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Farm & Food Project
GMC's Farm & Food Project
A Greeting from the Farm & Food
Project Director
Food and farming have always been central to our existence, but it’s only been in the last few decades that we mistakenly decided to pretend that we could leave it all up to someone else. The GMC Farm & Food Project is all about reclaiming what matters about nature, nurture, and nutrition – by way of learning why it matters. read more...
 A Greeting from the Farm Manager
I think you would be hard pressed to find another liberal arts college at which students are learning how to drive oxen, organically grow thirty different kinds of fruits and vegetables, raise heritage breeds of livestock and poultry, harvest hay without tractors or diesel fuel, manage an off-the-grid greenhouse, butcher sheep, pigs and chickens, build high-tensile fencing, shear sheep, and produce their own honey, apple cider, pickles, eggs and milk. read more...
News & Events
11/09: Windham Foundation Grant Helps GMC
Study New Agricultural Methods
While greenhouses lengthen the production season for vegetable farms, heating these structures with gas-fired or electric air burners is expensive and energy intensive. Research at Green Mountain College, funded by a $15,000 grant from Vermont's Windham Foundation, will explore new ways to sustainably grow vegetables by integrating a solar- powered hot water system in "high tunnel" greenhouses. The three-year study may reveal inexpensive ways to produce higher yields while consuming less energy. Read more...
11/09: Fifth Annual Farmers' Gathering Draws Community
Community members and local farmers make their way through the buffet during the fifth annual Farmers' Gathering held November 12 in the Gorge, at right. Sponsored by GMC and the Rutland Area Farm & Food Link, the theme was “Dairy, Diversification and the Demand for Local: A Shifting Economic Landscape."
Panelists included Tom Berry, a staff member for U.S. Senator Patrick Leahy (D-VT); Patricia Coates, a staff member for U.S. Representative Peter Welch (D-VT); Representative John Malcolm, a member of the Vermont House Agriculture Committee; Helen Labun Jordan from the Vermont Agency of Agriculture and Jon-Michael Muise from the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
10/09: GMC Chartwells Team Earns Regional Award
Chartwells Dining Service at Green Mountain College has been recognized for outstanding community relations, corporate responsibility and sustainable food practices by Compass Group, the foodservice management company. On behalf of GMC, dining services director Dave Ondria accepted the 2009 Be-A-Star Account of the Year Award for the Northeast Region at an awards ceremony at Eastern Connecticut State University October 15.
P.S. – If you’re interested, here are a few more things you should know about us:
- We offer lambing training each spring in which students participate in “lamb-watches” and assist with delivery (see a video clip on YouTube: Part One, Part Two)
- Students seasonally participate in our internship program with the vineyard, farm, and agricultural museum at Brunnenburg Castle in Italy
- Our dining hall manager helps teach classes like “Food Preservation,” is an avid mushroom hunter, makes his own array of wines, and goes on farm tours with students and faculty
- About 12 percent, or $60,000, of our annual food budget goes to local foods produced on the college farm and regional farms
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