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As the bright sun beat down on campus on a cloudless October day, the students of College 236: The Culture and Politics of Food were hard at work on the community farm, bringing in a plentiful harvest.

The Hamilton College Community Farm Garden is moving into its eighth year this fall, but even during the summertime students and staff are busy tending to the ¾ acre plot. The farm was founded in 2007 with the intent to “create a forum where knowledge of food and agriculture is intentionally cultivated to strengthen the relationship between the Hamilton Community and the land that supports (it).”

Members of the Hamilton College Community Farm have had a busy spring, maintaining the Hamilton farm while also lending a hand at a vegetable garden in Utica.

One of the summer’s most labor-intensive student projects on the Hill is the maintenance of the Hamilton College Community Farm (HCCF) garden. Student workers are constantly brainstorming about ways to streamline the farming process, which begins in February with germination within the greenhouse and doesn’t end until the final crops are harvested in the fall. The most recent advance for the community farm was made by former farm manager Sarah Gamble ’13 and co-founder Andrew Pape ’11, who developed a comprehensive farm almanac through which they hope to pass on their knowledge and experience to future farmers.