Farm Fresh

Laura Carpenter takes over at the organic farm.

Carpenter, the newly named farm fellow of Dartmouth’s 200-acre organic farm—situated just three miles north of campus—intends to coax more students outside with a range of experiential learning programs and onsite events.

Deeply interested in sustainable food production, Carpenter says she is committed to making the farm a “model of sustainable agriculture for the school.” Tilapia is harvested in the property’s solar-heated greenhouse, and the wastewater is repurposed as fertilizer; and the sugar crew is “learning about the whole process of maple sugaring from start to finish,” she says, from setting up lines to labeling and marketing the finished product.

Moreover, Carpenter envisions the farm as an “alternative social space” where all kinds of people can get involved. Not only does she want more professors to hold classes on the farm, but she would also like to increase the number of events hosted at the farm, such as Green Key weekend’s BrewHaha, to make the place feel more inclusive and accessible. “Any event we have out there is not just for a certain type of student,” Carpenter says. “There’s something for everyone at the farm.”