New Greenhouse Makes Ends Meet with Different Kind of Green

Author: Caroline Stauffer

Located between the 13th tee box of the Ralph Myhre Golf Course and South Street extension the stump dump is Middlebury College's own greenhouse. The greenhouse started construction last fall; a larger greenhouse existed for four years behind the Emma Willard House. Mathew Biette, associate director of Dining Services, came up with the idea for a Middlebury greenhouse, and Rose Boyer '05, helped with the construction and is currently the only student employee. The peak of the harvest is during the sunniest winter months, at which time 20 to 30 pounds of mixed greens and herbs are collected, to be used in The Grille. For the greenhouse to function, waste is collected from the dining halls to form compost. The finished compost is used as soil and decomposing compost generates heat by circulating through tubes that run under the soil of the green house. Essentially, the greenhouse is heated through its dirt floor by heat from the sun. The greenhouse is nonprofit, but earns enough to make ends meet, according to Biette. The Middlebury greenhouse has a vast potential of uses.
"It is a nice way of getting a quality, fresh green in the winter. It can be 17 degrees outside and I'm cutting fresh lettuce," Biette said. "It is also a nice way of working with an environmental product of an agrarian society," he added. According to Biette, the greenhouse is a good out-reach tool. Students from Middlebury Union Middle School have taken field trips to see how it works. Biette believes the greenhouse could have a broad, multidisciplinary impact and is looking for "someone to take on a project or hypothesis to further the process in its entirety." Last year, P.J. Gardner '02 did an extensive project on the greenhouse. Biette stresses that the greenhouse project is "very long term," and applies to more than hard and environmental science disciplines. He believes, for instance, that an English major could do a project on receiving grants for the house, or an economics major could do a project on the inputs and outputs of the house. Students interested in the greenhouse may contact Biette at mbiette@middlebury.edu.