Concordia Farmers Market

By Deb Jenkins
Staff Writer

I would love to introduce you all to three amazing people, Dr. Gretchen Harvey, Department of History, Concordia, and two Concordia students, Nathaniel Cook and Shane Sessions, and their mission with the Concordia’s Farmers Market.

High Plains Reader: A little back ground on yourselves, please.

Shane Sessions: Grew up in Minot, N.D., a junior at Concordia, environmental studies major, Co-President of the Student Environmental Alliance, serves on the Sustainability Task Force

Nathaniel Cook: Grew up in Hutchinson, Minn., a junior at Concordia, aspires to be a dentist, biology and environmental studies double major, Co-President of the Student Environmental Alliance, serves on the Sustainability Task Force.

HPR: Is this new for you in your life or did you grow up growing and thinking globally?

Shane: This is new for me. I grew into this mindset during my liberal arts education where I have been exposed to a diversity of ideas and life perspectives.

Nathaniel: My mom has always been an avid gardener, so I probably took some of that from her, and both of my parents have always taught a consciousness about the importance of connecting with the community. However, this global mindset also came from my education.

HPR: How did you all get involved?

Shane: We are both highly active in the college environmental and sustainability movement. We are the co-presidents of our Student Environmental Alliance and serve on the campus sustainability Task Force with faculty and staff. We have had the opportunity to be a part of and even facilitate the undertaking of sustainability projects. We met with Gretchen and the Food Working Group of the Sustainability Task Force and after realizing they had similar ambitions, decided to combine our efforts. This seemed like the project on which we could really focus our efforts and make a difference

HPR: What is the inspiration to do this?

Nathaniel: We have been highly motivated to push Concordia towards a more sustainable future for a couple years. We knew we needed a project that could be highly visible, interactive with students and the community, and one that was a low initial cost and would have an economic payback. The garden was the perfect project.

HPR: As two young men who like hanging out on the weekend in the Boundary Waters, what makes you spend your time every Tuesday selling Produce?
Nathaniel:  We’ve become extremely passionate about helping make Concordia a leader in the sustainability movement. Selling our produce is a way to connect with the community to teach about sustainability and the environmental movement.

Shane: Selling produce is a means for being more actively engaged with our environmental passions.

HPR: How exactly, outside of selling at the Farmers market, do you educate the community?

Nathaniel: Our blog [www.blog.cord.edu/freshdirt]  is updated weekly with pictures and information about the process of starting and maintaining an organic garden. We had a class from Ellen Hopkins Elementary grow marigolds and sugar pumpkins from seed, which we then transplanted into the garden. We plan to invite more elementary students so that we may teach our youth about food production and how some of their favorite foods like pizza and tacos may be made from ingredients grown in a garden. We are trying experimental gardening techniques that allow us to grow more produce in smaller spaces so that people in the community can do the same thing in their own front yards. We want to serve as a visible example of how people can have a fun hobby that provides healthy, delicious food, for a low cost.

HPR: Explain your mission statement “being practical in a manner that encourages active engagement to lessen our global footprint.”

Shane: When we say “encourages active engagement to lessen our global footprint”, we mean building a connection between our individual actions and the environmental implications on both a local and global scale and how they can effect both present and future generations.

Nathaniel: When we say “practical” we mean investing in an economically viable solution. It really is a low-cost up-front investment that pays for itself just in the amount of healthy, fresh food a person can produce, along with rebuilding that connection with nature and having an active hobby.
HPR: How long has this been going on?

Shane: We started seriously talking about the idea with the Food Working Group of the Sustainability Task Force in December of 2009, although they were throwing around ideas before that. The planning really started in later January, so it’s all happened rather fast.

HPR:  Is there anything I have not asked you about that you would like to share with our readers?

Nathaniel: Take the opportunities provided by our community to become more active in the organic food, environmental sustainability movements. It’s a great way to learn so much more, meet amazing people, and truly make a difference.

Shane: Feel free to visit the garden at anytime. Our gate is always open. Please check out our blog and video. If you have any comments or suggestions, let us know! We love hearing from you!

HPR: Gretchen how does Concordia want our readers to see this project?

Gretchen Harvey: These activities (garden and farmers market so far—more projects I hope to come) ARE about responsible, civic engagement. The theme of Concordia’s core curriculum is “BREW: becoming responsibly engaged in the world.”  I cannot speak for Concordia as a whole, but from my perspective, understanding the impact that climate change is having globally, and doing something to try to ameliorate the problem locally, is an admirable example of responsible student engagement. 

HPR: What would you encourage people to do right now to help with this effort you are doing with the Farmers market.

GH: Please stop by and lend your support to the students and the market, even it that only means coming over and getting to know one of the producers. One powerful way all of us can have a collective impact on the way food is produced in this country is by using our food dollars as wisely as possible: to support environmentally sustainable farming practices, to support the expansion of a local food system, and to purchase more whole and less processed food. The Earth, our health, and perhaps most importantly, our children, are worth the investment!

Until next week eat well and stay safe. Any questions or concerns email .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)

If You Go

What: Concordia Farmers Market
Where: Knutson Campus Center Atrium
When: Aug 10, 17, 24 & 31, 4-7pm
Info: 218.299.4000