Brown Dining and the Sustainable Food Initiative (SuFI) run weekly harvest crews and farm tours during the growing season. Usually on weekends, students and BDS Staff go to local farms on weekends to pick fruits and vegetables that will later be used in the dining halls and eateries. Farmers get a helping hand in harvesting their crop and we get to see the people and places that our food comes from while enjoying an afternoon on the land.
Join a harvest crew! If you are interested, e-mail
Lindsay Hagamen. Harvest crews usually run 4 to 5 hours, including travel time on our natural gas van, and they are free to Brown staff and students. During the fall it's a good idea to dress warmly and wear closed toed shoes. Don't forget to also bring water and a snack. Harvest crews are also open to student groups – please make sure to sign up a few weeks in advance.
Spring 2006 farm tours:
Some of the Rhode Island farms and producers we've recently visited:
- October 22, 2005 - Hill Orchards - cider apples
- October 16, 2005 - Barden Orchards and Hill Orchards - cider apples
- October 9, 2005 - Barden Orchards - cider apples
- October 2, 2005 - Rabbit's Dance Farm - potatoes
- September 25, 2005 - Mello Farmstand - tomatoes for the Local Motion dinner
- July 27, 2005 - Tikkanen Blueberry Farm - blueberries
- July 21, 2005 - Kenyon's Grist Mill
- July 14, 2005 - Newport Vineyards and Sweet Berry Farm
- June 30, 2005 - Sweet Berry Farm - strawberries
- Fall 2004 - Mello's Farmstand, Hill Orchards, Urban Edge Farm and Summer's Edge Farm
1. What a find! Carly Devlin discovered this tomato hiding in
Art Mello's fields during a sunny Harvest Crew in September. The unique look of this tomato reflects its one-of-a-kind (personality). Through purchasing produce directly from Rhode Island farmers, Brown Dining ensures that students receive the highest-quality foods whenever possible. Along with providing delicious foodstuffs, Brown Dining's Community Harvest program is doing its part to keep small family farms afloat in Rhode Island. Art Mello is a regular vendor at the Brown Dining weekly Farmers' Markets, and provides Brown Dining with tomatoes, greens, peppers and
corn throghout the Fall season.
2. The strawberries that Anat Mooreville and Emily Benjamin hold were served with ice cream sundaes during our Local Motion Dinner Special in September 2005. Both Emily and Anat were part of a Harvest Crew trip to Sweet Berry Farm, in Middletown, Rhode Island. Harvest Crews are sponsored by Brown Dining's Community Harvest program in conjunction with the Sustainable Food Initiative (SuFI), a campus group working to promote socially and environmentally just foods. These handpicked berries offer more sweetness and flavor than a flown-in version ever could!
3. Admire the triumphant Teddy Baker, showing off one of the 20-odd ears of corn he shucked in just minutes to become our 2005 Brown Dining Shuck-Off Winner. The corn shucked on this bright Tuesday afternoon was all locally grown, brought in from various Rhode Island farmers. After being shucked on Tuesday, it was prepared and served for dinner on Wednesday. As Teddy will tell you, local corn is fresh corn. Traveling 14 miles instead of 4,000, Community Harvest corn is definitely something to grin about.
4. Don't you want to be a happy Harvest Crew'er, sporting blue fingers and purple tongues after a morning of blueberry picking? Here, students smile after spending a few sunny hours at Tikannen Berry Farm. The berry farmer, Mr. Tikannen, is one of the many farmers who benefit greatly from Brown Dining's efforts to purchase food directly from local growers. These berries, picked in July, were frozen then served at the Local Motion Dinner Special in September.
5. There is nothing like fresh crisp autumn air and a long row of rapsberries to pick. In late September, certain varieties of raspberries fruit for the second time (the first time being in mid June). Its a lucky thing for those of us who like raspberry-apple or cranberry-raspberry pies (cranberries and apples start ripening in September). Here, a group of students poses after a particularly tasty Harvest Crew to Salisbury Farm in Cranston, Rhode Island. The farm, less than 12 miles from Brown, also specialized in sweet corn and carving pumpkins. The raspberries this group picked were baked into raspberry coffee cakes for the following morning.
