By Joy Li ’18
Did you know that CC students grow much of the produce you eat in Rastall Café? Siqi Wei ’17, Kelsi Anderson ’18, Rebecca Glazer ’18, and Emma Brachtenbach ’17 are devoting their summer to managing the CC Student Farm, located behind the President’s House on Wood Avenue.
With guidance from Brachtenbach, a second-year intern, the four students together run the farm and the greenhouse, starting with planning, then planting, and finally harvest. They visit the farm in the mornings and evenings to weed and water the plants in the farm’s greenhouse and field plots. Most of the harvest is sold to campus food service provider Bon Appetit and becomes meals for CC students, faculty, and staff. The farm interns also participate in the downtown Colorado Springs farmers markets on Sundays and host community events such as a harvest banquet in September.
As college-age females, this team of interns challenges an older male stereotype of small farm farmers. They bring a variety of experience that not only involves the manual labor aspect of working a farm, but also scientific knowledge. For example, Wei is an environmental science major and tests the soil for pH levels and nitrogen phosphorus potassium (NPK) values, which indicate the wellness of the soil and the suitability for different plants.
Sustainability is also a big focus at the CC Farm. According to Anderson, “the farm really shows how big a difference local food can make to the sustainable culture. It saves energy to transport food and protects the environment because it prevents large companies from outsourcing from big farms that use huge machines that can damage the ecological system.” Additionally, the farm participates in the local Slow Food chapter, which supports local food and small farms as a countermovement to the fast food culture. Glazer attended a Slow Food conference last fall and was inspired to join the farm. “It’s really important to have a place where people can be aware of where their food comes from and how much work goes into producing it,” she says.
The students’ work at the CC Farm also contributes to the connection between CC and the Colorado Springs community. Aside from attending the Sunday market and local Slow Food chapter meetings, the farm hosts events open to the broader community. Every Wednesday, the farm interns invite students and other members of the CC community and broader community to join them in fun activities at the farm, most recently, strawberry planting.
Brachtenbach believes the farm has the ability to repair and extend bridges into the community and build relationships that might otherwise be tense. “We can both connect and reconnect people to food and other people,” she says. “It should in no way be exclusive to students and hidden from the sight and helping hands of local community members.”
