If you didn’t make it to Monday’s Sustainability Session, here’s what you missed!
The Sustainability Office’s Food &Farms Projects Coordinator, Sara Trunzo, brought students to see the inside of the balmy 80-degree greenhouse and learn more about new farm projects here on campus. Spring has sprung and for those with an interest in ag, that means there’s a lot going on.
Greenhouse
The greenhouse design allows everyone to get the most possible use from it. One half, floored in packed gravel, will give Veggies for All (VFA) space to start seedlings inside so they are ready to go in the ground as soon as it’s safe. The other half will be for production and instruction. Currently it features two raised beds, and will soon have four. One of these is already growing kale, spinach, and other cold-weather crops planted by Jean English’s Sustainable Horticulture class last fall. Come out this Thursday
the 14th at 10 a.m. to help build raised beds for student use. A meeting to sign up for greenhouse space will be scheduled soon. Contact Sarah Bicknell for more information about working in the greenhouse.
Packshed
In order to make campus vegetable work successful, funds have been secured to build a packshed to wash and pack produce from campus VFA plots. Design plans for that are underway.
Barn
The barn’s exterior renovation is complete and new spring residents have arrived! Already, the FFA has young chicks in the barn. They will go out on pasture as the season warms up. Later this spring or summer there will be more critters as we welcome a flock of sheep or goats to campus. All this campus livestock work is intended to increase on-campus learning opportunities for all students, with a particular emphasis on our Captive Wildlife Care and Education and Sustainable Agriculture students.
Fall will also bring a new staff member to the Sustainability Office; a Barn Manager will be here to monitor all things barn-related. A search committee has gone through many applications and found three candidates they’d like students to meet. Join us at the barn at the times below to get to know the candidates and be heard on animal plans for the future.
Session feedback
After filling us in on what’s already going on with food & farm projects on campus, Sara asked what we’d like to see in the future. One livestock-minded student suggested included fiber animals -sheep and goats- whose wool could be processed by students and donated for use in charitable knitting projects already underway on campus.
Stay posted to get involved with upcoming meetings dealing with issues like:
- How can I grow vegetables in the greenhouse?
-
What kind of animals will students be raising in the barn?
Mark your calendar for the following food & farms events!
- What When & Where
- 1st Barn Manager Candidate Wednesday 9:10-9:30 a.m. @The Barn
- 2nd Barn Manager Candidate Wednesday 11:40-12:00 p.m. @ The Barn
- Greenhouse work day Thursday 10 am @ The Greenhouse
- 3rd Barn Manager Candidate Friday 2:40-3:00 p.m. @ The Barn
Unity College Sustainability Monitor 
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