Arrival Weekend

It is finally here, arrival weekend. Many long months of planning, recruiting, reading applications, preparing seeds, plowing fields, and planting are now behind us; in front, 10 students eager to learn our style of "new economy agriculture" (President Will Wootton's words). The faculty are very excited, what a strong group of educators committed to small-scale farming and farm education. Tomorrow night, our welcome potluck features home-cooked lasagne with farm-raised beef, greens from our local gardens, fresh baked bread, fresh strawberries and shortcake, and whatever else faculty can gleen from their early gardens. As I prepare for the journey ahead, I am reminded of work done by John Cavanagh who works in the important and emerging field of energy conservation: "No domain of the global economic activity does greater social, environmental, and political harm than today's dominant energy systems, from source to waste". I hope that as the summer progresses, our small program can ask some hard questions about the coming challenges to our food system, energy resources, and personal footprint as we embark on a 70 day expedition into the realm of sustainability and ultimately survival of our planet.