8 April 2025

What I did:

This week, I wrote an email to Liz Foulton about ordering the materials I need. I also updated my syllabus for the rest of the semester, now that I have a better sense of what I am hoping to accomplish. I finalized my presentation and speaker notes. This past weekend was the Northeast Student Food and Farm Conference, at which I presented about my Independent Study.

 

What I learned:

Most of what I learned this week came from presenting and having conversation at the Northeast Student Food and Farm Conference.

The process of creating my presentation allowed me to reflect on just how much this study has evolved since it began. As someone who likes to stick to plans that have been set in place, I am surprised at how flexible and adaptable I have been throughout this semester. I dealt with the uncertainty of what land would be available to me, I changed my entire study question, and I altered my syllabus and budget numerous times. 

I was anxious to give my presentation, hoping that what I decided to talk about would educate the audience and match their expectations for the description I had written. It was difficult to make decisions about what information to include and exclude, but I felt that I created a presentation that gave a good overview of the process and content of my independent study up to this point. Moreover, the questions that followed showed me that the audience was engaged in critically thinking about what I had said and wanted to learn more. Some questions were questions that I still have yet to answer, such as the question of, “What happens next? When you graduate, what will become of the land?” and, “What is your goal with doing this?” 

I learned about different ideas of how this land could be used in the future. For example, Eli from Monocacy Farm Project discussed the possibility of planting traditional trees of the Delaware Nation and was interested in partnering with me.

In a conversation with Delicia, I learned that there is a Regenerative Certification that farms can attain (similar to Organic Certification), and that someone at Rodale had reached out to her to see if Lafayette would be interested in pursuing certification and becoming a learning center for regenerative agriculture. 

What I’m doing next:

In advance of Alicia Kennedy coming to visit campus, I would like to read some excerpts of her book, “No Meat Required.” Hopefully by next week, the stakes and fencing arrive so I can set those up (this might have to wait until the week after). I plan on getting trained to use the flail mower on the BCS to flail mow the corn debris this coming week.