Theme Corner: Life on the Sustainability Farm

I am a full-time college student who lives and works on a farm, I often find myself thinking. Located at 1894 NY State Highway 68, St. Lawrence Sustainability farm is one of the university’s hidden gems.

Had I previously known of its existence, I would have applied to live on the Sustainability Farm soon- er. However, I’m so grateful to be living with such a wonderful group of people this year. I’m writing both to share my love for the place I currently call home and to publicize my experience, as it is an incredible and unbelievably feasible opportunity- ty for St. Lawrence students.

I start my day early, often being the first person awake in the house. I make coffee

and breakfast and put away the night dishes. On Thurs- day mornings, my routine also includes feeding the chickens and goats, letting the chickens out of their coops, collecting eggs, and refreshing the water bins for the chickens and goats.

Slowly, my housemates filter into the kitchen to gather breakfast and pile into the van. We drive to and from campus (about four miles) in shifts, depending on our schedules. On Mon- days, I spend roughly five hours in the garden working for extra income. On Wednesdays, we all take a class together on the farm focusing on how to analyze and act upon the broad topic of sustainability. On Friday afternoons, we all work together with Sam Joseph, our Sustainability Program Director, in the garden doing

various jobs such as harvesting crops or mulching garden beds.

Weekends on the farm are incredibly relaxing. I felt the pressure of weekend life on campus lifted when I physically removed myself from campus. There is always the option of traveling to campus for social events, but I’ve personally enjoyed the peace of farm life. While I’ve only been living here for less than a month, I’ve fallen in love with the farm and have enjoyed exploring the surrounding area in my free time.

There are certainly challenges that come with sharing a relatively small house with 10 other people. For in- stance, the farmhouse has limited bathroom and kitchen space which makes “rush hours” for both rooms in- credibly frustrating.

There are also varying sleep/academic schedules within the house and opinions on certain topics. How- ever, our community mentors, Jakob Eggert ‘23 and Jakob Beckwith ’21 have done an excellent job ad- dressing issues and work- ing with Joseph, our on-site graduate student Ryan Novak, and with the house as a whole, to solve problems that have arisen. Due to now-

insignificant variables, I ac- accepted my spot in the program late this past summer, never having visited the farm. I visited for the first time over the summer, where I left smiling so hard that my face hurt and I was crying tears of joy.

I simply could not believe that I was actually going to live here. I intend to cherish every moment I spend here, and I hope to inspire others to consider apply- ing to the program in the future.