Earth Ethics Institute

Located on the east side of Building 6, the organic gardens at Kendall Campus feature a variety of organic, edible plants and produce. Members of the MDC community have enjoyed harvesting and maintaining the gardens while learning about South Florida growing and sustainable gardening practices. Harvested produce is also donated to the campus' food pantry to serve those experiencing food insecurity in our community.

To learn more or volunteer, contact Melissa Lau, mlau1@mdc.edu.

Located adjacent to the science complex, the organic garden at North campus features a variety of crops that are grown and harvested, then donated to the food pantry on campus to serve those in need. Volunteers can learn about gardening and growing food as well as horticulture and agro-ecology in South Florida.

To learn more or volunteer, contact Mike Matthews, mmatthew@mdc.edu.

Padrón Campus features several garden/green spaces:

David McGuirk Memorial Zen Garden: Located across from the employee parking lot (SW 6th Street), this Zen Garden in memorial of Associate Professor David McGuirk contains primarily plants native to our region, but also includes some food crops (collard greens, tomatoes, peppers, etc) -- including an aquaponics demonstration system.

MLK Butterfly Garden: Located at the corner of SW 6th Street and SW 25th Avenue (inside the employee parking lot), students, faculty, and staff created this garden in January 2022 as a way to remember Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and help to improve the campus environment. The garden contains primarily native plants.

UrbanaSpace (Pine Rocklands Habitat): Located at the corner of SW 6th Street and SW 25th Avenue; Pine rocklands are a globally imperiled ecosystem native to Southeast Florida, with plant and animal species found nowhere else. After winning a Public Space Challenge offered by The Miami Foundation, Padrón Campus transformed part of its landscaping into pine rockland habitat.

To learn more or volunteer, contact Yadira Capaz, ycapaz@mdc.edu.

Just Launched September 2025!

Introducing the new garden at the Hialeah Campus! 

This new addition to Hialeah Campus marks a turning point for the campus’s utilization of green spaces and redefines what practicing sustainability looks like on campus. Created by Daisy Napoles (EEI Civic Ambassador & 2025 NarrowRidge Participant) and Emy Barreras (iCED Civic Ambassador) who are both student leaders at MDC Hialeah saw the potential to not only use the space as a functioning garden but as an opportunity to turn the space into a classroom and an area for mindfulness. The new garden will be an outdoor gathering place with a focus on health, wellness, and environmental education. 

As Daisy, also President of the MDC Hialeah ECO Club, puts it, “The garden is a project that started as an idea, an idea that we spoke out loud. And what then seemed like an idea, now turned into a vision, a drawing, and a search for something more.”

“This space is more than a garden. It’s a place to learn. We have workshops planned, and it’s part of our campus sustainability efforts. We want to teach people how to grow their own gardens. Even small actions can help the planet.” ~ Daisy Napoles

Location North Lawn & Garden, MDC Hialeah

To learn more or volunteer, contact Melissa Murray, mmurray3@mdc.edu.

Nestled at MDC Homestead Campus, an extraordinary living laboratory thrives under Dr. M. Nia Madison's visionary leadership with co-faculty advisors Dr. Alison Davis, Dr. Marianela Castellanos and the dedicated Garden Club's membership and stewardship of 112 passionate students. This dynamic organic garden pulses with life; Florida native pollinators dance through vibrant butterfly gardens while vegetables flourish in experimental plots. Here, agriscience transforms into adventure as students unlock nature's secrets: monarchs emerge from chrysalises, ladybugs wage biological warfare against aphids, and soil compositions reveal their hidden powers. Through electrifying hands-on workshops covering everything from composting to rain barrel innovation to propagation mastery, this garden ignites scientific passion while feeding both minds and communities, a testament to sustainable agriculture's transformative potential. Furthermore, MDC Homestead Campus Garden Club continues to support the 5 local community and elementary/middle school gardens they have built and nurtured over the past 2 years since the club was founded.

To learn more contact:

mmadison@mdc.edu