Lending a (Farm) Hand

Student volunteers help college, needy with bumper crop of support

September 25, 2007

Student volunteers and workers harvest vegetables at the Dickinson College Farm in Boiling Springs. Food from the farm is served in the student cafeteria and donated to the needy through Project S.H.A.R.E.

Curtis Lentz '10 is standing in an open, sun-parched field, sweating in the 90-degree heat as a dozen cows graze lazily in the background. He's clutching a knife in his right hand and a head of cabbage in his left.

"It's awesome," he says, pointing, with the freshly cultivated cabbage, toward the rolling farmland and the oblivious cows behind him. "How many people get to look around and see this at college?"

On this scorching day in late summer, Lentz is one of 12 Dickinson student volunteers sharing that view, as well as a hands-on agricultural experience, at the college's 90-acre farm in Boiling Springs, Pa.

The volunteers—representing a wide range of majors from across the country—pick beans, cut cabbages and slice tomatoes. In the coming weeks, they'll cultivate additional crops in much the same way as farm hands of past generations, but in a nod to the 21st century, they will assist in the installation of sun-powered systems that will provide heat for a greenhouse and electricity for a barn.

For now, though, it's all about digging in the dirt.

S.H.A.R.E. with others

"I wouldn't work in an office," says Lentz, an environmental-studies major from Baldwin, Md. "Sun on your back. Sweat on your forehead. Not touching a computer. That's me."

Lentz says he volunteered to be closer to nature and to help others, a sentiment shared by his fellow students. Some of the vegetables picked at the farm end up in salads and side dishes at the college cafeteria. Some end up with Project S.H.A.R.E., which makes the food available to the hungry and needy in the Carlisle area.

"I wanted to work in the garden and I wanted to get involved," Grace Moore, sophomore anthropology major from Columbia, S.C., says as she slices a cabbage from its stem. "I think it's really fun."

It's also a good way to meet like-minded people. As Moore spoke, students nearby exchanged ice-breaking pleasantries in the midday heat, asking one another about majors, hometowns and residence-hall addresses.

For Jenn Carson, a junior from Belle Mead, N.J., the farm represents a lifestyle and career choice.

Reminders of home

"I'm interested in the nutritional aspects of gardening," Carson, a self-developed interdisciplinary major in health and society, says moments before joining others in separating plump string beans from their vines. "I think it's really important to be connected to your food source. Being here can help me educate others, and we're helping low-income people."

Michael Murphy, a senior physics major from Berryville, Va., says the work at the Dickinson farm is an enjoyable trip down memory lane.

"At home I live on a farm," he says. "I enjoy being outside."

Such sentiments bring a smile to the face of Matt Steiman, who, along with Jenn Halpin, oversees the farm operations for the college.

"I think the students like the idea of getting their hands dirty," Steiman says.

Students don't have to worry about mingling that dirt with chemicals. No pesticides or synthetic chemicals are used at the farm. After three years of such practices, the college can apply for status as a certified organic farm.

Students interested in volunteering at the farm may contact the manager, Jenn Halpin, at halpinj@dickinson.edu.