logo

Category

Healthy Food Transition
buckets of collard and chard

New this semester – cooking tips, recipes, and what to do with your CSA share!

Are you a new student CSA member? Don’t know a chef’s knife from a paring knife? Can’t tell the difference between collards and chard? Never fear, the Food, Farm, and Sustainability Blog is here for you!   This semester, we will posting weekly recipes, cooking skills, and announcements of classes or other events to help you learn how to cook (or become a better cook than you already are), how t
Read More
farm crew with dog sitting on tractor

Farming’s Future: Welcome to the New Summer Farm Crew!!

Another busy season is underway here at the Hampshire College Farm. This summer we have a terrific group of hardworking interns helping with everything from raising chickens to pounding tomato stakes. One hot afternoon, while cooling off over some ice-cold drinks and popsicles, we asked them about their experiences so far and their future plans. Blue DuRard Keller, a Hampshire College student, says that he has romant
Read More
Farmer waving from tractor

Faces Behind Your Food Presents: Farmer Jason Dragon

Welcome to the third of our Faces Behind Your Food interviews, this time with Jason Dragon, Assistant Director for Vegetables and Student Outreach. We hope this series has helped you learn more about the folks behind your food here at Hampshire College. Hopefully we will be able to continue this series next semester. In the meantime, thanks for watching!
Read More
4 people in commercial kitchen

Faces Behind Your Food Presents: The Kern Kafe

Welcome to the second in a series of Faces Behind Your Food interviews with the folks here on campus who are involved in moving your food from farm to fork. This interview is with some of the hardworking staff at the Kern Kafe, including Eli Horowitz (Bakery Manager), Tori Bonazoli (Baker), Sheena Pee (Catering and Baking Assistant) and Elise Khanijao (Kern Kafe Manager). The bakery makes an assortment of delicious p
Read More
3 people in cafeteria behind table featuring local food

Faces Behind Your Food Presents: Executive Chef Jamil Asad

Check out this great interview with Bon Appetit Executive Chef Jamil Asad, done by our Kendall Food Systems Intern, Quinn Thomashow. This is the first in a series of several Faces Behind Your Food interviews with some of the people involved in the food systems work here at Hampshire. We hope it gives you a better sense of who the folks are who work so hard to bring your food from the farm to your plate. Enjoy!  
Read More
headshot woman red shirt red hair

Welcome to Mo Phelon, Assistant Director for Livestock and Pasture!

Please join the Hampshire College Farm in welcoming our new Assistant Director for Livestock and Pasture, Maureen (Mo) Phelon! Mo joins us from Westfield, MA, where she and her family raise Milking Shorthorn show cattle and shorthorn beef, along with a combination of many other farm animals. Her passion for working with animals encouraged her to attend SUNY Cobleskill and continue on to Cornell University, where she
Read More
Chef showing plated food to 3 students

What do you know about the faces behind our food?

Dear Hampshire Community, How well do you know the faces behind your food – meaning the staff involved in the Hampshire College food system? Have you ever chatted with Jamil? Toured the farm with Nancy? Bought bulk from Mixed Nuts? Please take a brief survey and let us know! https://hampshire.co1.qualtrics.com/…/fo…/SV_br9Q4IXTlmuLurX Thanks!  
Read More
Nursing sow with 5 piglets

Now hiring! Assistant Director for Livestock and Pasture

    Assistant Director-Livestock/Pasture Hampshire College Farm Center Hampshire College, an independent, innovative liberal arts institution and member of the Five College consortium, is accepting applications for an assistant director – livestock/pasture for its Farm Center. The Hampshire College Farm is a thriving working farm providing campus and community members with organically grown produce and past
Read More
Members of food system panel sitting at table

What’s new? A Hampshire College Food Systems Panel… and Cooking Class!

Here at Hampshire College we continue to make progress on our food systems work. Earlier this fall our Food Systems team conducted a survey of first year students in the dining hall, and discovered that few of them had a good grasp on what exactly the Hampshire College food system was or how it worked. To remedy this, we worked in conjunction with the Bon Appetit Fellow, Shira Kaufmann, and came up with both a Food S
Read More

Hampshire College Food Systems Panel

Recently, the Kendall Food Systems Intern and Farm staff conducted a survey in the dining hall to find out what students want to know about the Hampshire College food system. In response to questions that we received from the survey, we are planning to hold a panel on November 29th (note new date) from 3:30-4:30 in the middle room of the dining commons. Please join the staff of the dining hall, the farm, the Kern Cen
Read More
3 people in cafeteria behind table featuring local food

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
Read More

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
Read More

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
Read More

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
Read More

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
Read More

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
Read More

1200 Pounds of Blueberries Bound for Campus Dining Hall!

How many blueberries would it take to feed Hampshire College for a year? This was the question campus farmer Nancy Hanson asked dining service general manager Jim Lachance last July. Farmer Nancy proposed to take her hard working crew of student farmers out of the campus vegetable fields and up to the blueberry barrens of the Berkshires to pick enough berries to supply the dining for the entire school year. According
Read More

Students Pick Local Strawberries for Campus Dining Hall

On Tuesday morning, the Hampshire College Farm crew teamed up with students attending the summer Food, Farm, and Sustainability Institute (FFSI) to pick nearly 700 pounds of local strawberries at historic Warner Farm in Sunderland, MA. The purpose of the trip was not only to provide a fun learning experience for the summer farm crew and FFSI students but also to harvest berries that Bon Appetit will use in pursuit of
Read More

Pancake Breakfast with Mixed Nuts!

To cap off our exciting Earth Day events, the Hampshire College Farm teamed up with Bon Appetit and Mixed Nuts to host a pancake breakfast at the Roos-Rohde house this morning. Students, faculty, and staff followed the scent of fresh flapjacks across campus and gathered at the Community Garden for an outdoor breakfast in the sunshine. Jim Lachance, General Manager of Bon Appetit Dining Services at Hampshire made his
Read More
Maple tapping

A Sugaring Story: Reflections on a New England Tradition

Hampshire College farmers Jason Dragon and Pete Solis led the maple sugaring efforts at Hampshire College this spring. With the help of student workers, they collected 1100 gallons of maple sap from 150 trees across campus, which they boiled down to 20 gallons of delicious maple syrup. Read a firsthand account of this age-old New England tradition from Farmer Jason: In late February, in the midst of a long brutal win
Read More