Sustainability Laboratory Developing at Theosophical Society

Many people in Wheaton don’t realize there’s almost 41 acres of contiguous open space, open to the public, just North of the central business district: the Theosophical Society (TS). This humble correspondent certainly didn’t, up until 2016! Here’s the story...

The nonprofit I volunteer with, Sustain DuPage, had harvested a buttload of apples and made 35 gallons of apple cider vinegar for a fundraiser back in 2016. I didn’t want to have our locally-sourced, pesticide-free vinegar put in PLASTIC bottles- it just seemed counter to the sustainability culture we’re trying to grow. After posting a request for glass jugs to my hippy community online- my facebook friend Chris responded.

I’d had facebook conversations with Chris for about a year now- but pulling up to his house to meet him for the first time, I realized it was on the TS property and I became a little nervous. (Back when I was attending Glenbard West I had heard a rumor that the TS was some kind of cult). Chris opened the door and gave me a big bear hug. There on the table were my twelve glass jugs, the dude’s kid was sitting on the living room floor watching spongebob reruns. I was very quickly sucked into a deep conversation about what we were accomplishing over at Sustain DuPage- Chris was super stoked to talk about our projects focused around sustainability culture. After we ate lunch together, (he’s very hospitable) he was just like, “have you ever toured the grounds of the TS?” We set off on a guided tour of the acreage and he was like, “hey, here’s an idea, you guys should start a garden here.” And I was like, “Ok!”

Fast forward to this year, our fourth growing season at the TS.

I was finally able to discover the source of the cult rumor I had heard in highschool. The TS campus hosts the fully-stocked Olcott library, which boasts the sacred/holy texts of almost every major religion from around the world! (So, I guess some highschoolers might think exploring unfamiliar religions is culty? Haha). These days when people stumble into our garden by accident, asking us where they can find the library, I feel like we’re gardening on the grounds of the Midwest’s Library of Alexandria! Haha. I guess we basically are.

We are now growing food in a space of a little more than 5,000 ft². Our nonprofit uses this garden space to teach anyone in the community how to grow food, (fo’ free). We meet multiple times a week during the growing season. It fits perfectly into our mission of organizing opportunities to learn and live DuPage sustainability culture. We harvest the garden together and cook the produce we grow. And we eat it. Together. It’s like, the BEST way to strengthen community.

Not only that, but the TS gave us the go-ahead to clear an entire acre of degraded woodland, overgrown with the vigorous species Buckthorn, to practice ecological restoration techniques this past winter. We are pioneering the use of pesticide-free restoration to bring vigorous species into balance with native species borrowing from organic agricultural practices. We are transitioning the woodland into an oak/hickory/walnut “Native Harvest Woodland” that will host hazelnut, elderberry, serviceberry, and a bunch of other native food, medicine, dye, and fiber plants.

This summer we hope to host “No Shame” art nights where community members can attend and share poetry, monologues, improv, and other artistic endeavors in a safe creative space. We’re also bringing back the very popular yoga-at-the-garden days again this season!

We have big visions at Sustain DuPage, and we are so thankful to have been able to manifest so many of them already! It’s truly humbling to see what our community can accomplish when we work together. We have more active projects than I can even list here, so make sure to visit us at sustaindupage.com to sign up for our newsletter! We're also on basically every social media platform, just search "Sustain DuPage."

One last thing!

This is your official invite to join us in person and check out what we're up to!

See you soon DuPagers!