Who We Feed

Throughout the growing season, student farmers, volunteers and farm staff work diligently to grow quality produce for consumption on campus. The kinds of crops and volume of crops that the farm raises are determined through conversations with the head chef and director of Dining Services at Dickinson. Factors such as the farm’s growing season, holidays, and volume of needs is factored into these conversations. What results from these discussions is a clear outline of what is needed, which assists farm staff with developing a comprehensive crop plan.

The College Farm aims to be the main or one of the primary suppliers of specific vegetables during the Pennsylvania growing season (March – December). Examples of these crops include slicing tomatoes, cherry tomatoes, mesclun mix, baby spinach, leaf lettuce, zucchini, summer squash, bell peppers, broccoli, cucumbers, and herbs. During the 2010 growing season, the Dickinson Farm delivered over 1,000 pounds of tomatoes to the Dining Hall each week! Dickinson students find ingredients from the farm in the salad bar, on sandwiches and in the main entrees served in the dining hall.

The Dickinson College Dining Services department is independently run and has a long-standing reputation of supporting local farms. The Dining Hall purchases regularly from Tom Jones, the Happy Beekeeper; Beechwood Orchards; and Warrington Farm Beef.

Dining Services locations:

• Dining Hall. The campus’ primary gathering place for meals, the Dining Hall features more than 20 stations including the KOVE (kosher + vegan), a Wok bar, a grains bar, a carving station and deli counter as well as grab-and-go options.
• Biblio Café. Located in the Waidner-Spahr Library and open to the public, the Biblio serves Starbucks coffee and a wide variety of pastries.
• Union Station. Known campuswide as the SNAR, the snack bar and grill is the perfect place to grab a quick bite.
• The Underground. In addition to housing the Red Devil sushi bar, the Underground features fair-trade coffee, snacks and a juice bar, as well as organic, gluten-free Amy’s brand prepackaged meals and fresh salads from the College Farm.

Project SHARE is a local food bank dedicated to serving and providing support for over 500 families in the greater Carlisle area. It is located at 5 N. Orange Street, within walking distance of Dickinson College.

The farm provides significant donations to the Food Bank during the Pennsylvania growing season. In the 2014 growing season alone, the farm donated 4,531 pounds of fresh certified organic vegetables to Project SHARE! Between June to October, Project SHARE’s Farm Stand is open four times per week to allow individuals in need to go select nutritious fruits and vegetables at the height of freshness. In summer 2011, there were more than 5,000 visits to the Farm Stand by members of the Carlisle community. The produce was also offered to the 950 families that come to Project SHARE’s our monthly distributions.

Since 2003, students working with the Dickinson Farm program have played an integral role in getting fresh fruits and vegetables to low-income families. Over the past two decades, students have been involved with connecting low-income communities and fresh, locally grown food, from a program for gleaning from nearby farms to transporting weekly college farm produce donations to Project SHARE’s Farm Stand.

In an effort to assist local food bank recipients with access to fresh produce, the College Farm developed a work exchange program for low-income families in the area. With the assistance of Project SHARE, the Farm worked with two households in 2003 and 2004. Members of these households came out to the Farm once per week to work directly with the student farm workers. They assisted with harvesting, weeding, planting and watering. In return for their hard work, the households were offered shares of the weekly harvest. This program ran successfully for 20+ weeks.