From plantings to pickles: new greenhouse project flourishes at Massachusetts College hortidaily.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from hortidaily.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
NORTH ADAMS â It seemed like a good idea at the time, and it still does.
For a couple of years, Elena Traister, the Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts Environmental Studies professor who heads the schoolâs Campus Sustainability Committee, and others talked of taking an out-of-service space on campus with windows for walls and ceiling and making it a greenhouse.
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The greenhouse sits outside Venable Gym, directly over the kitchens and dining services below, so, Tony Fiorentino, MCLA s executive chef, calls it âRooftop to Tabletop.â
This spring, the first crop of seedlings was planted.
Facilities workers cleared out the space, installed an entrance through one of the windows because it isnât accessible through the building, and built raised plant beds. Then, with the help of campus sustainability intern Anayra Colon, MCLA Dining General Manager Scott Tolmach and, in consultation with MCLA executive chef Tony Fiorentino, they retrieved seeds from
When students return to campus next semester, they ll be able to try a few varieties of an MCLA Pickle created by MCLA Dining Executive Chef Tony Fiorentino. According to a press release, while the greenhouse will only produce a small amount of food, it s a visible reminder of the commitment MCLA and Aramark, which holds the college dining contract, have made to sustainability on campus. MCLA Dining staff are already composting, weighing scraps to keep track of and reduce food waste, and purchasing Fair Trade coffee, cage-free eggs, and other foods with a lower environmental impact. Aramark/MCLA Dining was one of our strongest partners from the beginning when the Sustainability Committee started, said Environmental Studies Professor Elena Traister, who heads the College s Campus Sustainability Committee.