As Jessalyn Vrieland ‘24 opens the door to the Hoop House, she is immediately greeted by the cozy atmosphere, filled with the earthy scent of soil––a striking juxtaposition to the sub-zero snowstorm raging outside. Surrounded by lush greenery, she momentarily loses sight of the harsh reality awaiting her beyond the confines of this sanctuary.
The Hoop House is located behind Kalamazoo College’s Fitness and Wellness Center; it stands as an unheated greenhouse made with a clear polyvinyl plastic cover stretched over metal hoops. Spanning 30 x 60 feet, its footprint is about half the size of a basketball court. Despite Michigan’s harsh weather, crops flourish year-round inside. During its largest growing season in the summer, the Hoop House benefits from heightened sunlight and warmer temperatures, with its peak typically spanning from late February to March through October or November, contingent upon weather conditions.
Four student interns from the Larry J. Bell ‘80 Environmental Stewardship Center (ESC) look after the Hoop House throughout the school year, hosting open hours in the fall and spring and conducting weekly check-ins throughout winter. Each intern dedicates five to seven hours per week. This role, established in the fall of 2023, replaced the previous student-led program, Just Food Collective (JFC), initiated by the Mary Jane Underwood Stryker Center for Civic Engagement (CCE). However, insufficient funding has suspended the JFC program.
Vrieland, an intern, joined the Hoop House in the fall of 2021 through her sophomore seminar, “Seed Stories, Sovereignty, and Stewardship,” taught by Amy Newday, who also mentored JFC. The seminar’s meetings were split between a classroom in Dewing Hall and the Hoop House.
Growing up, Vrieland’s mother had a garden and plants, so she was familiar with some aspects of gardening, but never really thought more about it until her seminar. “But it’s sort of really been missing in my life before–to not be connected with the Earth and ground. When I envision my future nowadays, there’s always a garden. It was like finding a part of myself,” she said.
The Hoop House’s future is threatened by the college’s ten-year master plan, released in the fall of 2022, which proposes the construction of a new dormitory and increased parking spaces.
The master plan offers three parking expansion options for accommodating the new dormitory’s expected increase in student population. Option A suggests rotating the Hoop House 90° to create 185 parking spaces. Option B involves demolishing The Grove for 64 spaces. The Grove is a forest area between the Living Learning Houses, the Arcus Center for Social Justice and the Trowbridge residential dormitory parking lot. Option C proposes expanding the Trowbridge parking lot from its current 50 spaces to 70 during its future reconstruction.
With the potential for more students to live on campus, parking solutions are crucial. The plan proposes new bus stops on W Michigan Ave., increased bus frequency, and shared parking at Western Michigan University for students who infrequently use their cars.
The plan may encroach upon existing spaces like the Hoop House, due to the college being landlocked. Susan Lindermann, Associate Vice-President for Facilities and Chief Sustainability Officer reassured that “with a desire not to have green space turned into parking, then we necessarily figure out how there will be less needed. It’s a give-and-take. It’s important to remember when you look at the master plan that it is not an immediate building plan, it’s a high-level imagining of how the campus will be developed, not a shovel-ready project.”
The Hoop House’s operations are sustained through the contribution of generous donors, the CCE, and the ESC. Although the budget is not openly disclosed, the Hoop House has secured a grant from a donor to continue its operations for the next three years.
As Vrieland gives a tour of the Hoop House, she points out the posters that are displayed on the farthest wall. These posters commemorate the Hoop House’s five-year anniversary, detailing the efforts that have shaped its current state.
The concept for the Hoop House emerged over a decade ago within JFC, previously known as “Farms to K,” originating from Dr. Amelia Katanski and Newday’s first-year seminars in 2008. JFC members drafted the proposal and raised funds for the construction of the Hoop House, which took place on September 21, 2018. More than 50 students, faculty, staff, and community members built it in the corner of the old intramural field north of the Fitness and Wellness Center. To this day, it remains a thriving garden space that is tended to by various members of the larger Kalamazoo community.
In Kalamazoo County, one out of six people struggle with hunger daily, according to Kalamazoo Loaves and Fishes. The typical measurement for food insecurity is based on the distance from one’s house to the closest supermarket or grocery store; however, for residents of Kalamazoo, poverty continues to be the biggest barrier as opposed to distance. While there are services available around Kalamazoo to diminish food insecurity, community-based agriculture like the Hoop House attempts to bridge the gap and provide free and healthy food.
The Hoop House’s original mission included attempting to approach food insecurity around the greater Kalamazoo community. They also wanted to grow food for the cafeteria, but due to the limited amount of food they produce versus how much is needed to feed students, that was not feasible.
Today, Greta Farley ‘22 is the Environmental Stewardship Center Coordinator, responsible for managing the operations of the Hoop House and supervising the interns. She observed that although the mission of the Hoop House has evolved, certain core objectives remain steadfast, like “community, experiential education, civic engagement, and growing the number of green spaces on campus, giving students an accessible food source, and alternative learning space.” These remain a part of the Hoop House’s purpose. Farley noted that there are “some of the [same] through lines; everyone has their own interpretations of the mission and the way that it manifests, and I think that’s part of the beauty.”
One way that the Hoop House has been in service to the Kalamazoo College community and beyond is through hosting classes and clubs in their space. English, Critical Ethnic Studies, Psychology, Physical Education, and Art classes have all made use of the Hoop House as a space for interdisciplinary learning. Additionally, the Hoop House previously hosted JFC and Club Grub, an after-school program at Woodward School for Technology and Research, emphasizing nutrition education and healthy food introduction.
As Vrieland strolls down the main path that spans the Hoop House, there are eight small rectangular planting beds on the right and four larger ones on the left. Each bed is brimming with crops such as kale, dill, snap peas, arugula, and lettuce. The protection of the Hoop House has allowed them to grow even during the winter months.
During fall open hours, students and interns undertook a significant task: planting “cover crops.” These crops replenish the nitrogen levels in the soil and maintain nutrient richness, preparing the soil for the planting of spring crops. When spring arrives, the cover crops will be cut down to ground level, enriching the soil further.
Estelle Metz ‘27 and Amélie Sack ‘27 are two students who helped to plant the cover crops. Their engagement began at the Hoop House’s dip event in the fall of 2023, where students and interns created dips using ingredients harvested from the gardens. Following this event, they attended nearly every drop-in session hosted by the Hoop House throughout the fall.
For them, the Hoop House has become a place where they can escape the busyness of their daily lives, truly slow down, and take time to appreciate the land. Sack gushed about how the Hoop House is “definitely a safe space, where you can be around other people who share the same passion of the environmental world.” They added, “Kalamazoo is a lot of concrete, brick, and construction. So, it honestly [is a] really nice escape and a good excuse to be around active nature.”
In addition to connecting students to nature, the Hoop House also connects students to each other. “We’ve made great friends. It’s super cool as freshmen to have senior friends!” said Metz.
As she approaches a bed of carrots and kale, Vrieland bends over and plucks a carrot from the soil. She notes the distinctive taste of food from the Hoop House compared to store-bought produce. As she takes a bite, she explains further, that the carrot she just picked tastes sweeter because the plants produce sugar as a natural antifreeze to survive, thereby enhancing the sweetness of the carrots.
The Hoop House employs regenerative agricultural techniques, focusing on soil health by reducing fertilizer and pesticide use while preserving fertility through crop rotation and compost from their gardens and The Grove.
During their time abroad in Thailand, Hoop House Intern Aerin Braunohler ‘24, worked on an organic seed-saving farm and was taught about regenerative agriculture principles. Upon returning to campus in the spring of 2022, they discovered the new Hoop House intern position from their academic advisor, Newday. The Hoop House has now become a crucial place of learning and development where Braunohler said they can “really dive into my interests, and it actually gives me a place at K where I can grow in my interests of mine that I want to continue later on, too.”
With a brown Meijer paper grocery bag in hand, Vrieland presents some of the available seeds for the Kalamazoo community, including Zinnas, peas, and Marigolds. However, most of the seed library is housed in Dewing Hall, where the ESC offices are. The seeds are stored in open bags to aid in preservation.
Established in 2018, the seed library began when students involved with the Hoop House visited the Central Michigan Seed Swap to gather seeds from local farms and indigenous seed savers. Beyond seed acquisition, this initiative explored seed stories, which fostered unique plant connections and offered an alternative approach to food engagement. The library exclusively stocks non-genetically modified seeds, countering seed monopolies by providing free access for continuous replanting, ensuring a steady supply of fresh food.
Just outside of the Hoop House, approximately 20 feet from the entrance, stand two round picnic tables and one rectangular table. Adjacent to these tables, about two feet away, are three composting bins to the right of an equipment shed.
Vrieland picks up a large fallen branch and drags it along the grass, then adds it to a stack position beside three wooden composting bins. These bins are crafted from 1 x 3 x 8-foot pinewood boards and green metal siding, stand out starkly against the snowy backdrop.
Operating as a closed-loop system, the Hoop House aims to eliminate the requirement for external materials like seeds to sustain itself. Instead, it relies on leaves from the quad, compost from The Grove, and its garden scraps to maintain the system. The Hoop House’s composting practices resemble a scaled-down version of the Composting Crew’s activities in The Grove.
During the winter, only one compost bin remains active. Composting requires a balance of wet, nitrogen-rich “green” materials like excess food and fresh leaves, and dry, carbon-rich “brown” materials such as dry leaves, dead plant clippings, and tree branches to help create a healthy compost.
Drawing attention to the midsized subdued yellow CAT excavator parked a mere 20 feet away from the greenhouse, Vrieland remarks the irony, saying, “there’s heavy machinery there and then there’s a garden.”
Despite uncertainties surrounding the Hoop House’s fate due to the master plan and funding, dedicated students and interns persist in their hands-on involvement. They intend to resume drop-in hours during spring term on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays from 4:30-6 p.m. They also plan to organize more community events, including a tea party featuring Chamomile, Lemon balm, and Rosemary grown over the winter.
Before Vrieland locks up the Hoop House, she grabs a black unruled notebook, taped on the front are the words “WE CARROT A LOT ABOUT YOU,” and signs her name and dates her visit.
This notebook originally provided by JFC, has been signed by guests of the Hoop House since 2021. As she flips through its pages, she briefly observes the multitude of individuals and families served by the Hoop House over its five-year history.
Returning the notebook to its soil-covered container, she casts a final glance at the Hoop House before stepping out into the snowy field.
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