Center for Food and Resilience

The CFaR is a new initiative on campus to create a center dedicated to exploring sustainable ways of living, the future of food and agriculture, and community connections. It will include and expand the existing Center for Food Studies and incorporate the campus Community Farm.

WHO WE ARE

Director: Dr. Maryann Tebben
Farmer: Dan Wood
Founded 2022

WHERE WE ARE LOCATED

Headquarters are in the remodeled Pond Cottage next to the campus farm with a large open space for meetings and workshops and co-working space for students. The HQ will include a wash station for farm produce and areas for honey and maple syrup processing. The Center itself, including the surrounding land and trails, will host workshops and events, guided visits, and invite visitors simply to be inspired and recharged in nature.

WHAT WE DO

CFAR hosts regular events, including the annual ThinkFOOD conference as well as community programs with local partners, weekly Farm Friday workshops on growing and living sustainably, a campus farm stand in the summer and fall, performances in the garden, and student-led activities. Student workers run the farm in the summer and help us cultivate the space in the fall and spring. We also host the Sustainability Working Group and coordinate green initiatives, including the compost system, on campus.

HOW WE CONNECT

The campus farm has been reorganized and expanded to include a teaching garden, production garden to provide food for the dining hall and local food pantries, and test plots for student projects. CFAR connects the current farm acreage to other natural spaces on campus, including the Interpretive Trail and other woods trails, the orchards near the Daniel Arts Center, the maple sugar bush near the Rock, and the pond system.

We help produce and distribute Simon's Rock maple syrup and honey and we host campus events year round. The Director of CFAR, Maryann Tebben, welcomes ideas for events and initiatives from community partners and the entire campus community. We hope to create a vibrant, welcoming space on campus and we invite everyone to participate.

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