Middlebury College's Organic Garden Financially Fertilized by American Flatbread

Author: Megan O'Keefe

On Saturday American Flatbread restaurant teamed up with the Middlebury College Organic Garden Group (MCOGG) to raise money for the development of the newly-established Middlebury College Organic Garden. Money from the fundraiser will be used to provide stipends to three students - Christopher Howell '04, Jean Hamilton '04 and Skye Borden '06 - who will spend their summer building "the shed, soil and soul" of the garden. George Schenk, the owner of Middlebury's American Flatbread, offered to donate $4 from every pizza sold on Saturday to benefit the garden project.
The garden, which sits on Loamy Knoll located west of Bicentennial Hall in easy walking distance from all locations on the College campus, was first planted in October 2002 with a cover crop of winter rye grass used to increase soil fertility. The planting of spring and summer crops will result in a produce yield beginning in July or August. The garden site, called Kestral Knoll, is three acres in size and is surrounded by open fields, hedgerows and young forests. Currently, planting has only occurred on 1/8 acre, but the MCOGG hopes that "this long-term initiative will grow over the next 15 years to one to two acres of annuals and a large perennial "forest garden" designed by students using Permaculture design principles." Greenhouses, a shed and a drilled well will all eventually be a part of the organic garden. Small mobile greenhouses based on designs by renowned winter gardner Eliot Coleman will allow students to grow hearty, cold-weather greens into the month of February.
According to MCOGG, "Students and community members share afternoons of work and conversation at the site, yielding a unique intimacy with the local landscape, knowledge of sustainable food systems, a greater sense of community for all, time to think and, of course, fresh vegetables for Middlebury College Dining Halls and on-campus events." The garden "will work cooperatively with local farmers and will actively avoid competing with them by selling only within the College."
Eventually the garden will be planted with red oak lettuce, spinach, mache, squash, beans, corn, pumpkins, garlic, tomatoes, kale, beets, endive, escarole, radicchio, cucumbers, leeks, musculin and pak choi. Not only will the garden be used to grow vegetables, fruit and flowers, but members hope that it will "foster community, enrich classroom education and increase student and community contact with land and knowlege of place.
Additionally, the MCOGG has also enterprisingly converted an agricultural business model known as "Community Supported Agriculture" into "Commons Supported Agriculture" in order to gain funding and support for the garden. Atwater, Ross and Wonnacott Commons each purchased one share in the garden, while Cook Commons purchased just over half a share.
In this risk sharing agreement, the Commons agreed to provide certain initial funding for the project and will receive, in return, organic produce for commons dinners and service opportunities based at the garden. According to the MCOGG plan for the system, Middlebury College Organic Garden will provide each commons with a forum to build community and will yield the fruits of that community - fresh vegetables weekly for commons dinners and events. Ted Lester '05, co-chair of the Atwater Commons Council, said, "We hope to get a return next year - vegetables at Chateau dinners, plus Atwater Days at the garden."
Additional funding and donations of supplies for the garden have come from the Middlebury Student Government Association, and businesses including Renee's Garden, High Mowing Seeds and Johnny's.
Cooperation between the MCOGG and American Flatbread developed after Visiting Scholar in Environmental Studies Bill McKibben and the students in his Winter Term course, Sustainable Food Production, were invited by owner George Schenk to dinner at the restaurant.
Several of the students in McKibben's course spoke with Schenk about their personal involvement with the Middlebury College Organic Garden. Because American Flatbread serves pizza made "with organic flour, organic tomatoes, many organic vegetables and herbs, local cheeses, good olive oil and fresh garlic," Schenk expressed immediate enthusiasm for the student initiative to create an organic garden.
Later, when Amber Trotter '06, a member of MCOGG, met Schenk at a Vermont Fresh Network event, American Flatbread extended the offer to help the Middlebury group raise funds necessary for upcoming projects. Jill Hindle '97, who is employed at American Flatbread, said, "We try to do a lot of outreach. The more outreach we can do with Middlebury College, the better."
Bennett Konesni '04.5, managing director of MCOG told The Middlebury Campus that participation in the fundraiser at Flatbread on Saturday was, "Amazing!" "At one point," Konesni said, "the wait to sit down was over an hour long. I saw so many friendly faces of students who had obviously come to support us. I knew there was an interest on campus in organic farming but I didn't know it was this big."
Early estimates indicate that almost $800 was raised for the garden during the event.