While some Dartmouth students spend their summer days basking in the air-conditioned comfort of the library, others travel a few miles down the road each week to work outdoors at the Dartmouth Organic Farm. Summer term is the busiest season at the farm, a time when students toil away growing crops and organizing various farm-related activities for the community.
With the arrival of a new greenhouse, the participation of a Dartmouth environmental agriculture class and a reunion weekend for Dartmouth alumni with ties to the farm, the summer has proven to be especially busy for students involved with the farm.
Sawyer Broadley '08, one of several Dartmouth students actively involved with the farm, described the months of planning leading up to the reunion, which will be taking place over the weekend.
"It's the 10th anniversary of the farm, so we're having an alum reunion this weekend," Broadley said.
"There will be about 12 to 15 alumni there, some from as far as California."
The weekend will consist of lots of food, some workshops, tours of the farm, some games and a band, he said.
Another is the arrival of a new greenhouse, donated by the US Army's local Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory.
The greenhouse will be a valuable resource for the farm, allowing it to extend its harvest season later into the fall.
"[The CRREL] had this old giant glass greenhouse that they were just going to demolish and someone said 'Hey, let's give it to someone who can use it,' and [the farm] ended up getting it," Broadley said.
"It's huge. We just got permission to put it up. That's a pretty huge deal because that can extend our growing times."
Broadley called the summer "one of the busiest planting seasons" at the farm and noted that the smaller student population on campus means an increased reliance on non-student workers to keep the process going.
The farm currently employs two full-time interns, both Dartmouth alumni, and the current farm manager is an alumnus as well, farm volunteer Hannah Rossman '08 said.
In addition to the employees of the farm, students like Rossman and Broadley regularly volunteer their time to work there as well. Though only a handful of students travel to the farm on a weekly basis, any student can volunteer at the farm.
Besides student volunteers, the farm also receives a supplementary work staff during the summer in the form of the environmental studies class entitled Environmental Agriculture.
Enrolled students travel out to the farm each week for the course's lab component.
Broadley said that the class fulfilled the farm's purpose, to "connect the academic side of things with the outdoor side of things."
"[Working at the farm] is a really great relief from writing a paper or sitting on the Green," Broadley said.
"It's working with your hands and your head at the same time. There's a lot of interesting connections between the land and the food. It's a different kind of learning."
Rossman extolled the social aspects of farm life, explaining that the farm holds Tuesday meetings and Friday potluck dinners for students interested in getting involved.
Both Rossman and Broadley live at 20 School Street, a house populated almost entirely by students involved with the farm.
Rossman said that anyone from the student body is always welcome to get involved, and that those who do often enjoy the diversity of the group of students who devote their time to working on the farm.
"We're not all crazy hippies working in the field and not using deodorant," Rossman said. "Well, maybe some of us are."
