, quiet joy is at the heart of everything happening at Pete’s Giving Garden this summer on South Campus, where student managers Djusupova and Maria Buscaglia G’27 spend their days weeding, planting and harvesting food that will be supplied to the Coach Mac Food Pantry at Hendricks Chapel.

A Garden Rooted in Need

Pete’s Giving Garden was founded in 2019, after it became clear the Hendricks Chapel Food Pantry needed a steady source of fresh produce. Hendricks Chapel partnered with Sustainability Management to bring the idea to life. What started as a single raised bed has since grown into additional raised beds, the Three Sisters gardens, ADA-accessible beds, a pollinator garden, apple and pear trees, raspberry bushes and four traditional row gardens. The garden has produced over 600 pounds of produce for the pantry to date and has expanded its partnerships to include the David B. Falk College of Sport‘s Food Studies and Nutrition Program.

The garden’s mission has grown, too, now encompassing wellness and research opportunities. But at its heart, the purpose hasn’t changed: growing food for students and using sustainable agriculture practices, row by row.

The food grown finds its way to the Coach Mac Food Pantry at Hendricks Chapel, named for beloved Syracuse football coach Dick “Coach Mac” MacPherson, who never forgot what it meant to go without the necessities as a child during the Great Depression. The pantry serves any Syracuse University or SUNY-ESF student with a valid ID, built on the belief that no student should have to choose between groceries and other essentials.

Two Managers, Two Family Gardens

Ask Buscaglia and Djusupova how they first fell in love with gardening and you’ll hear two very different stories that land in the exact same place: family.

Buscaglia traces it back to her dad, who grew tomatoes in their yard when she was a kid. Later, elementary school garden programs introduced her to radishes, jalapeños and corn. Then, something clicked.

“I’ve always had a love for food,” she says, “and what better way to get food than growing it yourself?”

Now a graduate student pursuing her MA in Nutrition Science at the Falk College of Sport, Buscaglia found her way to the garden after meeting the previous managers at an orientation event and thinking, “I want to work in a garden.”

Her advisor agreed she’d be a great fit, and she applied.

Djusupova’s roots in gardening stem from her grandmother’s yard in Kyrgyzstan, where the family had apple trees they’d harvest together each summer, along with tomatoes that became Shakarap, a Central Asian tomato salad often served alongside the rice dish, plov (pilaf). Djusupova, a rising junior studying computer science, hadn’t gardened much since her childhood, but when she saw the garden manager position posted on Handshake, she was curious and decided to apply.

Neither Buscaglia nor Djusupova came in as an expert. Both are still learning on the job, one weeded row at a time.

What the Garden Has Taught Them

Ask either manager for a favorite harvest, and carrots and cucumbers come up fast. Buscaglia loves pulling carrots that rarely come out in the shape she expects. She’s come to appreciate just how different homegrown vegetables look from what populates grocery store shelves. She’s also had to make peace with bees, an ongoing project for someone who isn’t naturally fond of things that sting or have “unexpected flight patterns,” Buscaglia  adds with a laugh.

Djusupova has grown especially fond of cucumbers and radishes; she enjoys making her own homemade pickles with both. Radishes from the garden are barely bigger than a nickel and come in shades of pale pink, deep purple and red, nothing like the uniform bunches at the store.

She’s also discovered an unexpected parallel between gardening and her studies as a computer science major in the College of Engineering and Computer Science.

“It’s kind of like a trial-and-error thing, same as with coding,” Djusupova says. “Once you run the script, sometimes it may not work, and you have to tweak a few things.”

When the garden’s first batch of cucumber transplants died from the shock of moving straight from a warm greenhouse into cooler outdoor nights, Djusupova and the team didn’t scrap the plan. They stored the plants in their work shed and then gradually eased the next batch outside until the plants took root and thrived.

For Djusupova, the most meaningful part of the job isn’t the science of it. It’s the knowledge that everything she plants has somewhere to go.

“I have a direct impact on other people’s lives,” she says. “That’s something I really like about the work that I do here.”

“Our Coach Mac Food Pantry patrons are so grateful to receive the fresh produce from the garden,” Alison Murray, Hendricks Chapel’s assistant dean for student assistance, says. “With lettuce, tomatoes, carrots, garlic and more, our students can make almost any dish they’d like. I’m thankful that Maria and Darika bring the veggies to the pantry after each harvest!”

Lydia Krayenhagen, project manager for Sustainability Management, says the two student managers have done a great job overseeing the garden this season.

“In the spring, they created a map detailing where the vegetables and herbs would be planted,” she says. “Now that we’re in the peak of summer, the garden is thriving. They’ve also done a wonderful job leading volunteers when they visit the garden, whether it be students, faculty, or staff.”