![Lesa Holford, right, corporate executive chef with Ohio State University's Student Life Dining Services department, and Courtney George, a sophomore food science major, tend plants they’ve helped grow in a university greenhouse. (Photo: K.D. Chamberlain, CFAES Communications.)](https://u.osu.edu/cfaesimpact/files/2015/03/2014_CFAESgh0200_dig-1jjktu9-300x225.jpg)
Lesa Holford, right, corporate executive chef with Ohio State University’s Student Life Dining Services department, and Courtney George, a sophomore food science major, tend kale and basil plants in a university greenhouse. (Photo: K.D. Chamberlain, CFAES Communications.)
There’s a new spin to eating on campus.
Ohio State’s Student Life Dining Services department and the College of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences have teamed to grow some of the produce served in the university’s dining halls.
In a greenhouse run by the college’s Department of Horticulture and Crop Science, plant experts from the department, food experts with Dining Services and student volunteers oversee hundreds of robust kale, basil and romaine lettuce plants.
After harvest, the crops go into such dishes as Caesar salads, caprese sandwiches, and kale and bacon tarts (recipe here), all served in campus eateries.
Systems like this one are part of the growing “farm-to-table” movement. Farm-to-table systems aim to shorten the distance as much as possible between where a food is produced and where it’s consumed.
Fresh from the Buckeyes’ backyard
- Horticulture and Crop Science staff “have taught us so much,” said Lesa Holford, corporate executive chef with Student Life Dining Services. She said she’s more than pleased with the project’s first fruits: more than 230 pounds of greens and herbs in the first three months.
- Zia Ahmed, senior director of Student Life Dining Services, said, “One day (the project) may lead to a significant amount of production coming out of our own backyard to feed our students. … It’s a great privilege to have the opportunity to grow our own food.”
- To contact the sources: Lesa Holford at holford.8@osu.edu; Zia Ahmed at ahmed.290@osu.edu.
Re: Greenhouse
Hello Sir/Madam- My name is Garey Coke, a teacher at Grier Middle School, Gastonia, NC. I am impressed with your Greenhouse project.
We have a Greenhouse at our school and would love to model what you guys are doing.
Did you sow the kale seeds in the large containers? What time of the year do you think itś best to sow the seeds? Thanks
Garey Coke
I contacted Lesa Holford, featured in the story. This is her answer.
We planted them in those little pods and then transferred the kale to large pots. We did it twice, once in August and once in January.