Also, we are down to 8 chickens left so please place your order (for pickup at the farm) while supplies last. Email halpinj@dickinson.edu if you'd like chicken and/or bulk items.

Pricing info for pastured meat:

-Lamb: $10/lb (whole lamb = approximately 35-40 pounds, will be custom cut according to the choices you make on our detailed order form)

-Chicken: $4/lb (about 4 lbs each)

Pricing info for remaining bulk items (can be picked up at the farm or at the HUB farm stand on Dickinson's campus on Friday 11am-2pm):

-Butternut squash: $1/lb

-Cabbage: $1/lb

-Garlic: $7/lb

-Dried Beans: Kidney Bean, Canneloni White Bean $3.50/pound
-Adzuki Bean: $4.50/pound

Pricing info for value-added items:
 
-Red Devil Hot Sauce ($7 large bottle, $4 small bottle)

-Pints of pickled beets and pickled zucchini ($4)

Email farm@dickinson.edu to place your order for lamb. Email halpinj@dickinson.edu to place your order for chicken and/or bulk items. As always, thank you for supporting your farm!

-DC Farm Crew

Rain or shine!

The farm is thrilled to announce that the popular Penn State Cooperative Extension Educator, Steve Bogash, will be leading our “Pest Walk” through the DC Farm on Saturday, Aug. 25th, from 2pm-4pm! Everyone is welcome, from beginners to advanced pest pioneers.

As undesirable as they may be, pests and diseases are part of our ecosystem, and their presence or absence can offer important messages about our gardens and farms. How do we decode these messages? As holistic gardeners and farmers, what can we add to our toolbox that is both environmentally responsible AND effective when we are faced with a pest problem or disease? What are the latest solutions that are revolutionizing organic vegetable and fruit production?

Don’t miss this chance to take a closer look at some of the issues on the Dickinson Farm and hear an expert’s suggestions for the best holistic materials and techniques to prevent – or get around – each problem.

$5 suggested donation - Register

Directions to Dickinson College Farm

More about Steve Bogash, Regional Horticulture Educator, Penn State Cooperative Extension

Steve is currently a Horticulture Educator serving Pennsylvania out of the Franklin County office in Chambersburg. He covers vegetables, small fruit, cut flowers, greenhouse vegetables, and specialty marketing as his primary areas of responsibility. Tomatoes, bell peppers, container vegetable, muskmelons, and other specialty crops are regular items in the trial gardens under Steve’s management.

Since 2008, Steve has been doing extensive trials on container-grown vegetables in addition to his high tunnel and field tomato evaluation program started in 2000. Evaluating more than 300 varieties of tomatoes for flavor, appearance, disease resistance and general usability has made Steve very opinionated when it comes to tomato varieties. Steve lives with his wife, Roberta and son, Joe in Newville, PA and is looking to create a vineyard and greenhouse business as a post-retirement form of entertainment.

Register by phone before Friday, 8/17 at noon and receive 1/2 off the $10 registration fee!

 Dirt, Worms and Dinner: A Hands-On Farm Day for Youth

For Immediate Release                                             Contact: Media Relations
Aug. 14, 2012                                                       717-245-1289; media@dickinson.edu

Calling Kids For “Dirt, Worms & Dinner” At The Dickinson College Farm

(Carlisle, Pa.) – The Pennsylvania Association for Sustainable Agriculture (PASA) invites children ages 8-12 to “Youth Farm Day: Dirt, Worms & Dinner,” on Saturday, Aug. 18 from 9 a.m. – 1 p.m. at the Dickinson College Farm, 553 Park Drive, Boiling Springs, Pa. Cost is $10 per child and pre-registration is encouraged by Friday, Aug. 17. An organic snack will be provided.

Youth Farm Day provides a fun and safe environment for children to see a sustainable farm firsthand and to learn how nourishing food moves from seed to soil to table.  Six supervised learning stations, each lasting 30 minutes, include an interactive activity, game and lesson.

Children will:

• Identify beneficial bugs and pest insects;
• Discover why the farm is constantly moving its sheep and cows from place to place. Children will design their own grazing plan;
• Discover how long it takes something to decompose and what makes it decay faster
• Learn how garbage can be used for fuel and how biogas is made.
• Learn how to save seeds and use them to grow food
• Go on an interactive scavenger hunt

Parents are welcome to observe, take a self-guided tour of the farm, relax in the shade or take a short drive into beautiful Boiling Springs. At the end of the field day, children are invited to show parents what they’ve learned around the farm.

The Dickinson College Farm, a PASA member, is a 50-acre living laboratory that is USDA Certified Organic and Food Alliance Certified. Located just six miles from campus, the farm has more than 15 acres of vegetable production ground and 18 acres of animal pasture. The harvest is delivered to the campus dining hall, sold at the Carlisle Farmers on the Square, donated to local food bank Project S.H.A.R.E. and distributed via a Campus Supported Agriculture program that feeds more than 130 families. Students assist with all aspects of food production and the farm supports the academic interests of students and faculty, promotes renewable energy through solar applications and builds a greater awareness among the college community about how food is generated using techniques that help sustain natural ecosystems.

With nearly 6,000 members, PASA is one of the largest and most active sustainable agriculture organizations in the U.S. Through business support and regional marketing assistance for farmers, advocacy, and public education, PASA seeks to promote profitable farms that produce healthy food for all people while respecting the natural environment.  PASA’s hallmark event, the Farming for the Future conference, draws thousands of participants from more than 30 states and six countries each February.  For more information, visit www.pasafarming.org.

For more information, directions or to pre-register, visit http://blogs.dickinson.edu/farm/directions/, call 717-245-1969 or email farm at dickinson.edu.

Directions to Dickinson College Farm

Dickinson College Farm’s Renewable Energy Specialist Matt Steiman will lead participants on a solar tour of the farm and hands-on workshop. The tour will cover both solar hot water and solar electric projects, and will include options for remote power (battery systems) as well as utility interactive installations. The hands-on section of the course will involve working with solar electric modules to understand the basics of their function and integration into a larger system.  Matt will also show the farm’s new biogas generator, which makes burnable gas from food waste and animal manures.

About renewable energy at Dickinson College Farm

The farm seeks to use, develop, and demonstrate sustainable energy technologies wherever possible. We consider it our responsibility both to reduce the environmental footprint of the food that we produce and to educate our students and our community on the possibilities for decreased consumption of non-renewable energy.

More about Matt Steiman

Matt has been farming organic vegetables since 1993, working on farms in Colorado, California and Minnesota before settling in the Cumberland Valley. For five seasons, Matt managed Fulton Farm at Wilson College where he learned the ropes of running an educational CSA program, and also developed initial experience with renewable energy systems. Matt and Jenn Halpin then ran their own farm on rented ground for two seasons before signing on as the full-time farmers at Dickinson College in 2007. In addition to regular farm duties at the Dickinson Farm, Matt supervises equipment maintenance, irrigation, sheep and cattle, and also works extensively with solar energy projects,biogas, and biodiesel fuel applications for the college.

 Follow us on facebook or twitter to receive the latest updates on the Sustainability Workshop Series.

Foraging for Medicinals in Your Backyard

2-4pm

Dickinson College Farm, 553 Park Dr., Boiling Springs, PA

$5 suggested donation (or any lesser amount that you can afford)

Kids under age 16 are free! 

Register

Workshop Description: Many of the plants underfoot have nutritional and medicinal qualities that may surprise you! Take a walk around the Dickinson College Farm with local herb enthusiast Dawn Toutkaldjian and Jenn Halpin and learn how to identify weeds and herbs with unique properties. Participants will learn how best to use medicinal plants, from salves and tinctures to delicious green drinks and edible treats!

Full list of workshops & descriptions: http://blogs.dickinson.edu/farm/sustainability-series

The Dickinson College Farm is one of several Pennsylvania locations hosting the workshops through PASA’s Sustainability Schools program, which centers on homesteading, homemaking and backyard conservation workshops for consumers interested in living more sustainably.

Jenn Halpin, Dickinson Farm Manager, and Scott Hoffman, student researcher and 2012 farm apprentice will be leading this in-depth workshop. Jenn and Scott will impart their wisdom on simple ways that gardeners can integrate habitat in their gardens that support native pollinators and other beneficial organisms. Workshop participants will have the opportunity to see and learn about “proven” habitats, as well as experimental landscaping that serve as hubs for beneficial critters like native bees, toads, and predatory insects. The Dickinson College Farm has implemented unique Integrated Pest Management (IPM) strategies on the farm over the years. In addition to learning about establishing habitat for IPM, participants will also learn how to assess farm and garden insect inventories through scouting techniques.

Location: Dickinson College Farm, 553 Park Dr., Boiling Springs, PA

Directions

By Kyle Spencer

Published: April 13, 2012

Excerpt:

FORGET the cheese brick and salami round that Dad picks up on alumni weekends. Today’s college farm cultivates exotic fruits, expensive Asian greens and grass-fed beef. Students are developing product lines for high-end tastes, and honing not just basic husbandry skills but also marketing savvy in the interest of turning their acreage into profit centers.

...Jenn Halpin, the farm manager at Dickinson College, puts the movement in perspective. “This isn’t just about being economically viable,” says Ms. Halpin, who also teaches in the environmental studies department. “It’s also about finding ways to connect with your community.”

FARM-FRESH DRESSING

At Dickinson College’s 50-acre organic farm, high-tunnel greenhouses extend the growing season, so Katelyn Repash had a bright idea: “to make more use of the fresh vegetables and herbs we had on hand,” Ms. Repash says. She spent many solitary hours in Dickinson’s freshly renovated test kitchen chopping, stirring and tasting. She created a big-selling line of tangy seasonal salad dressings packed with bell peppers, beefsteak tomatoes, basil and arugula.

Ms. Repash graduated last year and now works at a livestock farm in Maryland. Her successors have concocted a Red Devil hot sauce, named for the school’s mascot, that has done so well that they are increasing hot pepper production this spring by 300 percent. Students have recently completed testing a rich, herb-laced pasta sauce that awaits U.S.D.A. approval. The vinaigrettes ($4.75 a bottle) are available at the farmers market in downtown Carlisle, Pa.

Saturday, April 21, 9:00am -1:00pm
Location: the Depot on the Dickinson College Campus (located on the corner of High Street and Cherry Street)

Come check out Carlisle's thriving producers-only market!

The first market of the regular season will be on May 9th! The last market of the regular season will be December 19th.

More information: http://blogs.dickinson.edu/farm/buy/farmers-on-the-square/

Register now: https://www.pasafarming.net/educationalo… 

Event page: http://pasafarming.org/our-work/farmbase… 

PASA is partnering with Food Alliance to deliver a third-party certification addressing both social and environmental concerns to our region’s producers. Certification offers a credible way for farmers and food companies to demonstrate commitment to sustainability in agricultural practices and facilities management, while differentiating and adding value to operations and products.

Join PASA, Food Alliance, and Dickinson College for a mock inspection Field Day on the Food Alliance certified Dickinson College Farm. We will begin with an intro to Food Alliance standards and the certification process, spending a good portion of the day walking the farm with an inspector who will walk attendees through key points of the inspection process. We will wrap up with a panel discussion featuring a certification manager, an inspector and the farm manager. Participants will take away a clear understanding of the certification requirements and how performance is assessed in the inspection process.

Registration for this Sustainability Series workshop (a parternship between PASA's Good Food Neighborhood and Dickinson College Farm) is now open! 

Guest Presenter Michelle Elston from Roots Cut Flower Farm in Carlisle will demonstrate techniques for assembling seasonally inspired centerpieces for your table.  This hands-on workshop will include a list of good cutting material by season, ideas for unusual containers and tips for inspired designs.

More about Roots Cut Flower Farm:

Roots is a small farm operated by Michelle Elston with lots of help from her family. All flowers are grown without the use of synthetic chemicals. Roots began in 2007 in response to Michelle’s vision of growing beautiful things while raising her children around family & nature. The move back to PA was a return to her Roots – and since they are GOOD Roots, things are sure to grow well! Our focus is on growing sustainably, being environmentally responsible, balancing farm & family, and being financially viable. Feel free to contact us to join our mailing list or to identify places to purchase our product.

On Saturday, March 31st, students will enjoy  100% Grass-fed Beef from Dickinson Farm a second time, with meatloaf!

A Partnership between PASA’s Good Food Neighborhood Program and Dickinson College Farm.

Due to an enthusiastic response to the workshop series, we will be requiring RSVP’s for ALL workshops and we will open registration for each workshop immediately following the preceding workshop. This will ensure that all gardeners have a fair chance to sign up for future workshops!

Dickinson College Media
January 4, 2012

The Dickinson College Farm is one of four Pennsylvania locations hosting the workshops through PASA’s Sustainability Schools program, which centers on homesteading, homemaking and backyard conservation workshops for consumers interested in living more sustainably. The other locations are Greener Partners (Collegeville, PA), the Spring Creek Homesteading Fund (State College, PA), and The Home Grown Institute (Philadelphia, PA).

“We are excited for this partnership and look forward to empowering and inspiring others to grow food and help build a foundation for community-based education,” says Jenn Halpin, Dickinson College Farm director. “Farm-based educational programs provide hands-on learning and a means to exchange information that will benefit gardeners and food lovers alike,” she says.

Each Sustainability Series Workshop will start at 2:00pm at the Dickinson College Farm, located at 553 Park Drive, Boiling Springs, PA 17007. Held on the last Saturday of each month, the two-hour workshops offer gardeners of all skill levels tips and strategies to maximize production and enjoyment from home and community gardening.

Please be sure to dress for the weather! Workshops will be held outdoors and in rustic indoor facilities.

PASA's 21st Annual Farming for the Future Conference

Breaking Ground for a New Agriculture: Cultivating Versatility and Resilience

February 1, 2, 3 & 4, 2012 ~ State College, PA

Download conference brochure

Join us as we Break Ground for a new wave of learning and growing. The trail ahead will be challenging as we define and create a New Agriculture. After a year of changing politics, weather patterns and economics, it is clear that our community must be both Versatile and Resilient to persevere and bring about through local actions solutions to the global challenges we face. The conference will pull together many ground-breakers for a series of lectures, tracks and workshops that will send you home ready to dig in and cultivate your way to a more sustainable future. Our new Friday schedule includes a third workshop slot - that means you’ll have over 100 workshops to choose from! - and we’ve built in more time for you to network with our sponsors and exhibitors, speakers and fellow conference goers. Mark your calendars now, and we’ll see you in February!

Sponsorship information for the 2012 conference is available
 

 

This half-day symposium, which will take place in Laird Hall at Wilson College in Chambersburg, PA (1:00-6:30pm), is open to food security professionals, students, nutrition educators and anyone involved in the regional food shed. It will provide an opportunity to gain information, network with individuals and organizations, and participate in action planning that will strengthen the South Central PA Food System.

For additional details about speakers, agenda, or registration visit www.tastethegifts.blogspot.com

• Registration is $25.00 per participant and includes access to all sessions, any workshop materials & handouts, reception access, and follow-up documents. Registration for the afternoon symposium is due by November 1, 2011.

• Mark Winne’s books “Closing the Food Gap” and “Food Rebels, Guerilla Gardeners, and Smart Cookin’ Mamas”, are available during registration for $10.00 per book.

• Visit our webpage to view additional information or proceed directly to the registration form*.

• The South Mountain Speaker Series Keynote Address with Mark Winne at 7:00 PM in Thompson Chapel at Wilson College is free and open to the public.

For questions about participating or providing event sponsorship, please contact Kathy Gaskin (kgaskin@wellspan.org; 717-337-4137) or Cheryl Burns (cburns@capitalrcd.org; 717-241-4361).

*If you are having difficulty with the registration link, please copy/paste the following URL into your browser address:
www.docs.google.com/spreadsheet/viewform?formkey=dHI3aHotWVJ1SmVNMEV0dHhydEZya1E6MQ
 

Seeding the Future Conference, October 14th-15th at Dickinson College
Co-sponsored by the Farm and Center for Sustainability Education

A collective sigh of relief echoes throughout the farm today. We did it! Our dedicated group effort succeeded in hosting and executing “the-first-of-its-kind” College Farm conference this weekend! Seeding the Future was a smashing success; from the break in the weather on Friday to the amazing keynote address by Tony Geraci on Saturday afternoon! Nearly 240 conference participants showed up for our two-day conference, from over 60 colleges and universities. Over half of the attendees were students.

Sustainable agriculture gurus from North Carolina and Vermont to Montana and New Hampshire supplied conference attendees with invaluable information, insight and guidance. The networking, connections and exchanges made throughout the conference have us bubbling over with ideas that we hope to experiment with here on our farm. I suspect others took as much or more away from the experience.

It goes without saying that pulling off this conference required lots of help from many, many people. Thank you to every administrator, staff member and volunteer at Dickinson who contributed to the organization and execution of this important event: your efforts and support were indispensable to its success!

Our conference was a very first collaborative effort between the Farm and the Center for Sustainability Education. Students and interns played a significant role in our conference. On Friday afternoon, conference attendees spent their time at the College Farm engaged in hands-on learning workshops that were led by our student farm team. Topics like biodiversity, composting, livestock and worms were covered by our fabulous crew. The leadership skills of our team continued to shine throughout the conference, resulting in impressive feedback from those in attendance.

As we bid farewell to the last of the conference attendees on Sunday morning it almost seemed like a dream that over 200 people were with us over the weekend! Almost no evidence of their physical presence could be found. What we are left with, though, is a renewed vigor for endless possibilities to improve our program, production goals and interaction with our community. With the end of the farming season not too far off, we have the winter ahead of us to sketch out 2012 and how we might implement some of what others are doing here on the Dickinson College Farm. Stay tuned…

Download the companion walking tour brochure (PDF)

Download the walking tour podcasts

2011 Women in Sustainable Agriculture Conference 

On November 6-8th, 2011, Dickinson Farm Director, Jenn Halpin, will present a workshop at the 2011 Women in Sustainable Agriculture Conference at Penn State University in State College, PA.

Several Dickinson Farm student workers will also participate in the conference.

To register, visit the conference website.

Jenn Halpin, Farm Manager and Director of the Dickinson College Farm 

Production and Education on a Diversified Organic Farm

This session will cover Jenn Halpin’s journey from part-time garden manager to full-time director of the organic farm at Dickinson College in Carlisle PA. Over ten years, Jenn slowly built a small educational garden program into a productive and popular vegetable and livestock farm. Jenn will describe how she translated the success of Dickinson’s Student Garden to build support among the college administration for expansion into a full time farm on 50 acres. Jenn will share success stories of developing new infrastructure, securing grants, recruiting faculty and student interest, building markets, and developing a strategic plan for sustainable growth. 

September 30th, 2011

6:00pm-10:00pm

Come to the Dickinson College Farm and enjoy the fall's bounty! Local Food! Live Music! Dancing! Admission is FREE! There will be local grass-fed burgers, freshly-pressed apple cider, Leo's ice cream, and more. Transportation to and from the event provided - vans depart every 15 minutes from Kaufman parking lot starting at 6:00pm.

This event is hosted by SISA (Students Interested in Sustainable Agriculture).  

Harvest Fest 2009 and 2010 

For more information, visit Cumberland County's Planning Department website.

Download Farm Tours Brochure (PDF)

  The Cumberland County Farm Tours are sponsored by:

2011 Art on the Farm!   

A unique fundraiser to benefit the Pennsylvania Association for Sustainable Agriculture (PASA) and the Carlisle Arts Learning Center (CALC).  

Come and experience art in action with local artists partaking in “en plein air” art sessions in the fields at the Dickinson College Farm.  Plus fill your plate and glass with in-season local cuisine prepared by area chefs, breweries and vineyards! 

Saturday, June 11^th at 6pm 

at the  

Dickinson College Farm 

553 Park Drive, Boiling Springs PA 

Event tickets are $50 per person and can be purchased through CALC by calling (717) 249-6973. 

 

 

 

The four tracks are:

• Nuts and Bolts: Logistics of College Farm and Garden Operations (Practical Skills)
• Teaching and Learning on the Farm and in the Garden (Academics)
• Sustainable Growth: Starting and Sustaining Programs on Campus (Growth/Start-up)
• Breaking Bread, Building Markets: Connecting Community Partnerships (Community)

Tracks are meant to provide a guideline to the conference schedule for those who wish to focus their experience on a particular skill-set or area of knowledge.  Brush up on your how-tos (Nuts and Bolts), incorporate faculty participation into your program (Teaching and Learning), get started with a new program or maintain or make new partnerships on campus (Sustainable Growth), and connect your program to new opportunities in the community (Breaking Bread, Building Markets).  Conference participants may attend sessions from a single track, or select sessions from multiple tracks to create a program which best suits their needs.

Please visit the conference website for more information! 

All you seed savers out there, it is time to start collecting and storing all of those wonderful varieties growing in your garden or on your farm!   

Help strengthen our region's biodiversity by sharing and exchanging! 

Join other seed lovers on Saturday, November 6th from 3pm to 5pm for seed saving demos, seed swapping and good food! 

Please bring a dish or beverage to share plus your own plate setting. 

Dickinson College Farm 

553 Park Drive 

Boiling Springs, PA 17007 

Have questions? Please call 717-245-1969 or email farm@dickinson.edu. 

"Philadelphia-based Hoots & Hellmouth creates new music for old souls. Blending the twisted roots of American music in a fierce and fiery alchemy, this ragtag bunch seeks a revival of spirit. Soulful three-part harmonies comingle with acoustic guitars, a mandolin, an upright bass and foot stomps building a synergy that bursts from both stage and speaker with aural aplomb." For more information on the band visit their website at www.hootsandhellmouth.com

There are 3 exciting new offerings for our CSA members this year! In addition to our traditional CSA offerings, members will have the option to join additional CSA through the Dickinson College Farm CSA. Members can choose from a Chicken, Flower, and Apple CSA. For more information and an application, click here .

The Dickinson College Farm seeks enthusiastic students interested in gaining hands-on experience in sustainable agriculture!  The College Farm offers students a unique opportunity to engage in a variety of projects relating to food production, renewable energy, livestock management, community outreach and more! Successful applicants will be hard working and good natured with an interest in exploring sustainable land management first-hand!  Positions run from late May until classes resume in late August.  Compensation includes free summer housing, a competitive hourly pay, and all the fresh vegetables you can eat!  For more information and an application, please go to:
http://www.dickinson.edu/about/sustainability/college-farm/content/Employment/#seasonalfarmer

Farmers on the Square  will begin on May 12th from 3:00 PM to 7:00 PM. The College Farm will be selling fresh, healthy crops, so come out and see us!

The Dickinson Community Garden has plots for the 2010 growing season. Plots are only $15, so don't miss out! Soon it will be spring, and gardening is a fun way to get together with friends and enjoy the good weather. For more info, or to inquire about a plot, please email Jenn Halpin.

Come out to the farm's Indoor Farmer's Market on March 27th from 3:00-6:00 PM in the HUB Social Hall. We will be selling lots of fresh, yummy goodies, so check it out! Entrance is free.

The College Farm will be hosting a Local Food Dinner on March 27th in the HUB Social Hall at 6:15 PM. Be sure to sign up! Tickets are $15, and all proceeds go to the South Central PA Buy Fresh, Buy Local campaign. Help support local farms and enjoy a delicious dinner too! For more information, click here . Be sure to stay tuned for more updates.

Tim Stark began growing tomatoes in his Brooklyn apartment while working for a management company in New York City. After discovering that his true passion lay in agriculture, Stark traded the city for a small farm in Pennsylvania. His memoir, Heirloom: Notes from an Accidental Tomato Farmer, shares the trials and successes Stark has experienced in the fourteen years he has spent farming organically.  

Dickinson College will be hosting a farmers' market the day before Thanksgiving! Local farmers, artists and crafts people will be on hand at the College Depot for the last market of the 2009 season. This is your chance to pick up a turkey and other holiday meal ingredients along with gift items for the upcoming holidays!

The farmers' market will take place:
Wednesday, November 25
3:00 PM to 7:00 PM
The Dickinson College Depot (located on the corner of High Street and Cherry Street)

The College Farm's CSA season has officially ended! During the 2009 growing season, the farm supported over 70 families through it's Campus-Supported Agriculture (CSA) program. This 24 week farm subscription program harvested fresh vegetable and herbs for its members on a weekly basis. Student farmers and farm staff, along with student volunteers worked together on planting, managing and harvesting produce for the CSA members. Each week, CSA members pick-up their shares along with helpful recipes and learned about what crops are in season and new ways of cooking or preserving the bounty. The 2010 CSA season will begin in May. The farm aims to increase its CSA membership next year and welcomes the Dickinson campus community to contact the farm for more information!