evolve • Experience
Elly Engle ’12 poses while plucking a fresh tomato she raised alongside other veggies that the campus dining services are using during their catering gigs.
Photo: Andy Waplinger ’12
Harvesting Lessons:
Juniata Students Grow Sustainability
Juniata College | Winter ’11
By Genna Welsh Kasun ’06
Expert foodies and novice Food Network fans alike know that the current food trend is to eat locally and act globally. Two Juniata students have taken that seed of an idea and put it into practice by starting an organic garden on campus. “When I was a freshman, I didn’t spend a whole lot of time focusing on what I was eating,” says Elly Engle ’12, of Penns Valley, Pa., who started the garden with another student, Chesney Richter ’12, of Pueblo, Colo. “When Chesney and I were taking (a) botany (course) we were looking 10
for a semester-long project and we chose to create a garden.” Located on a patch of ground behind Brumbaugh Academic Center, the new garden features 45 different varieties and crops ranging from heirloom tomatoes to potatoes to jalapeno peppers. “The garden has been something the students have wanted to do for a long time. We’ve delivered tomatoes, squash and peppers and the dining halls have served the vegetables during the summer to students attending camps on campus,” Engle says. At 700 square feet, the entire garden is not
capable of Del Monte-like output, but the gardeners have received commitments from Sodexo Inc., Juniata’s food services provider, to incorporate the garden’s output into Juniata’s dining menus. Sodexo and the Student Food Initiative also opened a new dining hall option for students featuring locally grown organic vegetables called the LOVE Line. “It stands for Local Organic Vegetarian Eatery,” Engle explains. To read more about the LOVE line and college food in general, see Baker 101 on page 8.