Backyard Beekeeping with Rodney Morgan
June 15, 2013 2:00-4:00 PM
Registration now open!
What is all the buzz about beekeeping? Come and find out! Rodney Morgan will share his experiences as a local beekeeper and what it takes to raise a hive of your own. This workshop will cover the basics of hive management, “bee”havior, making a nucleus colony and the seasonal needs of honey bees.
So…what’s the big deal about biogas? Find out by participating in the Center for Sustainability Education’s day-long biogas workshop next Saturday! Open to current Dickinson students, faculty and staff. Students get priority. There are only 4 spots left! Email websteda at dickinson.edu for more info.
“Biogas fuel is a flammable substance that burns in a similar fashion to liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), and as such, biogas energy can be utilized as an alternative to fossil fuels. Biogas production is often achieved using a biogas plant, which is a system that “digests” organic matter to produce gas.” – Mechanical Engineering Blog
When: Saturday, September 29, 2012
Where: Dickinson College Farm and Regional Farms
Time: 9:30 am-4 pm
Workshop description: Turning food waste – and even manure – into energy? Yes, the farm does that too. Let Bob Hamburg, a biogas systems expert and soon-to-be author of “Dragon Husbandry: The Why and Wherefore of Biogas Systems” take you through the history and current uses of biodigestion. This will be followed up by a tour and hands-on exercise led by Matt Steiman at the Dickinson College farm. We’ll also take a tour of an industrial-scale biogas operation at Mains Farms in Newville!
The 9/21/12 episode of the Talk of the Nation radio show explored “The Ugly Truth About Food Waste in America“. Anaerobic digestion and the resulting methane production (biogas!) were highlighted as one way to divert a massive amount of food waste away from landfills. You won’t want to miss this in-depth workshop! Email Dan asap to save your spot!
![Image credit: Flickr [Rhodes]](http://blogs.dickinson.edu/farm/files/2012/09/cows-rhodes-flickr.jpg "dairy cows - rhodes flickr")
Giovania Tiarachristie ’13 was Selected as a Udall Scholar from a Field of 585 Candidates
Dickinson Website
By Kristyn Pankiw
April 24, 2012
For the second-consecutive year, Giovania Tiarachristie ’13, an international-studies and sociology major from Pittsburgh, Pa., has been selected as a Udall Scholar in recognition of her environmental and social-justice work on and off campus.
The Udall Foundation provides federally funded scholarships for students who have demonstrated a commitment to careers in the environment or Native-American tribal public policy or healthcare. Scholars also must demonstrate leadership potential and academic achievement. This year, 80 scholarship recipients were chosen from a field of 585 candidates from 274 colleges and universities. Each scholarship provides up to $5,000 for the scholar’s junior or senior year.
“The foundation provides financial support, networking opportunities with alumni, job opportunities across the nation and connects me to other national scholars with whom I still keep in touch,” says Tiarachristie.
Planning ahead
A finalist for the 2012 Truman Scholarship, Tiarachristie has been busy with new challenges since first receiving the Udall Scholarship in 2011, starting with summer work at the Dickinson College Farm, where she helped with sustainable agriculture issues and biodiesel management. She serves as a board member of Dickinson’s Idea Fund, which equips students with resources to turn ideas for improving campus into viable projects, and she is currently abroad in Sao Paulo studying urban planning and social inequality.
Looking ahead, Tiarachristie plans to pursue her master’s in urban planning and public administration in community development. “I want to incorporate environmental justice into urban design,” she says. “I’m passionate about creative engagement with low-income residents to increase education, participation and collaboration to preserve the health and livelihood of at-risk communities.”
The 2012 Udall Scholars will assemble August 8-12 in Tucson, Ariz., to receive their awards and meet policymakers and community leaders.
The Morris K. Udall and Stewart L. Udall Foundation honors the legacy of the late Morris, who represented southern Arizona in the U.S. House of Representatives for 30 years, and his older brother Stewart, who also represented southern Arizona in Congress from 1955 to 1961. The two worked together on many environmental and Native-American initiatives while Stewart was secretary of the interior and Morris a member of Congress.
On the Grow: University of Michigan Graduate Students Work to Establish a Campus Farm
Ann Arbor
By Janet Miller
April 23, 2012
Lindsey MacDonald wants to give University of Michigan students, faculty and staff a chance to get their hands dirty.
MacDonald is one of four School of Natural Resources and Environment graduate students working to establish a campus farm on the grounds of Matthaei Botanical Gardens. The farm would bring people from a number of academic disciplines together to plan, implement and work on a small farm while also creating a centralized sustainable food program at the university.
Lindsey MacDonald, University of Michigan masters student in the School of Natural Resources and Environment, is working to establish a campus farm at the botanical gardens. She on standing on the land, an old nursery for the botanical gardens, which would be used for the farm.
Janet Miller | For AnnArbor.com
At the same time, a campus farm would increase the amount of locally grown food served in the dining halls across campus and could allow students to purchase CSA (community supported agriculture) shares or even supply a new student food cooperative taking root on campus, said MacDonald.
As a first step, a pilot farm – a 250-square-foot plot – is being established this spring at the botanical gardens, on land adjacent to the proposed farm, which currently is unplowed. It will be used to test crops and the harvest will be donated. “It will allow us to get our hands dirty,” MacDonald said.
Eventually, MacDonald said, plans include establishing a one- to two-acre farm on the botanical gardens grounds, on land that at one time served as a nursery for the gardens. A farm manager would be hired to run and coordinate the operation, MacDonald said. That could happen as early as next year if funding can be found, she said.
But that’s the hitch. MacDonald and the other graduate students won a $42,000 grant that can be used to fund the farm - buy equipment and fund interns to work the farm. But the grant hinges on first hiring a farm manager, a move that could cost between $60,000 and $70,000 a year. MacDonald said they are looking to foundations, alumni and a number of university departments for help with funding.
While the -local food movement has been growing in Washtenaw County, U-M has not moved forward on the idea of a campus farm. The idea of a campus farm has been discussed for at least the past six or seven years, said Bob Grese, director of the botanical gardens and Nichols Arboretum.
Hidden Splendor: Discover Pennsylvania’s Cumberland Valley
US Airways Magazine
By JoAnn Greco
April 2012
Excerpt, Page 3:
Education Epicenter: Cumberland’s top schools train future leaders.
Cumberland Valley boasts six institutions of higher education, including Shippensburg University of Pennsylvania, Central Pennsylvania College, Messiah College, and Penn State Dickinson School of Law. But two of the valley’s prominent schools
find their home in Carlisle. The U.S. Army War College, which moved to its present
location near Carlisle in 1951, has trained top military leadership in strategic command since the early 20th century. Students conduct research and learn about the latest in military technology.
Dr. Benjamin Rush, a signer of the Declaration of Independence, founded Dickinson College in 1783. Today the liberal arts school stays true to Rush’s innovative vision with global study-abroad programs, a sustainability program (complete with a college farm that supplies food for the dining hall), and hands-on learning opportunities.
Will the Real Green Colleges Please Stand up?
Natural Resources Defense Council
By Lee Epstein
March 21, 2012
In the middle part of the past decade, “sustainability” became somewhat of a “college craze” – that is, for ever-competitive college administrators. Lots of schools jumped on the “green” bandwagon, though some had already been leading the parade for some time. Others, sadly, have yet to see the light.
Oberlin College committed early on to sophisticated sustainable buildings, and local and organic food. My own alma mater, Dickinson College, embraced sustainability as one of the defining measures of both campus systems (LEED Gold buildings, waste oil for biodiesel transportation and for its boilers, its own organic farm supplying its foodservices, free bikes) and its academic and curricular focus. The University of Colorado at Boulder has committed that all of its new buildings will meet commendable LEED Gold standards, and it runs an alternative transportation system. 
UCLA recycles, recycles, and then recycles again. The University of New Hampshire fires up landfill gas to supply energy on campus. Arizona State University has a School of Sustainability. American University buys tens of millions of kwH of wind energy and has thoroughly greened its campus. And Middlebury College runs a biomass gasification plant to help it attain carbon neutrality by 2016. Read more…
Energy Efficiency: How green is your college? American University scores in new rating system
E & E Publishing
By Lacey Johnson
March 20, 2012
To the untrained eye, there is nothing extraordinary about American University’s 84-acre Washington campus; but according to several rating systems, what’s happening there is making the school one of the “greenest” educational institutions in the country.
American University is part of a growing sustainability movement on U.S. college campuses, and the schools that join in are discovering how going green can make for good publicity. Read more…
Need to get from campus to the farm via your wheels – bicycle wheels, that is? Check out Dickinson Bike’s newly posted 6.7-mi route from main campus to the farm.
After all that chocolate, get ready for some produce, cheese, eggs, meat, fruit and plenty of other local products at the vibrant winter’s market. Immediately following the market, there will be a screening of the inspiring Cafeteria Man movie! More information about the movie screening (refreshments will be served): From Reel to Real Food
Market: 3:00pm-7:00pm
Location: The Depot, corner of W. High Street and Cherry Street.
Farmers on the Square (FOTS) is a farmer-run, seasonal market that operates in Carlisle. Vendors live and work within 50 miles of downtown, so ours really is a local market.
Reel to Real Food
Movie Screening & Meet and Greet
What? Come enjoy the company of others interested in local food and light, locally sourced refreshments along with a documentary, Cafeteria Man. From the movie’s website: Cafeteria Man is a story of positive movement. It’s about the aspiration of social activists and citizens coming together to change the way kids eat at school. It’s about overhauling a dysfunctional nutritional system. And, it’s the story of what it takes, and who it takes, to make solutions happen.
When? Wednesday, February 15, 2012, 7:00 pm (right after the February Farmers on the Square market, held in the Depot)
Where? Holland Union Building, Social Hall
Who? Free and Open to the Public, RSVP required
Please RSVP to Rachel Gilbert, Sustainable Food Committee Chair
Check out the Cafeteria Man trailer!
“Geraci is an inspiration. He proves that when you get students growing, cooking and eating healthy food, it’s not children’s lunch that changes—it’s children’s lives.” – Curt Ellis, Executive Director, Foodcorps; Co-Producer, King Corn
The Cafeteria Man documentary features Tony Geraci’s efforts to overhaul the student lunch program for over 83,000 public school children when he was Director of Food and Nutrition for Baltimore City Public Schools. Tony, a national leader in school nutrition and member of first lady Michelle Obama’s “Let’s Move” and “Chefs Move to Schools” initiatives, is now the Executive Director of Child Nutrition for Memphis City Schools, where he oversees daily school meals for over 118,000 students.
Tony was the keynote speaker at Dickinson College’s October 2011 National Student Farm Conference. You may view a video of Tony’s keynote address at the October conference’s “Seeding the Future” blog.
Tony Geraci in the news:
Farm to Fork: Memphis City Schools nutritionist’s initiative takes fresh approach to healthful meals