Skip to main content

Man in Overalls - The Valley of Food & Ag Startups: Warren Wilson College

By
If you're interested in tech, pay attention to Silicon Valley. If you're interested in food and agriculture, Swannnoa Valley, more specifically Warren Wilson College, is the place to keep on your radar.

Man in Overalls with (L to R) Mary Elizabeth, my wife and
Rachel (Williamson) Perry, WW alum and herbal tea entrepreneuer
I'm an alum and proud of it, class of 2008. I studied community organizing, wrote a 140 page thesis about social movements as my capstone.

Nathan, as college Freshman
on WW Electric Crew. (Look
for the blue water bottle)
It's a work college, one of seven in the country. Think universal work-study, so in addition to whatever one's academic track, students are also working in the cafeteria, the library, admissions, as carpenters, lock smiths, lab techs, and-- per the agricultural legacy of Warren Wilson-- as row crop, animal, and vegetable farmers, gardeners, and edible landscapers.  Personally, I worked on the electric crew and then on the landscape crew where I led the edible landscape sub-crew in managing a 1-acre edible (Permaculture) landscape around the "Ecodorm."

Per the "triad" of Warren Wilson's educational system, we were charged with academics, work, as well as giving back through service.

The impact of Warren Wilson's food and ag entrepreneurial spirit, however, can only, in part, be understood through the lens of requirements. Warren Wilson is a place that encourages and replicates a culture of curiosity, passion, and dedication for issues and enterprises related to good food.

Kids would disappear for the weekend, and when someone asked where they'd been, they'd say, "Oh man! I visited this amazing farm!" In dorm kitchens across campus, students would share family recipes and offer samples to friends studying in common rooms. Students would ponder together as they brushed their teeth about how to affordably provide food access in low-income communities and overhaul the health of our current sugar-laden food chain. Cafeteria worker-students synced up with the recycling crew students to explore how to compost food waste, safely, at scale.  A friend brewed batch after batch after batch of organic beer... in his dorm room. Students conducted undergraduate research about the antibiotic qualities of garlic. Spontaneous student campaigns coalesced about every 3-4 years (for the past 30) to pressure our food service provider, Sodexo to... launch a new student-run vegetarian cafe on campus, purchase produce from the on-campus garden, partner with a student-run local food crew...you name it.

In the midst of things, I didn't realize the extent to which Warren Wilson was incubating generations of food and agriculture leaders. A few years after I launched as Man in Overalls, a friend and I started taking mental note of the many, many of our fellow alums (some agricultural majors, but mostly not) who-- whether they had started their own enterprise or were working for something larger- were all working in the fields of food and agriculture.  To give you a taste, this past weekend at homecoming, friends and I- in a couple minutes- brainstormed an extensive list of businesses & organizations that fellow alums have started:
And here are a sampling of food and ag organizations that our fellow alums work with and for:
WW Alumni, Emily
Beyond these organizations are
  • an employment and immigration lawyer who spent summers picking fruit as a farm worker to better understand the situation of his migrant worker clients
  • a serial soil-science entrepreneur who has co-founded multiple businesses and who speaks and consults globally
  • several doctors who - though poorly educated on the subject by med school- are nonetheless integrating holistic diet and nutrition into their practices
  • several artists and authors who elevate food and farming, for example Kathryn Stewart.
  • public health administrators who are writing policy and educating the public to address food desert realities
The question is, of course, from whence cometh this wellspring of curiosity, passion, and dedication that has compelled generations of Warren Wilson alums to become food and agriculture leaders, to become food system creators and influencers?

Sure, we've had a farm since the school was founded in the late 1800s, a farm that in 2017, won "Top College Farm in the US," a farm that continues to inspire incredible undergraduate research, not to mention a farm that supplies delicious protein and vegetables to the cafeteria year round. But it's more that that.

On wikipedia, Timothy Sturgeon is quoted as saying
Perhaps the strongest thread that runs through [Silicon Valley's] past and present is the drive to "play" with novel technology, which, when bolstered by an advanced engineering degree and channeled by astute management, has done much to create the industrial powerhouse we see in the Valley today.
Pie Day Pie Share at WW
This, I believe, is close to the mark. For years, as students, as faculty, staff, and administrators, we played with our food, no, our food systems. We experimented, daily, with ways to compost, plant, with new recipes; we entertained sweeping policy changes, imagined hunger away, cooked for (and cleaned up after) each other for meals. And, just as importantly, we talked to each other about all of it. If there was a subject that captured more air time than anything else at "Wilson," it was food and agriculture. One couldn't help but be instilled with the principles and practices of good (healthy, green, fair, and accessible) food.

People ask me if I majored in agriculture, and the answer is, of course, no. But should you ask me if I "studied" food and agriculture at Warren Wilson, the answer is, "Yes." My friends majored in sustainable agriculture, and we talked about soil science in the hallways. I spent two years observing and working, almost daily, in a Permaculture landscape. A friend interned at a major food waste reclamation nonprofit in the UK, and I followed her blog. I learned to cook on a whole new level with friends in my dorm's common room kitchen. I co-led a student campaign for a local food purchasing policy. I gained a better understanding of a part of the migrant farm worker experience through a study abroad semester on the US-Mexico border. I volunteered at the food pantry around the corner from campus. I taught freshmen a page out of my grandmothers book: how to can apple butter.

And, truly, my experience wasn't, isn't unique. Without realizing what was going on, only in looking back are we realizing that we went to school in a place just as generative as Silicon Valley, only the focus was food- not tech.

So, here's my tip. If you want to nurture new (and old) food ways, to help cultivate community-based good food systems that do, indeed, work for everyone-- or if you just want to have a prolific food garden this fall-- play with your food, in every way you can. And talk about it with folks of all walks of life. You never know, maybe they're looking to play with their food (system) too.

Man in Overalls at Oct 2017 homecoming garden cleanup day
with former landscaping crew boss, Tom & current student, Nick,
who now manages the edible landscape at WW's Ecodorm.
Update:
After posting, fellow alumni contributed these additional organizations founded or led by WW alums:
Labels:

Most viewed Man in Overalls posts of all time

Why Can I Eat Bread in France, but not the USA?

By
Updated 10/31/2017 as the National Organic Standards Board meets in Jacksonville, FL. This may well be the most important thing you read this year for your health. (Originally written in 2015 while I was traveling-- and eating bread-- with my wife in France.) I've got a food riddle for you from Paris, France: Why can I eat bread over here when it makes me sick at home? I'll share my best guess in a minute, but first, a little personal background. Since my senior year of high school, I've not been able to eat much bread at all. For five years, I was severely hypoglycemic, and everything I ate had to have more protein than carbohydrates. That meant, in effect, that I spent my years of college beer-less and eating lots of salad with meat on top. I ate tons of vegetables, very little fruit, basically no carbohydrates to speak of, meat, nuts, eggs, and cheese. If I accidentally ate, say, meat loaf that was, unbeknownst to me, made with bread in it, I'd spend the n...
Read more

Man in Overalls - It's Like Washing Your Dishes

By
I often hear folks joke, "Yeah, I had a garden once. I put in all this money & effort, and I only got a handful of tomatoes. Each one of them cost $27!" And they usually end by saying something about not having a green thumb. My first tomatoes of the season I smile and think about a mental model I've been working on: Growing your groceries is like washing your dishes. While they're raving about how many plants they've killed, I'm thinking, "It's not your thumbs. I bet you don't have a sink. And if you do, are you using decent soap or that garbage from the dollar store? And did you mention you've never washed dishes before in your life? And you're surprised you broke a couple wine glasses with no more experience than a four-year-old?" My eyebrows furrow involuntarily belying my thoughts, "Really? That doesn't seem all that surprising to me." But, of course, not only would saying all that confuse people, it...
Read more

Man in Overalls - Growing Great Soil

By
Good soil will basically grow your groceries for you, but how do you build great soil?  The answer is that there are two options:  a quick & easy way and a DIY, hard(er) way.  So we're on the same page, I'm continuing my  #GrowYourGroceries The Easy Way  series by digging into the how-tos of growing great soil. These stories and techniques will likely make the most sense after reading Geeking on Good Soil , my last update. (I outlined where I was headed in  The Big Picture.) As I was saying, the easy way to build a great soil is to fill raised beds with a terrific compost-based soil mix like my  Magic Mix  to jump start your food garden  productivity  from year one. From there, seasonally, you simply top-dress each season before planting with another few inches of compost-based soil mix. This is how I manage my own food garden and those of my customers.  Why? Because at the root of things, I'm a lazy food gar...
Read more

Man In Overalls - My Compost System

By
Composting, they say, is an art form. But, truth be told, I'm just too lazy for all that. My own compost philosophy is, "Crap rots in the woods, doesn't it?" But really. :) Whenever I think of home gardening systems, I always reflect back on my grandmother. She gardened up until the week she died at 93. She planted by the signs and assured me that's why her collards were not eaten up by bugs and were able to grow for 3 years running and up to 8 or 9 feet tall. She had a little rototiller, planted straight rows, mulched by spreading leaves to keep the weeds down. She threw out a little 10-10-10 from time to time and kept the cabbage worms at bay with Sevin dust. She hoed if the weeds called for it. But mostly, she harvested. Her pots were always full and her freezer always stuffed with produce: collards, mustards, turnips, peas, tomato gravy, squash, you name it. Now, I don't use 10-10-10 or sevin dust, and I'm not big on tilling. However, the thi...
Read more

Man in Overalls - Summer Garden Blues & What To Do

By
Welcome to mid summer in the Deep South! If you're anything like me, you're actively looking for excuses to avoid going outside this time of year. The heat doesn't so much radiate down from the sun as it seems to rise from the side walk. Rain helps- for about ten minutes- and then simply adds to the humidity as it vaporizes on the payment, so that it feels like you need a snorkel to make it from the house to the car, but of course, it only gets worse when you turn on the AC, and that first puff of hot air feels as though someone just wrapped your face in a plastic bag - not to mention that if you cut your grass yesterday, you're going to have to do it again... tomorrow. And, lets not even talk about how fast the weeds grow this time of year! Or the insects seem to multiply! Oh, home... :) Here's the good news: If your garden looks a little worse for wear, it's okay. Really. Mine does too. As much as I aim for- and largely achieve- a productive & beauti...
Read more

Man in Overalls - How to Start a School Garden: Design

By
Before you get to build your school garden like this, before you can help kids get their hands dirty like this,  or teach kids in your school garden like this, there are a few things you've got to take care of first. The #1 most important thing you've got to do is build your team. I say- with no exaggeration-- that human infrastructure is THE most important aspect of developing a successful school garden. But, I already wrote about building your school garden team last time. Assuming you're on track with that, a simultaneous step is to begin developing your school garden design. Here are a few things to should consider as you develop a school garden design: Purpose In your school garden interest meeting, one of the first questions you should ask is: "Why are you interested in a school garden?" Interestingly, this question serves two purposes. First, it helps the team gel because there will likely be a lot of overlap in answers. This will ...
Read more

Man in Overalls - When to Plant Tomatoes

By
" Plant 'em in the spring. Eat 'em the summer. All winter without 'em's a culinary bummer ," as John Denver sings in "Home Grown Tomatoes."  So, just when should you plant* your homegrown tomatoes? Or, more generally, when should you plant your spring food garden? (For an abbreviated version of this post revised & published in Edible Northeast Florida, click here. ) Since tomatoes along with other spring favorites like squash, corn, green beans, cucumbers, peppers, and the like are "frost sensitive" (in other words, they'll die if it freezes), it's all about the "last frost date" for your area. Unless you're a weather savant and remember the last freeze for the past twenty years, you'll have to do some investigating. You could look up your Plant Hardiness Zone  on this cool "interactive" map from the USDA, and you'd learn that Jacksonville is in zone 9a, Tallahassee is in 8b, and At...
Read more

Man in Overalls - An Ode to Collards (Now with my recipes)

By
I love growing my groceries in the fall - watching the miracle of growth, having ready-access to the freshest produce money-can't buy, the many flavors, getting to try new varieties - all while the temperature drops to more and more pleasant levels. I enjoy growing most anything in the fall, but, if I had to choose just one thing to grow every fall for the rest of my life, it would be collard greens, hands down.  It's a health thing and an effort-to-yield calculation, but in the beginning, the roots of my collard green passion were seeded by family. When I was a kid about 9 or 10, just a couple years into gardening in the front yard , my aunt, the family documentarian showed me a clipping of my late grandfather from the Graceville New (or was it the Jackson County Times?) beneath his 9ft collard greens that he had kept alive multiple years, growing them into small trees. Not to be outdone, my grandmother grew a collard forest of her own. Seizing the moment, my...
Read more