University of Louisville-Garden Commons

Need a reminder of our fall 2026 gathering and workshop times?? Check out our awesome trailhead sign at the Garden Commons (northeast of the BCM) to find out!!

Game Night with UofL's Botanical Society!
Friday, August 28th, 5-7pm, Belknap Academic Building Room 406
Love plants?! Come join UofL's Botanical Society for a night of games, new friends, and fun! We'll be playing games, introducing current officers, and electing a new Social Media Officer. Snacks included! RSVP on Engage at

Game Night with the Botanical Society! Discover unique opportunities at! Find and attend events, browse and join organizations, and showcase your involvement.

This week on Sustainability Now!, your host, Justin Mog, gets mushy with a long-time friend, collaborator, and former Forward Radio programmer and leader, Robin Frederick! Robin is now the Owner & Director of the Kentucky Mushroom Festival coming up on September 18-20, 2026 out at Rockcastle Riverside, 4211 Lower River Rd, Livingston, KY. Listen now at https://soundcloud.com/wfmp-forward-radio/sustainability-now-robin
Robin was last on the program for a Live Pledge Drive broadcast way back in October 2018, but this week we are catching up on the Kentucky Mushroom Festival (https://www.kentuckymushroomfest.com/) and Robin’s personal journey in the festival world, since she’s also an organizer for the Kentucky Yoga Festival May 14-16, 2027 (https://www.kyyogafest.com/) and PlayThink Festival June 17-20, 2027 at Barren River Magic (https://www.playthinkfestival.com/).

But before talking festivals, Justin and Robin caught up with her sustainability journey! Listen into find out how Robin first got involved in sustainability and then she tells us about the Sustainability 101 class she now teaches at UofL, her PhD program, and her dissertation work on Digital Infrastructure and Uneven Development: A Comparative Study of AI-Intensive Data Center Infrastructure Siting, Governance, and Public Participation in Louisville, Kentucky, and Memphis, Tennessee.

As always, our feature is followed by your community action calendar for the week, so get your calendars out and get ready to take action for sustainability NOW!

Sustainability Now! is hosted by Dr. Justin Mog and airs on Forward Radio, 106.5fm, WFMP-LP Louisville, every Monday at 6pm and repeats Tuesdays at 12am and 10am. Find us at https://forwardradio.org

So exciting to see what our UofL Sustainability Interns go on to do after graduation! Congrats, Anna!

🌱Welcome to the team, Anna!

“Inch Worm” Anna joins the Food Literacy Project and The Youth Community Agriculture Program as the Outreach Cultivator.

In this role, she will be developing skills to expand FLP’s outreach, build partnerships, and tell more of the youth perspective from the farm.

A message from Anna- “Hi there! I just graduated from UofL with a bachelors in sustainability and anthropology. I am super excited to meet more of my community!”

Kentucky State University Cooperative Extension will host Third Thursday Thing: Urban Agriculture on Thursday, August 20th, 10am - 3pm at the Park DuValle Farmers Market & Wellness Center in Louisville (3044 Wilson Ave)! This marks the first time Third Thursday Thing has been hosted in Louisville. The program is designed for gardeners, farmers, educators, community leaders, students, and anyone interested in local food systems and urban agriculture. The event will feature presentations from KSU faculty and staff, demonstrations highlighting urban agriculture practices, opportunities to connect with local organizations, and a free lunch for participants.

Thanks to everyone who joined us for our Welcome Week Salsa Party!! We put that bike blender to work, whipping up a variety of delicious salsas, including some made with native pawpaw fruit from our Urban & Public Affairs Garden! We hope to see you back for our weekly Garden Gatherings: Mondays at 5pm in the Urban & Public Affairs Garden (behind Bettie Johnson Hall) and Wednesdays at 3pm at the Garden Commons! Our next workshop will be PICKLING on 9/21 at 5pm in the UPA Garden!

Don't miss out! The BIKE BLENDER is going to be back in action at our annual Salsa Party on Saturday, Aug. 15th, 11am-noon, at the Garden Commons (next to the Baptist Center). Stop by UofL's organic, student-run Garden Commons to sample some of the delicious fresh produce we've grown together over the summer and discover how you can get involved and learn how to grow your own food right here on campus! We’ll also be rededicating our Little Free Library at the garden, so bring a book to share or take one home!

Did you know that UofL's only Little Free Library is located in the Garden Commons behind the Baptist Center? Did you know that we just got a brand new one?! Many thanks to our friends at UofL's Resilient Families Project who are to thank for all of this. Our new Little Free Library is open for browsing (and donation)! It's fully stocked, Card-colored, and more weather-resistant than our original one. She's gorgeous!! Much gratitude to Lora, Angela, Lexi, and the full RFP Team...and to Chris Haynes for doing the work of the installation!

Our gardens are excited to welcome everyone back to campus! Stop by as you're unpacking and enjoy the beauty and deliciousness of our organic, volunteer-powered campus community gardens! Join us on Saturday 8/15 at 11am for our Welcome Week Salsa Party at the Garden Commons next to the Baptist Center! Fall Garden Gatherings begin 8/17 every Monday at 5pm at the Urban & Public Affairs Garden behind Bettie Johnson Hall (426 W Bloom St) and every Wednesday at 3pm at the Garden Commons!
All these photos are from the Urban & Public Affairs Garden this afternoon, where pollinators are loving our sunflowers and native passion fruit (maypop) flowers, the pawpaws are fat and nearly ready to start falling (they are ripe when they drop, don't pick them from the tree), eggplants and sweet potatoes are just forming, and we've got summer squash, Swiss chard, tomatoes, and several kinds of peppers ready to pick!