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Food, Farm and Sustainability
Date: 25 Oct 2017
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Thanks to volunteers, the Hampshire College Fall Festival was a big success!!

Thank you to all of the wonderful volunteers who made the Fall Festival such a success!! From selling popcorn to monitoring traffic, from pressing apple cider to showing off pigs, we really appreciate your hard work, and couldn’t have done it without you! Thank you, thank you!! Thanks also to the bands, the vendors, and, of course, all of the visitors who came out visit the farm. We hope you had a great time an
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red barn in background with people at festival in foreground
Date: 20 Oct 2017
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Fall Farm Festival happening tomorrow!!

  Come visit the farm at the Fall Farm Festival during Alumni and Friends weekend on Saturday, Oct 21st, 12-4 pm! Featuring two staff/alumni bands: What Happens Now and Jesse Sterling Harrison! What Happens Now: https://www.facebook.com/akadeafwallace/ (Check out the familiar alum/staff faces… :)) Alumn Jesse Sterling Harrison: https://store.cdbaby.com/cd/jsharrison2 Also featuring vegetarian, gluten-free
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3 people in cafeteria behind table featuring local food
Date: 03 Oct 2017
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Hampshire College Farm and Bon Appetit team up for a big win!!

Congratulations to Executive Chef Jamil Asad for his Local Food Challenge meal on September 26th, which was in the top three out of 44,000 Bon Appetit submissions in the country!! It featured primarily Hampshire College Farm produce, with a few additional products from Horse Listener’s Orchard and Four Star Farms. Go Team Local!! Did we mention that it was delicious? Because it sure was!! As many readers of thi
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Sow in straw hat by waterer
Date: 15 Aug 2017
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Researching and Raising Gloucestershire Old Spots

As promised in the previous post, we wanted to provide you with more details on the Gloucestershire Old Spot breeding program, a student-run project by April Nugent, 15F, funded by the Coppinger Research Grant. This study involves breeding heritage pigs in two separate environments (pasture and woodlot) and then comparing the pigs raised on pasture with the pigs raised on woodlot, with the goal of providing baseline
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Piglet crawls across mother's face
Date: 02 Aug 2017
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Pigs, pigs, pigs!! Lady Roxanne surprises us all!

It’s pigs, pigs, pigs around here these days! One of our students, April Nugent, has been breeding Gloucester Old Spot pigs, a heritage breed. (A far more detailed post on this terrific student-led project will be forthcoming.) On the farm we currently have four sows, all of whom were successfully impregnated, and one boar. Although we all thought that Phyllis, otherwise known as the Empress, the oldest of the
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Date: 27 Jul 2017
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Local Food Processing and Storage: Problems and Solutions

One of the main problems facing local food systems, including small farmers and entrepreneurs, is food processing and storage. Because some food crops tend to ripen all at once, without appropriate processing and storage facilities there is a risk that much of the crop will simply go to waste. Although here at Hampshire College we have commercial kitchens to handle our farm-to-plate processing, many small farmers and
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Nancy Hanson in field harvesting veggies
Date: 20 Jun 2017
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Nancy Hanson – 2017 Carol and Blair Brown Staff Excellence Award Winner!!

  Congratulations to the Farm’s own Nancy Hanson, CSA Manager and 2017 winner of the Carol and Blair Brown Award for Staff Excellence!! This prestigious, community-based award recognizes a staff member’s exceptional contribution to the College. As one letter of support says, “At Hampshire College, Nancy has provided exceptional service, created cross-campus connections, fostered diversity and i
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Date: 15 Jun 2017
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NOFA Summer Conference returns to Hampshire College!

Be part of this annual celebration of the organic movement! 2017 NOFA Summer Conference August 11-13, 2017 Hampshire College, Amherst, Mass. The NOFA Summer Conference is a three day solutions-oriented annual celebration of the grassroots organic movement. Gardeners, farmers, growers and food-lovers from across the Northeast will again share their inspiration and ideas for organic food, farming, health, activism, and
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Date: 30 Mar 2016
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Botanical explorer Joseph Simcox brings new seeds to Hampshire Farm

by Eve Allen, F14 On a warm Wednesday afternoon in early March, botanical explorer and ethnobotanist, Joseph Simcox, paid a visit to the Hampshire College Farm to distribute seeds in promotion of his Gardens Across America project. Joseph has spent decades circling the globe documenting, tasting, and collecting the seeds of thousands of rare and underutilized edibles. Visiting over 100 countries and collecting the se
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Date: 18 Feb 2016
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Seed Library and Hampshire Farm Series Spring 2016

Announcing a collaborative series on seeds, seed starting, and transplanting offered by the Harold F Johnson Library and the Hampshire College Farm. Vegetable Grower and CSA Manager Nancy Hanson and Science Librarian Heather McCann will co-teach 3 sessions this spring. Participants will learn more about the Hampshire College Seed Library and the resources available on campus for growing food. Bring your own seeds to
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Date: 17 Feb 2016
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Informational Lunch with Tom Morris on February 24th: Sustainable Food and Environmental Systems Program in Florence, Italy

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Date: 26 Jan 2016
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Div III Agroecology Student Gains Valuable Insights at Vermont Grazing and Livestock Conference

A guest post by Div III student Joshua Minot, who is studying Acroecology with a focus on pasture-based animal agriculture. January 15th marked the start of the 20th annual Vermont Grazing and Livestock Conference hosted in Fairlee, Vermont—an event that brings together a wide variety of stakeholders from across New England. The conference was hosted by the University of Vermont Extension and offered an opportunity t
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Date: 04 Dec 2015
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Food, Farming, and Climate: Discussions at Hampshire and in Paris

While national leaders met in Paris this past week to work toward collaborative solutions to climate change, author and 5 College professor Michael Klare delivered the annual Jackie Pritzen Lecture here at Hampshire College, focusing on conflict and resource depletion in the climate change era. Klare described a future in which croplands in Africa, Asia, and America turn to dustbowls, fisheries fail, and billions of
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Date: 17 Nov 2015
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November Farm Bulletin

Monthly updates from the farm recorded by Owen Aptekar-Cassels F14 with input from Farmers Nancy Hanson and Jason Dragon. The shift in weather patterns that made this an amazing growing season also affects the lives of insects. This year’s experimental Brussels sprouts crop, the first on the farm in 10 years, was covered in gray aphids that do well in warm weather. Next season the farm plans to adapt by introducing l
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Date: 03 Nov 2015
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Report: Accounting Systems for the 100% Local Food Challenge By Joshua Minot and Shelby Gaiss

In March of 2015, student interns Joshua Minot F12 and Shelby Gaiss F13 were tasked to track and record Bon Appetit’s local purchasing practices in the context of Hampshire’s 100% Local Food Challenge and to conduct preliminary research and analysis around the Real Food Challenge in comparison to Hampshire’s Sustainable Food Purchasing Guidelines. Over the past several months, the interns have worked to identify all
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Date: 01 Nov 2015
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Fall 2015 Farmer Speaker Series

Introducing a speaker series at the Hampshire College Farm that will bring local farmers and food producers to campus to share their experience and expertise with students. This series is organized by Robin Roblee-Strauss F’14 in collaboration with Hampshire Farm staff, and is sponsored by the Lydia B. Stokes Foundation and The Growing Farmers Collective.  
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Date: 09 Oct 2015
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The Annual Fall Festival at the Hampshire College Farm

Celebrate fall with a festival of food, art, and activities at the Hampshire College Farm! Enjoy hayrides, hot cider, maple cotton candy, delicious local lunch, farm tours, student presentations, a recipe contest, an artisan market, and live music from talented local bands!   You are Invited! Hampshire College Fall Festival Saturday October 24th Noon-4PM @ The Hampshire College Farm (Rain Location: Red Barn) MUS
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Date: 09 Oct 2015
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Fall Festival: Best Butternut Recipe Contest

Students, Staff, and Faculty – enter your BEST BUTTERNUT SQUASH RECIPE for a chance to win a Hampshire College Farm totebag stuffed with squashes! Fall is here and so it’s time to double down on the dutch oven and get creative with the crockpot! We invite you to submit your best butternut squash recipe and prepare the dish for judging at the Hampshire College Fall Festival on October 24th. Who: You! Stude
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Date: 17 Sep 2015
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Farm Field Trip Series: Wingate Farm

Join Hampshire College Farmer Jason Dragon and Program Coordinator Jess Wissemann on field trips to local farms! Participants will learn about various sustainable farming practices from the farmers themselves and may have opportunities to get their hands dirty with some volunteer work. We will be visiting several farms including two alumni farms right here in the Pioneer Valley. Learn about our regional food system f
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Date: 08 Sep 2015
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Finding beauty through Farm Work: Reflections on the Growing Season

Owen Aptekar-Cassels is a third-year student at Hampshire College and one of 4 Hampshire students who worked as a vegetable farm intern this summer. I’ve been meaning to write this blog post for months, but I’m only now, when popcorn and pumpkin plants that started off so small and strong are now fruiting and dying back, getting the chance to write it. Farming can make other things slip to the side, I’m learning. My
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