Far from the heart of Elon University lies Loy Farm, an environmental center and recently added solar farm. Its lush acres of food and farming systems are home to long-term ecological research, greenhouses and the Design Build Studio for Responsible Architecture, to name a few of its features.
Senior Allison Hren spends almost 20 hours a week making sure everything goes smoothly.
Michael Strickland, lecturer in English and environmental studies, teaches “Garden Studio” classes in which students will spend a few hours over the course of the semester pulling weeds, tending plants and learning about what goes into the food they eat.
Hren works both as garden manager and a teaching assistant for the gardening classes.
“It’s a hard job,” she said. “It is the real world. It’s demanding. But it’s very rewarding.”
As garden manager, Hren serves as the liaison between students, Strickland and Lecturer in Environmental Studies Steve Moore to delegate tasks that need to be done at Loy Farm and the Community Garden, which is on E. College Avenue.
She also coordinates what plants need to be bought, decides where they will be planted over the next year, orders and plants seeds and performs general maintenance and upkeep.
Hren is in charge of Elon’s two major gardening events — the Pumpkin Festival in the fall and the Strawberry Festival in the spring.
This year’s Strawberry Festival will be from 2:30-5:30 p.m. May 8 in the Community Garden and will feature free food, live music, face painting and a plant sale.
Hren devotes her time and energy to all aspects of the farm. She works in the garden, runs errands and organizes schedules. In her role as a teaching assistant, she also helps teach gardening students about the garden and the farm.
“I see the way that gardening connects people together and connects people with the earth,” Hren said. “Connecting students to food is very important. The average American does not see how much work goes into the meal you see on your plate.”
Providing for the greater community
The farm and garden are not certified organic because of the lengthy and expensive certification process, but they are run as though they were. Neither uses pesticides and everything is hand-weeded, so workers know exactly what goes into it.
The food produced goes to Mill Point Catering, Elon Campus Kitchen and Allied Churches. Eventually, Loy Farm and Community Garden products will be distributed to more than 80 locations.
“It’s nice to know where the food is going,” Hren said. “The goal every day is to do everything as efficiently as possible.”
According to Hren, the end goal for the farm is to provide food to a majority of the dining halls — but is a long way away. The farm would have to expand to encompass at least five greenhouses and would require a full-time staff.
Without this staff, Hren does a majority of the work at the garden and farm. This semester, to keep up with the responsibilities of garden manager while balancing a retail job, she is taking only one class.
“You can’t just pick up and leave without someone to take care of it,” Hren said. “It could mean you could lose an entire crop. Farming is not super forgiving — timing is absolutely everything.”
Working year-round
Production at the farm doesn’t stop in the summer. The garden manager will stay at Elon to continue to tend the garden, either alone or with a Campus Kitchen intern.
Though Moore stays near campus for the summer, he is often busy with his own lectures, research and family, so most of the responsibility falls on the garden manager.
“Summers are the most productive time for the garden,” Hren said. “There’s tomatoes and squash and corn and sunflowers, and there’s such a large time period to harvest. Ironically, the school year is structured to have time off in the summer so that people could go home and harvest with their families.”
During the summer, the garden manager will also work closely with students from Elon Academy, provide food for Campus Kitchen and hold workdays for Thrive, a sustainability-focused one-week experience for incoming freshmen.
Despite the intense labor and time commitment, Hren believes the job is worth it.
“I learn every day,” she said. “There’s never a day that goes by where I don’t learn something new. Like solving an insect problem or figuring out the percentage of phosphorous that needs to be in the soil. I never leave thinking, ‘That was a waste of my time.’ I’m not going to leave this year thinking, ‘That was a waste of time.’”
Passing the torch
There is no application process to become garden manager — it is a chosen position. Each year, by the middle of the spring semester, Moore, Strickland and the current manager select a student with enough passion to take on the demands of the job.
Hren was a clear choice this time around. She has been involved in the garden and farm since her sophomore year. She has continued to take the gardening course as well as interning and working with friends who were previous garden managers.
Starting this summer, the position will be passed down to junior Alyssa Adler, who has been involved with the garden since her sophomore year and has also interned for the garden.
“I was awestruck by [Hren] and how knowledgeable she was and automatically knew that that was what I wanted to be someday,” Adler said. “Now that I’ve spent the past year working in the garden and putting in countless hours of hard work, I’m excited and ready to take my turn in making the garden and farm the best it can be.”
So far, Adler has shadowed Hren and taken part in the planning processes and procedures.
In the next few weeks, Hren will be working closely with Adler to give hands-on training on how to properly run the garden and farm. There is a manual that Adler can refer to, but Hren said a majority of the knowledge on how to run the garden and farm comes from experiences and challenges managers run into while on the job.
“Allison and the previous garden managers have done such an amazing job over the years that I know with their guidance and wisdom, the garden and farm will continue to flourish in the oncoming years,” Adler said.
Though there haven’t been any difficulties yet, Adler can already see how much time and energy the job requires and is preparing for the challenges ahead. She is confident she will receive the proper guidance and believes the rewards will outweigh the difficulties.
“I think one of the most rewarding feelings is when you witness someone coming to the garden for the first time and being mesmerized by it,” Adler said. “There’s such a beauty to gardening, and I cherish and welcome any time I can help someone get to the point of satisfaction with their hard work.”
Like Adler’s appreciation for the garden, Hren said both Moore and Strickland encourage all students to take advantage of the garden and farm, even if they are not enrolled in the course, as an opportunity to volunteer and get in touch with nature.
Sometimes, Hren added, students will simply read or relax in the garden because of the peaceful atmosphere.
“The garden is such a unique place,” Hren said. “It’s my favorite place. It connects people with each other and with nature like no other. There’s something special about working in the earth among each other.”