While faced with obstacles that make connection harder than ever before, the Eden Hall Farm is an essential resource to the secondary campus’ community. Educational efforts and upholding the farm have provided a space that allows students to gain hands-on academic experience and a deep appreciation for collaborative efforts and community contribution.
Despite a lack of an on-campus housing option on the Eden Hall campus, the Falk School of Sustainability and its Farm Team have continued to foster an environment that welcomes all students to learn about the school’s environmental sector in exciting ways. These events are open to all students and a great option for those in the city looking to know the farm better.
Previously, students have had the opportunity to learn how to tap maple trees with Indira Alcantara, the farm manager at Eden Hall, and prune apple trees at the Elsalma Fields with the Fruit Tree Planting Foundation, a nonprofit that Eden Hall collaborates with to keep the fruit trees in the orchard thriving.
Dr. Laura Livingston, the director of sustainable agriculture at Eden Hall, uses class time to teach her students technical skills within organic farming, such as soil testing and pest management in the hoop house, solar high tunnels and agroecology demonstration garden. With this experience under their belts, Falk School students can feel more prepared as they enter the workforce and conduct work in the field.
Currently, we remain engaged with the farm through the hands-on experience that our classes at Eden Hall provide. This semester, we spend our Thursday mornings in Basic Agroecology with Dr. Livingston.
With her help, students engage with multiple communities through food while fostering a classroom that places an emphasis on respecting the process of creating a fresh meal.
To this point, Dr. Livingston recently worked with Master of Arts in Food Studies students and our agroecology class to host a community lunch. The cooking process of this lunch allowed students to value every ingredient used with an understanding of the labor it required for it to reach our plates.
With the food that the Farm Team has grown, students were able to prepare a free meal for faculty, graduate and prospective students, and our 21-person class, allowing an educational experience to evolve into a space where Eden Hall students, faculty and staff could bond over something as simple as farm-fresh food.
At its core, the farm is a functioning nonprofit organization working towards minimizing food insecurity at Chatham and the surrounding Gibsonia community.
The fruits and vegetables grown on the farm are served in the dining halls across the University’s three campuses. Additionally, fresh produce distributions occur on the Shadyside and Eden Hall campuses often and are advertised on my.Chatham.
When there is a surplus of produce, it is handed over to 412 Food Rescue to be distributed within local communities.
The green spaces across campus are also available for Falk School students to use outside of class time. Much of the produce that comes out of the farm is a result of various student-led projects.
Whether it be harvesting honey in the apiary or pressing apple cider from the apples in the orchard, there is an opportunity for everyone to contribute to and benefit from the impactful work that is done at the Eden Hall campus every day.