Get to know Farm to You NH

Hello my name is Megan Letendre and I am a senior at UNH majoring in Sustainable Agriculture & Food Systems (SAFS) and EcoGastronomy. I am a student participating in the new Food Production Field Experience class in the high tunnels offered at UNH. This is my second semester enrolled into the class and I am really enjoying it!
For those of you who do not know about the class, it is held in the high tunnels located by the conventional dairy barn and produces food for the Dairy Bar and Dining Services at UNH. High tunnels are hybrid greenhouses that do not have a cement floor and are not considered permanent structures like greenhouses.

Often times they are not heated. However, we have both a heated and an unheated tunnel for the class. This allows us to grow crops throughout the year even though New England has unsuitable growing conditions during many months. The heated tunnel is kept just above freezing during the coldest months of winter. Inside this tunnel, we produce our leafy greens including salad mix and head lettuce for use in the UNH Dairy Bar.

In the unheated tunnel, we produce more cold hardy crops in winter such as radishes, carrots and onions. The tunnels allow us to grow crops year-round for UNH Dining and provide us with the opportunity to start summer crops very early in the season. This gives us the chance to have summer crops such as tomatoes much earlier than other growers in the region. The class offers students the opportunity to get hands-on experience and really get their hands dirty. In my experience with the class I have learned a tremendous amount. This includes but is not limited to the use of specialized tools such as seeders, hand tillers, and even the tractor! I have also learned a great deal about the media side of agriculture and the importance of keeping records of the farm such as planting and harvest dates.

Anyone attending UNH interested or involved in Sustainable Agriculture should definitely consider joining the class in the future. I promise you won’t regret it!