Early Wednesday morning, I made my way out to the Dartmouth Organic Farm, where I hadn't been since the fall. It was the weekly harvest: We picked out bright, ripe Sapho tomatoes, cucumbers, herbs, scallions and kale, slightly thinned out by grazing deer.
I learned how to cut sprigs and watched as the tips of my fingers turned brown and dusty from the soil. It was refreshing: The Connecticut River glittered in the morning sun at our side and the greenhouse was quiet, save for the sound of our shuffling feet as we peered through the vines, reaching in for the ripe vegetables. I'm not the first person to find this peacefulness, this detachment from everything else.
"Being at the farm is a great way to reflect," farm regular Sam Kernan '14 said. "I'm able to separate myself a little and get a different perspective on the kind of work I can do."
The farm was first proposed in 1988 in a student policy report for an environmental studies class and was implemented six years later in the form of a small organic vegetable plot. It found success and eventually led to a full farm program and the hiring of a professional farm manager. The farm's first growing season began in the spring of 1996.
Three miles north of campus, the farm property spans over 200 acres, though only half an acre is farmed, and includes two greenhouses and a maple syrup tapping area in the forest on the other side of Lyme Road from the farm. The farm grows chard, cucumbers, kale, eggplants, potatoes, corn and other fruits and vegetables and also raises some fish. The majority of the food produced during the summer is sold as community-supported agriculture, in which 20 shares are divided among students and faculty.
The farm offers hands-on, physical work, a departure from a typical day in Hanover.
"It's hard work but also mentally engaging," Kernan said. "We raise plants, but we're also learning about energy consumption, food cycling, the use of fertilizers and just broader sustainability issues in how we create and consume food."
The summer offers a special opportunity for the farm hands to see the products of a year's work, and at Wednesday harvests they taste the foods they have planted and prepared throughout the year.
The farm is, above all, an educational resource.
"We're focused on getting students in contact with the workings of the planet," farm manager Scott Stokoe said. "We use food to help students understand the basics of plants, animals, soils and water. In some ways, the farm is not a full farm because it doesn't have to deal with the realities of the food market and because it is not completely sustainable. Some students have even considered dropping the name farm' and calling it the food and energy center," Stokoe said.
The farm is not sustainable because it buys compost, burns fuel for the greenhouse and relies on nucelar and coal-powered electricity, according to Stokoe.
The role of the farm now is to raise these issues as they relate to the increasing loss of organic matter and farm land, as well as the energy required to grow food.
"We're trying to create a working example of a more sustainable system inside our solar greenhouse," he said.
The farm is currently exploring advanced environmental projects, according to Emil Cashin '12, the student farm intern. He said he likes environmental studies professor Anne Kapuscinski's aquaculture system, which uses tank water in the greenhouses as a heat reservoir to keep the air warm at night.
"We have this connection to the natural world with a functioning farm and working landscape, and as an engineer I like think about how to do things differently in more sustainable way," Cashin said.
In 1999, environmental studies professor and Director of the Institute of Arctic Studies Ross Virginia created the organic farming course, Ecological Agriculture, in order to connect the farm to academics.
"It made perfect sense if you wanted to teach environmental science in liberal arts," Virginia said. "And during sophomore summer, it's a no-brainer that people would want to be out there."
Students in the class focus on understanding plants and plant growth and learn how to produce foods that are marketable. Trips to local dairies teach students about possible ways to expand the small-scale operations at the organic farm and allow them to take a second look at where their food comes from.
Maya Johnson '14, who is currently enrolled in the class, said her favorite part of the course is seeing the various organisms fall together in a cycle during the laboratory work. Students observe such relationships when measuring corn growth in different conditions and monitoring tilapia fish tanks in greenhouses.
"It's cool because fertilizer can be used for plants, and fish will eat them, and then fish can be eaten by people," Johnson said. "The class is really fun and it applies to our learning because we get to actually go out to work on the farm."
Virginia hopes to run a Foreign Study Program at the farm in the future, which would include a core class at the farm, a trip-based class to see other forms of farming and an independent project.
"We need to lock this in for the long run," Virginia said. "My next vision is that students will want to use the farm to integrate science, history, culture and the environment in an intensive way."
Farm hands like Danielle Nathanson '13 find the farm to be a relaxing and comfortable place.
"It feels right for me to have my hands in the dirt and be around living things," Nathanson, who has worked at the farm since her freshman year, said. "Something's off when nothing's growing around me in a dorm."
