We welcome a new farm manager to the Sustainability Office, Dr. Amanda Sames! Amanda joins the Sustainability Office team from her previous role as a Visiting Professor in Food Justice and Sustainability Leadership at Wake Forest College. She has her Ph.D. from the University of Minnesota in Conservation Science, with minors in Sustainable Agriculture and Anthropology, and expertise in sustainability leadership and decolonization of food systems. She also brings a decade of experience running a Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) operation in Goodhue County, just southeast of Carleton.
The farm is bursting with produce! Student farmers George Perry ’27 and Aley Zimmerman Comas ’27 have been busy growing a variety of crops. With the academic year starting again, the farm seeks additional student staff to support harvest or developing volunteer engagement. Please reach out to Amanda Sames if you are a student interested in working 5 to 10 hours a week at the farm. The farm also seeks volunteers interested in helping with harvesting and other farm tasks. Starting the first week of the term through the end of the harvest season, we invite you to stop by between 1 pm and 3 pm Tuesday and Thursday and 11 am to 1 pm on Saturday. A big benefit is that all volunteers are welcome to free produce.
Finally, we are excited to think more about how to deepen our food system related collaborations on campus and with local partners. In the last six months we have met with nearby colleges, including Macalester, St. Olaf, and Gustavus Adolphus, to think about how other campuses use student farms to support learning and community building. Please share your ideas with any of the people on our team if you want to connect here! We imagine more as we deepen our commitment to sustainability education and experiential opportunities into the future.