Planting opportunity: Bill Dunn isn't afraid to get his hands dirty for the sake of downtown Cape

Bill Dunn's garden is green in more way than one. His Scholarship Garden in downtown Cape grows vegetables and herbs, and the proceeds make "green" in scholarship dollars for students at Southeast Missouri State University. This year, Old Town Cape recognized his efforts with the annual Volunteer of the Year Award. Here, Dunn discusses how the Scholarship Garden got started, and how else he's putting his skills to use for downtown Cape.

TBY: First, about the Scholarship Garden: How and when did you come up with this idea?

Bill Dunn: In the late '90s, I assisted Dr. Jennie Cooper, retired English professor of Southeast Missouri State University, in raising a scholarship for the late John Boardman, architect and champion of downtown and the Downtown Merchants Association (DMA). I was immediately hooked on raising scholarships, but I didn't like asking people for money and not giving anything in return.

As I recall, myself, the late Levin Letner and his wife, Lisa, were having cocktails at my house and solving the world's problems. Next thing we knew, we were selling vegetables downtown and putting the money into a scholarship fund for the DMA. Those first crops came from my dad's garden out in Whitewater. A few years later it was a unanimous decision by all of us at the DMA to build a raised bed garden in downtown Cape for wacky urban farmers.

TBY: Tell us more about the Scholarship Garden and how it works.

Bill Dunn looks over the amount of mulch left in the bed of his truck during the downtown cleanup April 27 in Cape Girardeau. (Adam Vogler)

Dunn: The Old Town Cape Scholarship Garden is on the alley between Spanish and Lorimier and Independence and Merriwether streets. It is on the western end of the public parking lot off Spanish Street. It has been there since 2002, and it now proudly serves as the backdrop for the weekly Cape Riverfront Market.

Main gardening season vegetables are tomatoes, cucumbers, beans, peppers, onions and garlic. Culinary herbs include basil, chives, thyme, oregano, sage, fennel, dill, parsley and rosemary.

The produce is picked fresh during the season, weighed and delivered to Celebrations by Request, Cup 'n Cork and Port Cape. The herbs are primarily harvested as needed by the respective executive chefs of each restaurant. Once a month, an invoice with total pounds and type of produce is taken to each establishment and donation checks are sent directly to Old Town Cape.

TBY: What have you been able to accomplish thanks to the garden?

Dunn: Since 2002, Old Town Cape (and the Downtown Merchants Association, a subset of OTC) have raised enough funds ($10,000) to endow a yearly scholarship awarded to a student at Southeast Missouri State University with preference given to a recipient associated with OTC. We are approximately halfway to endowing a second scholarship fund.

TBY: As for the garden itself, how has it grown since you started it?

Dunn: The garden has evolved from Missouri clay topsoil to a rich, organic, no-till soil that is amended yearly. Maybe about the time I get "planted" (die) it will be ready for the next gardener.

TBY: Who else works on the garden with you?

Dunn: There have been so many businesses and individuals who have been involved, it's impossible to name them all. For the most part, it's my zen activity.

TBY: How did you get started gardening? What do you like about it?

Dunn: I remember HAVING to work in the family garden, but now gardening is like going to church. One feels cleaner after one works in the dirt.

TBY: You also do landscaping and other projects in downtown Cape, right?

Dunn: There are more than a few of us associated with OTC who regularly weed and pick up trash, but each year around the last week of April, volunteers swarm downtown for spring cleanup. I assist the beautification committee of OTC in the weeding and mulching of the tree wells located throughout downtown.

TBY: Any other gardening projects we should know about?

Dunn: Last year I attended the first level of Master Gardener training through the University of Missouri Extension Office. I highly recommend this course. It is informative, inexpensive and invaluable.

TBY: Why do you do all this? Why is it fun for you?

Dunn: Altruism is easily defined, yet hard to explain. Compulsion is even harder to explain. Endowing a scholarship at Southeast Missouri State University is essentially in perpetuity. Years and possibly decades from now a student in the pursuit of education will receive an award from our OTC scholarship.

TBY: What do you do when you're not volunteering as a gardener?

Dunn: I have been at Rhea Optical for the past 13 years. In addition to my service there, I will soon be launching a new career in catering and bartending for Port Cape.