Thursday, October 2
Note: the next three colloquium talks were organized by students Olivia French and Jake Nonweiler as a series of speakers who will talk about the future of food in America and the environmental significance of changing food systems across the country.
Bringing Local Foods to the Table, One Recipe at a Time
Elizabeth Stark, Writer, Photographer, and Recipe Developer, Brooklyn Supper and Brian Campbell, Writer, Brooklyn Supper
Howard E. Woodin ES Colloquium Series
The Orchard, Franklin Environmental Center 103
12:30 – 1:20pm
Bring lunch to enjoy during the talk
Elizabeth Stark and Brian Campbell, authors of the blog Brooklyn Supper, will discuss their work bringing local, seasonal ingredients and wholesome recipes to tables across the US. They’ll discuss their approach to food writing and photography, and how they’ve been able to share local, seasonal eating with an increasingly broad audience. They’ll also discuss what led them to food blogging, and how their work as bloggers fits into the wider food movement.
Friday, October 4
Attract and Kill: A new era for insect pheromones
Francis Webster, Professor of Chemistry, SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry
MBH 216, 1:45pm
Since the 1960’s, insect pheromones were thought to hold the potential for controlling pest insects thereby reducing or eliminating the use of traditional pesticides. This potential has largely not been realized. New methods of using pheromones show great promise as they move from the testing arena into the marketplace. This presentation looks at the chemistry of pheromones including their isolation, identification, and synthesis and their uses in insect control strategies with an emphasis on the method of “Attract and Kill.” Examples from forestry and agriculture are presented. Sponsored by the Chemistry & Biochemistry Department.
Friday, October 4
Gendering climate, gendering justice
Dr. Farhana Sultana, Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs, Syracuse University
MBH 104, 4:00 – 5:00pm
While climate change is expected to increase vulnerabilities, marginalization and sufferings of many in the global South, impacts will be unevenly felt across social strata. Intersectionalities of social difference, especially along gender and class lines, differentiate the ways that impacts of climate change are experienced and responded to. Geographical analyses can better explain how different groups of people understand, respond to, and cope with variability and uncertainties in nuanced and critical ways, thereby elucidating the gendered implications of climate change. As climate change is expected to exacerbate both ecological degradation (e.g. water shortages) and water-related natural hazards (e.g. floods, cyclones), thereby transforming gender-water geographies, it becomes imperative to undertake careful, multi-scalar and critical analyses to better inform policy-making. This talk exposes the complex ways that climate change will affect gender and social relations, thereby highlighting the ways that existing policy narratives and adaptation programs may be better informed by geographical insights. To this end, it encourages feminist and critical geographers to more forcefully and fruitfully engage with global debates on climate change. Co-sponsored by Geography Department, Franklin Environmental Center and Program in Environmental Studies.
Friday, October 4
Cultural Harvest Festival at the Middlebury College Organic Farm
3:00pm – dusk
The MCOF is hosting a Cultural Harvest Festival in honor of the harvest and the many food traditions from around the country and world. There will be a potluck dinner at 6:00pm (note: MCOF will buy ingredients for anyone who wants to make a dish for the event! Contact mcof@middlebury.edu) and everyone is encouraged to bring instruments for around the fire afterwards.
MCOF also has volunteer hours every week to help harvest for the dining halls and the farm stand, as well as clean things up in preparation for winter. Volunteers are paid $8 worth of veggies for each hour worked. Volunteer hours: Monday: 8-10a, 1-6p; Tuesday: 3-4:30p; Wednesday: 8-10a, 1-3p; Thursday: 3-4:30p; Friday: 8-10a; Saturday: none; Sunday: 3-5p. Sign up here if you are interested.
Saturday, October 5
Symposium – Cultivating Food Literacy
McCullough Social Space, 9:30am – 4:30pm
Undergraduates, graduate students, K-12 teachers and their students, as well as faculty and staff who are supporting their efforts, will come together at Middlebury College for an extraordinary symposium. Their purpose is to explore the ways that food studies can foster uniquely transformative educational experiences and build unusually powerful and connected communities of learning and practice, especially in under-served areas. The symposium will feature a remarkable group of educators, students, and community leaders who are working to create an institutional framework for sustaining food education in several regions of our country and Canada.
Check out the symposium website and draft schedule for more information.
The organizers are excited about this initiative and hope that all those interested in food studies, as well as sustainable social and educational reform—from Middlebury College, from the Bread Loaf School English, from Vermont, from Kentucky, and beyond—will join them.
If you are interested in attending, please RSVP by Friday, September 27 by emailing ovpaa@middlebury.edu or calling 802.443.5052.
Wednesday, October 9
The Seed Underground: A Reading and Signing by Janisse Ray
Axinn Center, Room 229, 7:00pm
Janisse Ray has written and thought widely on nature, community, agriculture, wildness, sustainability, and the politics of wholeness. In The Seed Underground, she discusses the importance of seed saving and its importance for biological and cultural diversity with hope and lyricism. In her words, “individuals and groups are waging a lush and quiet revolution in thousands of gardens across America, in a battle to preserve our traditional cornucopia of food.” For more information, contact mcof@middlebury.edu. Co-sponsored by Middlebury College Organic Farm, MCAB Speaker’s Committee, English and American Literature Department, and Franklin Environmental Center at Hillcrest.
Thursday, October 10
Note: this colloquium talk is the second of a three-part series, organized by students Olivia French and Jake Nonweiler, of speakers who will talk about the future of food in America and the environmental significance of changing food systems across the country.
Feeding America: A Panel Discussion about Sustainable Food in a Growing Nation
Sophie Esser-Calvi ’03, Middlebury Food and Farm Educator; Jay Leshinsky, President of the Board of the Middlebury Natural Foods Co-Op; David Dolginow ‘09, Head of Product Development at Sunrise Orchards and Founder of Shacksbury Cider
Howard E. Woodin ES Colloquium Series
The Orchard, Franklin Environmental Center 103, 12:30 – 1:20pm
Bring lunch to enjoy during the talk
A local entrepreneur, farmer, and grocer share their perspectives about American food culture and how to envision a sustainable food future, both in Vermont and across the U.S.
Thursday, October 17
Note: this colloquium talk is the third of a three-part series, organized by students Olivia French and Jake Nonweiler, of speakers who will talk about the future of food in America and the environmental significance of changing food systems across the country.
This Land in your Land: Unlocking the Secrets of our Urban Commons
Paula Z. Segal, Executive Director and Legal Director of the NYC Community Land Access Program, 596 Acres
Howard E. Woodin ES Colloquium Series
The Orchard, Franklin Environmental Center 103, 12:30 – 1:20pm
Bring lunch to enjoy during the talk
Paula will describe the two-year old organization’s tactics to stir community education for public land use, increase literacy in the language of municipal data and land use decisions and building capacity for communities to harness collective power and become their own most powerful advocates. She’ll also talk about partnerships with the Garden Justice Legal Initiative at the Public Interest Law Center of Philadelphia, Community Health Councils, Inc., in Los Angeles and the New Orleans Food and Farm Network.