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Although the gardens on campus are closed for the season, UMass Permaculture is still hosting some exciting educational events to wrap up this semester:a film screening of Fresh, and a Handmade Holiday Gifts workshop! Both will be free and open to the campus community!
FRESH trailer from ana joanes on Vimeo.
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 The L'Etoile family in one of the their grain fields. Located in Northfield, Massachusetts with breathtaking views of the Connecticut river and the surrounding hillsides is Four Star Farms, a family enterprise that has been passed down by 14 generations. Four Star Farms provides sustainable and locally grown grains, freshly milled flour, hops, and turf to the Western Massachusetts area. Four Star Farms is committed to environmentally sound agricultural practices while managing 280 acres of land. They are also dedicated to connecting with their local community through the resources, education, and quality food they provide. Four Star Farms’ products are available online and through nearly 20 different retailers and restaurants. Anyone can go to a local joint like the People’s Pint, located in Greenfield, MA and have bread, pasta, or beer that is made with Four Star Farms grains and hops! UMass Dining is a new customer of Four Star Farms and sources whole grains and flour for the UMass Bakeshop from them. We are so grateful to have this amazing farm close by to give our customers access to such delicious and quality flour.
Liz feels it is essential for the costs of paying employees a livable wage, offering them insurance, and using sustainable practices to be added back into our food system. Four Star Farms does everything they can to educate consumers about the real cost of food and how “dollars go so much further when going into your local community.”
Everyone at Four Star Farms loves what they do and envision doing it for a long time. They find farming rewarding and feel that they are doing what they can to make the world a better place. In these “trying times,” Liz finds hope in her family and customers, and in the “younger generations that are concerned about the environment and food insecurity.” In addition to providing local ingredients for delicious foods, Four Star Farms shows us that by connecting with each other and working hard for our values, we can alleviate our fears for the future and find hope. Many thanks to Liz and the rest of the farmers at Four Star Farms for working with us!
Visit Four Star Farms' website for more information about them.  Jess Yu is a junior Economics major with a minor in Environmental Science. Growing up, she loved to tend to her vegetable garden with her parents, pick flowers, and play in the park. And as she started to learn about environmental degradation and issues such as climate change - she wanted to play an active role in promoting conscientious thinking and environmental education. She believes that raising awareness of ecological and environmental issues will act as a driving force of successful and feasible change. After all, “you have to know a system before you change it.” Through her Economics background, Jess hopes to bridge the gap between environment and business, She is intent on fighting against greenwashing in popular culture and committing the principles of sustainability to heart. In particular, she also cares deeply about issues such as poverty, social inequality, and food insecurity. In her free time, Jess enjoys binge watching sitcoms, hanging out with her beloved sorority sisters, exploring new places, drinking tea, and reading humorous celebrity memoirs. On campus, she facilitates a sustainability-focused seminar called Eco-Rep and is involved with cultural groups. She also volunteers to give back to the organizations in and around the Pioneer Valley.  Kayleigh Boucher is a sophomore and a Natural Resources Conservation major. She is from Beverly, Massachusetts and grew up visiting her family's farm in Vermont. She has always loved animals and nature. Kayleigh is passionate about social justice, human health, and the environment and how these issues are all connected. She is especially interested in studying food systems, food justice, and sustainable agriculture.
Kayleigh hopes to empower others to care about social and environmental issues and inspire them to do all that they can for each other and the natural world around them. She believes, as Jane Goodall once said, that "what you do makes a difference, and you have to decide what kind of difference you want to make." In Kayleigh's spare time she loves making art, cooking, spending time outdoors, visiting the ocean, and being with her friends and sisters. On campus she is involved in the UMass Divestment from Fossil Fuels Campaign, Talking Truth, the Real Food Challenge, Plant-Based Nutrition Club, and the iCons program. She is also an Eco-Rep facilitator and the Vice President of the Climateers, a student group on campus for students that care about the environment. Last week, we had two important visitors to our UMass Campus. The first was Commissioner John Lebeaux of the Department of Agricultural Resources. The second was Andy Kendall of the Kendall Foundation. We informed our guests of the vast improvements we have made to our dining halls in the past fiscal year, more specifically in local and sustainable purchasing. $2 million was spent on Massachusetts farms & businesses - a 17% increase from last fiscal year. Including Massachusetts, a total of $3.5 million was spent on New England area farms and businesses - a 30% increase from FY 2015. Along with the increase in total expenditure, there were increases in spending for sustainable alternatives in every single food category from FY 2015. The most notables increases were exhibited through spending on dairy (68% more than FY 2015) as well as produce (55% more).
 The UMass Dining team presenting a gift basket to Grantor, Andy Kendall UMASS STUDENT FARM PART II UMass Student Farmers. It has been a full year since we have focused on UMass Student Farm, but for them, it has proved to be a successful one. A new portable Wash Station recently built which can be transported between their two locations, allowing CSA shares to grow from 60 to 100. Equally impressive, the Agricultural Learning Center has a new solar powered greenhouse that will allow three-season production of greens and tomatoes throughout the year! Student Farm has also become Commonwealth Quality-certified, another immense achievement.
Students gain experience working long, hard days, mastering the skills to run a business cooperatively, and learning to operate tractors and equipment. Jason said they are conscious to manage the farm in a way that balances the scale of the program with the immersive experience of students and sense of ownership that goes with it.
Another new initiative that Jason mentioned was a plan to introduce “animal components” to make local, sustainable, and healthy meat options more accessible to their customers and the UMass community. He pointed out the barriers that so many families face to be connected to where their food comes from, and stressed the importance of local, sustainable, and healthy accessible food. And for those that can, the best thing is to meet their farmers and “ not hesitate to ask questions. Most of us are thrilled when people take a genuine interest in what we're doing and want to know more."  Thanks, Jason for your time and for all that you do!
Want to be a part of Student Farm? The application for the 2017 UMass Student Farm Program is open NOW until November 15th! To apply, or for more information, click here: http://stockbridge.cns.umass.edu/SFE-class. Visit the Student Farm website to learn more: https://stockbridge.cns.umass.edu/student-farm. |
