“We’re trying to start small and tackle this issue,” said a junior involved in the effort. “It’s hard to see the world destructing and not take action.”

By Camryn Brauns

Concerned about climate change and quality of life in Vermont, a group of Champlain Valley Union High School student volunteers have opened a farmstand to sell food grown at the school. 

“We’re trying to start small and tackle this issue,” said Amelia Oppenheimer, a junior at the school involved in the effort. “It’s hard to see the world destructing and not take action.”

Spearheading the latest part of the farm-to-school program are Oppenheimer and classmates Olivia Stewart, Yvonne Miceler and Zoe Norris. The four students have been volunteering with the school’s farm and sustainability programs since they were freshmen but only this year began thinking about creating a farmstand to complement their work. 

The students and supporters see a chance to bring people closer to their local food system — and narrow their focus on changes to the environment.

“There’s a lot of awareness, but we need action,” said Gerald Posner, owner of Swaying Daisies Honeybee Farm in Ferrisburgh and volunteer through the school’s sustainability hub.

Students were meeting on campus several mornings a week with Posner and natural resources teacher Dave Trevithick to prepare for the farmstand’s debut at the school July 8. They’ve been working to maintain the school’s farm in the run-up, harvesting fresh produce, tending to the animals, improving advertisement of the farmstand and doing office work.

During the school year, the volunteers harvest fresh produce from the farm to supply the cafeteria with daily meals for students and families who are food insecure. The system continues through the summer, and any unused produce will now be sold through the farmstand.

“We want to do our part in trying to keep Vermont sustainable,” said Miceler.

Trevithick, a sixth-generation Vermonter, has seen a slew of environmental changes to the Champlain Valley area over his 20-year teaching career at the high school, such as local farms going away and hunting declining. He’s noticed a widening disconnect between consumers and their food sources, something he attributed to an influx of out-of-state students.

“I think the farmstand is connecting other students and parents to the food that we are growing here,” Trevithick said. “When you are connecting food to community, you are creating a network for people to have a better understanding of where their resources are coming from. When you have a better understanding of where your resources are coming from, you have a better understanding of how people are living their lives.”

Educational awareness of sustainability is important for getting people to care about combating climate change, Trevithick and Posner both said.

“We know the number-one thing stopping action in climate change are cultural reasons,” Posner said. “Scientists have been very poor communicators, and we’ve only learned how to write technically and haven’t been able to communicate with the general public.”

As a farmer, Posner said he knows the value of good communication for selling his products. “You have to be able to communicate well for people to know about it,” he said. “Your product has to look good, and it has to have a great story. And I think here, they have some great components.”

One component of the farmstand project volunteers especially like is how it builds community.

“There are clubs that are big and may be difficult to connect in, or just social spaces, and I feel like we have a small community but a strong one,” said Stewart.

Miceler adds, “I think that’s huge because what makes it important to me is that everyone genuinely feels like friends. It’s a way to break out of your classes and come to the greenhouse and have a communal experience.”

That is something the volunteers agree they wouldn’t typically receive in a traditional classroom setting.

“It’s a great opportunity, and the fact that not everyone knows about this and that they can do it is horrible. That’s why we’re trying to expand and build awareness,” Oppenheimer said.

Having the farmstand, Posner said, will help attract other people with the same mindset.

And the sustainability hub members are already considering a plan for the upcoming school year. Many of the current volunteers play fall sports and will have to juggle activities and schoolwork with the farm.

Trevithick said his natural resources class will visit the farm, along with other sustainability-based clubs, and Posner plans to bring in more volunteers. The team worries about frozen water and heat sources for the greenhouse as cold weather approaches, but they are determined to keep the farm functioning.

“We have to find a way to make it work,” Posner said. “Failure is not an option.”

Via Community News Service, a University of Vermont journalism internship, on assignment for the Vermont Community Newspaper Group.