While many Washington University students spent their summers taking classes, working jobs or vacationing, members of the Burning Kumquat continued their efforts at the University’s student-run cooperative organic farm.

Seniors Jen Swanson and Katie Anderson said they each came up with the idea for the camp after participating in study abroad programs in sustainable eco-villages. Swanson travelled to Findhorn, Scotland, while Anderson’s program was in Auroville, India.

Camp Kumquat was divided into two sessions, and 16 youths participated free of charge. Campers participated in activities ranging from planting, composting and tending the garden to listening to speakers, creative projects and learning about other aspects of sustainability.

“It was so broad and so far beyond the garden and at the same time related to what we did in the garden in the morning,” Anderson said.

The two sessions of the camp lasted from mid-June to early August and involved 10- to 12-year-old youths from the St. Louis area. Each session ended with a parent-camper banquet that served produce from the garden. Families were invited to help sell the produce at the North City Farmer’s Market.
Each day of the camp featured a guest from the St. Louis community who is involved in the food industry, such as a beekeeper and a McDonald’s public-relations representative. Guests led several activities, including discussions and building compost bins with the camp participants.

“They added specialized knowledge that [we] didn’t necessarily have,” Anderson said. “We talked about green actions that are going on in St. Louis on a wider scale.”

Anderson said having the guests allowed the two leaders to learn from the camp as well.

“We set up the camp for ourselves with stuff we would want to do as well,” Swanson said.

Other guests included a biologist from the University and an organic farmer from the area.

Since initial attempts by Swanson and Anderson to obtain grant funding were unsuccessful, almost everything needed for the program, from food to speakers’ time, was donated. Bon Appétit offered lunches and snacks for the program for free. Participants had to identify the origin of ingredients in their meals.
“We didn’t necessarily have a lot of monetary resources, so midway through our planning process we said, ‘OK, everyone has skills and knowledge to give, so let’s realize that abundance and ask people to volunteer their time rather than their money. And that’s what happened,” Swanson said.

The two directors sought support elsewhere in the community. For example, they asked art students to donate supplies.

“That was actually a blessing, because then we started using other creative resources,” Anderson said.

Both Swanson and Anderson said their experience at the eco-villages strongly influenced what they eventually put into the camp.

“We had translated our experiences at these eco-villages into a camp for kids. What we learned independently, we kind of unified in the camp,” Swanson said.

Several of the activities were the same ones that Anderson and Swanson did abroad.

“We’d re-format things that we did to make it age-appropriate for the kids to really ground the knowledge that we wanted them to get,” Anderson said.
Swanson mentioned the possibility of having future farm workdays in which the participants would be able to come back again and work with the University students.

“I think we have probably sparked a lot of new ideas. I would like to see them come back to the farm if they want to. I know that it was just a beginning,” Swanson said. “A lot of these kids grew up in the city and just don’t get dirty a lot. They had a lot of fun.”

The Burning Kumquat utilizes a plot next to the Alumni House on the South 40 to grow produce. The farm has operated since spring 2008 with the help of students who maintain the garden and sell the produce. The group’s broader objective is to raise awareness about sustainable food practices.

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Tags: Burning Kumquat, Camp Kumquat, Jen Swanson, Katie Anderson, Kumquat

This entry was posted on Friday, August 28th, 2009 at 1:53 am and is filed under Campus Events, News. You can follow any responses to this entry through this feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.