2022 was a year of great changes for LaFarm, and not only because we have a new farm manager. As the year went on, I had the privilege and the challenge of being immersed in a totally new community as well as a new farm, getting to know the ins and outs of the vibrant local food system in Easton while also getting to know the character of the land we grow on. Learning about community and land is always a moving target, since your subject keeps changing, and so I kept learning as old partnerships turned into new ones, seniors graduated and freshmen fell in love with the farm, and one of the worst droughts in recent history (eventually) was broken by some much needed rain.
Of everything I learned, one of the most remarkable things was what exactly does a college farm like ours do. As I told friends and family about my new job, most of them assumed that Lafayette must be an agricultural college. Well, no. We aren’t necessarily training the next generation of farmers–although some of those graduating seniors did go on to work on farms. But what LaFarm really does, is what it did for me in my first year here: it get students to learn about those two ever changing and beautiful things: land and community. It connects the students to the land and the community, and it equips them with the language and knowledge they will need to eventually contribute to the land and the community.
So read on, and learn about all the ways we did that for students this year!
10,647 pounds of produce grown
12 courses incorporated the farm into their syllabus
728 visitors and volunteers came to LaFarm (new record!)
107 events hosted on the farm (new record!)
24 students worked 3,063 paid hours (new records!)
