Emily Robinson
Staff Writer
Dining services paired up with Potter Hill Farm, located in Grafton, to provide FSU students the opportunity to buy local produce on campus on Thursday, Sept. 15.
Potter Hill Farm representative April Vaillancourt said this was the first time she had set up shop in a campus setting.
The farm offered a variety of fresh and organic produce to students and faculty including carrots, watermelons, squash, radishes and leeks.
Teaming up with dining services, the booth in McCarthy accepted cash, card, Dining Dollars and Ram Cash for students with meal plans or deposited funds. Potter Hill Farm also offered a student discount.
As the booth prepared to open, Vaillancourt finished up some pre-prepared salad bags with all the necessary ingredients for a salad, hoping to appeal to resident students without access to a kitchen or cooking materials.
Junior Kayla Otten has been to local markets featuring Potter Hill Farm before, but said of this
experience, “It’s a good introduction to students, who are budding adults, to learn about their local food economy – how it’s grown, who produces it and the actual prices that it should be without gas and transportation. Eating locally is so much better for the environment and this is a great way to help incorporate that into student life.”
Otten urged students to “buy locally and try to eat locally. Fruits and veggies are great from farmers markets because you put the money back into a positive economy, it’s not going to big manufacturers or corporations.”
Graduate student Reane Gaubin said she would like to see farmers markets on campus more often. “Every single week, I would totally buy something here.”
Carolyn Holland, FSU’s dietitian, and Rachael Bissonnette, marketing coordinator for Sodexo at FSU, were both there to run the table and meet with students. They offered healthy recipes to students which highlighted the produce for sale.
Freshman Rose Determan said, “I thought it was really cool that students can have the opportunity to get fresh produce that wouldn’t necessarily be available otherwise. I would probably get some food again if it was here.”