Saturday mornings you can find Alexa Houston at the GrassRoots Garden @@http://www.foodforlanecounty.org/en/programs_services/gardens/@@digging in the ground and planting her favorite Big Mama tomatoes.@@http://www.burpee.com/vegetables/tomatoes/paste/tomato-big-mama-hybrid-prod000966.html@@
Houston, a University senior family and human services major,@@http://education.uoregon.edu/field.htm?id=54@@ has been interning at the garden since last fall as part of her senior thesis project.
The garden provides between 60,000 and 90,000 pounds of fresh food for Food for Lane County every year, she said, and plants 35 to 40 different plant crops featuring hundreds of produce varieties. Among many others, this includes cabbage, potatoes, corn, tomatoes, lettuce, carrots, grapes and bell peppers.
She has been involved in gardening in Lane County for a long time. She started volunteering at the Youth Farm @@http://www.localharvest.org/food-for-lane-countys-youth-farm-M16220@@during her junior year before moving on to the GrassRoots Garden.

“I wanted to learn more with adults because my past internships have been mostly with children,” Houston said. “It’s been really diverse because we’ve had people with severe disabilities, so they’ve been really great to have the chance to work with.”
Lyndsie Leech, assistant director of the garden, has always been impressed with Houston’s work ethic. @@http://www.linkedin.com/pub/lyndsie-leech/30/b33/29@@
“Alexa is one of our best volunteers,” Leech said. “I can count on her and give her more complicated tasks. I can ask her to direct groups — she’s really on top of it. Her attitude is just wonderful. She is always happy and all over the garden.”
“One of the most enjoyable parts of the garden is meeting diverse groups of people,” Houston said. She enjoys teaching them about gardening and learning about their backgrounds and how they came to be volunteers at the garden.
“We definitely get all walks of life that come in and different perspectives,” she said. “You’ll meet some of the most traveled people in the world there. I just met a guy who’s going to India this summer and who just got back from Norway.”
Jen Anonia, Food for Lane County’s gardens program manager, @@http://www.linkedin.com/pub/jennifer-anonia/1a/6a1/180@@encourages students to volunteer at the garden.
“There are a lot of reasons students should volunteer,” she said. “It’s a great way to get involved in the community, learn about growing food, learn how to cook. Plus, it’s fun. It’s outdoors, and it’s active.”
The garden provides a lunch made primarily out of the produce from the garden for the volunteers.@@yum@@ It is a break period where the volunteers come together and bond while eating. It’s Houston’s favorite part of the day.
“What’s great about lunches is it builds a sense of community,” Houston said. “We take so much time to just relax; it’s like our break of the day. No one rushes lunch. We all start to grow as a family.”
Josephine Woolington also contributed reporting to the article.