SignalsAZ.com Prescott News Podcast - New Prescott Campus Garden Takes Root at Yavapai College

Episode Date: April 24, 2026

Send us a text and chime in!The Yavapai College Prescott Campus is getting a second garden. Instead of mesmerizing sculptures and a variety of trees, plants and flowers offering intangible beauty, peace and reflection, the second garden brings together several college departments to advance a sustainability initiative and generate tangibles like compost, medicinal and culinary herbs, and pollinator flowers. The as-yet unnamed garden, located on the northeast corner of campus – directly opposite of the Richard Marcusen Sculpture Garden on the southwest corner – is the result of the collective vision of Yavapai College Executive Director of Culinary Experience Aimee Novak, Director of Culinary Experience Tony...   For the written story, read here >> https://www.signalsaz.com/articles/new-prescott-campus-garden-takes-root-at-yavapai-college/ Check out the CAST11.com Website at: https://CAST11.com Follow the CAST11 Podcast Network on Facebook at: https://Facebook.com/CAST11AZFollow Cast11 Instagram at: https://www.instagram.com/cast11_podcast_network

Text to Speech audio articles made possible on the Cast11.com podcast network by Fane Signature Group. The Yavapai College Prescott campus is getting a second garden. Instead of mesmerizing sculptures and a variety of trees, plants and flowers offering intangible beauty, peace and reflection, the second garden brings together several college departments to advance a sustainability initiative and generate tangibles like compost, medicinal and culinary herbs, and pollinator flowers. The as yet unnamed garden, located on the northeast corner of campus, directly opposite of the Richard Marcusen Sculpture Garden on the southwest corner, is the result of the collective vision of Yavapai College Executive Director of Culinary Experience Amy Novak,

Director of Culinary Experience Tony Boris, and Sustainability Project Manager Rebecca Seratos. It is made possible by a $65,000 Arizona Department of Environmental Quality Waste Reduction Assistance Grant. The hope is to have a truly circular system where we're creating seasonal tasty meals here at the eatery, capturing our waste, composting it and then using the compost to grow more here, said Cerados, who joined Novak and Boris at the approximately 27,000 square foot garden site recently to discuss project plans. The eatery is the popular, nutrition-focused restaurant on the Prescott campus. Novak said she applied for multiple grants last summer to advance her goal of building a combined composting slash garden site on the Prescott campus before being awarded the Atta Grant.

We send a lot of our back of the house scraps to the Chino Valley Agribusiness Center, for composting, but we wanted to have a second site here that the culinary school wanted to be part of in use, and we wanted to make it more of a teaching compost site so that the science department can use it too, she said, adding that science department dean Dr. Perry Baker was separately working on a medicinal herb garden project that will be incorporated into the new garden. I think it will be a great joint effort by a lot of departments. The herb garden and composting system will not only be teaching and learning tools for the culinary and science students, it will produce fresh herbs for the eatery, Novak said. Additionally, surplus compost from the garden will be shared with the college's horticulture

program which currently supplies the eatery with student-grown tomatoes, herbs and soon, root vegetables. Another dimension of the new garden, donated bird boxes for students and community members to monitor and enjoy bird habitat. There's so much we can do, it's really just exciting, said Boris, who is working with a local company to donate construction of the compost system, garden landscape, and a pergola. Before that, volunteer work crews will be clearing the site of debris and discarded bricks, which will be reused in the garden. The other beautiful thing is this space backs up to public trails, so the fact that we're cleaning it up and making it accessible to the community trail I think is going to be really great as well, Novak said. As specified in the grant award, Yavapai College is

partnering with the Prescott Farmer's Market in the design of the on-campus composting system. PFM's community compost manager, Annie Baker, is helping us design a space that adequately captures our post-consumer waste out of the eatery and then create a composting bin system much like the one out at the college's Chino Valley Agribus Center, but is customized for this space, Saratos said. Garden construction is expected to get underway in earnest in May. Along with donated water line extension and construction help, getting the garden up and growing by fall will take a lot of hands, Saratos said. Many of those hands will come from the college's sustainability club, which welcomes everyone interested in building and working in the new garden and advancing

other club's sustainability projects. This isn't a project we can carry and sustain on our own, so having anyone who's willing and interested to learn or to lend a helping hand, we're definitely open, she said. Yavapai College students, faculty, staff, and area residents interested in joining the sustainability club and helping bring this second garden to life or invited to reach out to Saratos via email at Rebecca.seratos at YC.edu. Yavapai College operates seven campuses and centers throughout Yavapai County and offers over 100 degrees and certificates, six baccalaureate degrees, student and community services, and cultural events and activities. To learn more about Yavapai College, visit www.YC.edu. Read more stories

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