Myths About Weybridge House Quickly Decompose

Author: Gale Berninghausen

Much like falling leaves, the myths about Weybridge House swirl and circulate around the Middlebury campus. The myths are as colorful as those autumnal leaves, and perhaps as transient. It is often thought that Weybridge House is full of hippies who are all vegetarians and environmental studies majors, who refuse to flush the toilet and who live on the fringe of campus because they're too "in touch" with nature to survive the "civilization" of the dorms. Well, think again. Those myths, just like the splendor of Vermont's autumn leaves, quickly disperse to reveal the true nature of Weybridge House.
Weybridge House, Middlebury's environmental studies academic interest house, is located on Weybridge Street, just northeast of Twilight Hall. The old white house has character, and so do its 17 inhabitants. These 17 students are men and women from the sophomore, junior and senior classes. They represent a wide range of interests and opinions. They are environmental studies majors, geology majors, psychology majors, international studies majors and more. Some are vegetarians, some may describe themselves as hippies and they all flush — but who cares about the vegetarian-hippie-non-flusher label anyway? Primarily, these 17 students are individuals dedicated to the idea of sustainable living. But what does that mean, exactly?
Much like "diversity," "sustainability" has morphed into a popular buzzword on campus. Sustainability, according to the Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary, is "a method of harvesting or using a resource so that the resource is not depleted or permanently damaged." According to some of the folks at Weybridge, though, sustainability is about buying organic and local food in bulk. Residents then cook that food into sumptuous meals to enjoy. After that, they compost the leftover food waste. Meanwhile, they use an energy-efficient washing machine and drying racks and clotheslines to dry clothes. They hope to soon place the refrigerators in the house with new energy-efficient models, but money is needed for that. So, for now, they conserve energy, and money, by turning off the lights when not using them and trying to figure out how to keep the old, and not entirely airtight house, warm during the cold months. There are also a variety of other daily routines that the housemates engage in to keep their lifestyle happy, fun and healthy. Sustainability, it seems, is about treating the earth and its resources in a way meant to prolong those resources.
Dana Allen '04.5 is one Weybridge resident. "The whole idea is an experiment and Weybridge wants to be as open as possible to anyone," said Allen.
Experimental is a great way to describe Weybridge and its quest for a more sustainable lifestyle. It operates on a yearly food budget of $25,000 and the most obvious challenge faced by the housemates is in making this budget last. Weybridge House students are not part of the meal plan and so they can't freely resort to Proctor or Ross when groceries have not been shopped for or prepared. The house spends about $150 per week on food bought at the Middlebury Natural Foods Co-op and around $1,000 per month at the Northeast Food Co-op. This food not only feeds the members of the house, but also the visitors that they host each Monday through Thursday night for Weybridge dinners.
Another experiment going on at Weybridge House is found in the compost pile. Spencer Taylor '04.5 is the mastermind behind this particular project. He recently received $60 from Atwater Commons for materials to build a new compost sieve. Basically this contraption looks like a wooden table, but the table-top is made of wire mesh. Compost is sifted through this mesh so that it may be returned back into nutrient-rich soil. But before the compost is sifted, it must decompose in a pile. During this process, nitrogen and carbon loads must be balanced, Taylor explained, as he and his housemates shoveled the compost. The importance of this is simply that these students are giving back to the earth the leftovers of organic matter that they used from the earth. It's a cyclical relationship, and Taylor is enthusiastic about the composting.
Allen sums up the interactions of the house by remarking that "living with 17 clashing voices is tough … It teaches you how to live in a community that challenges things that are generally accepted elsewhere. We become more aware and environmentally-minded." While the housemates share one common goal — sustainable living — they have differing views about how to achieve that.
In the end, they seem to be pleased with how things work out, and their activities here on campus reflect their dedication to the environment.
They encourage the rest of campus, students and faculty alike, to stop by Weybridge House and see what they are doing. It's experimental, but worth it. And maybe the myths about the house aren't as important as what actually goes on in the kitchen and the compost pile.