The Knoll Timeline + Storykeeping

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2002

• Bennett Konesni ‘04.5 and Jean Hamilton ‘04.5 envision the Middlebury College Organic Garden and create the plan for it

2003

• First summer garden (1/8 acre) run by Bennet, Jean, Chris Howell ‘04.5, and Jay Leshinsky, garden adviser
• Garden shed is built. Well and solar panel are installed

2004

• First garden internships (two part-time interns) and first Children’s Garden program (started by Sophia Calvi ’03.5 and Erin Jensen ‘04 and run by Chris Howell ‘05, Stephanie Smith ‘08, and Claire Polfus ‘08)
• First honey harvest with Kirk Webster’s bees
• First classes taught at the garden (environmental studies, geology, geography, biology, dance, teacher education, and English)
• Beginning of seed-saving project with Restoring Our Seed (-2006)

2005

• Internship program grows to one full-time and two part-time students
• Garden expands to 1/2 acre
• Insectary project begins with Professor Helen Young
• Produce first donated to Addison County Community Action Food Shelf (precursor to HOPE, -present)
• Partnership with Cornwall Elementary School begins (-present)
• Bill McKibben writes about his visit to the Garden in Wandering Home: A Long Walk Across America’s Most Hopeful Landscape

2006

• Garden expands to two acres and internship program grows to four full-time students
• Eleven garden members represent Middlebury College at Terra Madre Slow Food conference in Italy

2007

• 60 students planted 150 windbreak trees and shrubs per regenerative site design by Whole Systems Design of Moretown, VT
• “Outdoor Classroom” construction begun by Hubert D’Autremont ‘08
• Seed-saving research contrdone at garden

2008

• Construction of new walking and biking path to the garden
• Classroom building completed

2009

• Garden expands to 2 acres
• Pollinator research project begins at garden
• Student CSA (community supported agriculture) program begins with more than 50 students participating

2010

• Education becomes a focus of the garden, with students building gardens at the Aurora School and the Cornwall School and running school programs
• Students teach a winter term course called Food Justice in Vermont
• Students start an on-campus farmstand for faculty, staff, and students
• Advisor committee forms and first meeting occurs in November
• Organic certification process begins
• Hoophouse is built at garden site and used for seed starting and hot crops

2011

• Name officially changed to Middlebury College Organic Farm
• Students run a weekend summit for student farmers at NESCAC schools
• Students and faculty propose food studies minor
• Students design a barn and planning process begins
• Students work with the Bronx Academy of Letters in New York to start a rooftop garden and help get the project off the ground
• Jay Leshinsky retires as garden educator

2012

• Sophia Calvi ‘03.5 is hired as Food and Garden Educator
• His Holiness the Dalai Lama comes to bless marble bench and future Serenity garden
• EatReal student organization formed
• First FoodWorks internships create new opportunities for learning about the food system

2013

• Farm adds 12 egg-laying birds and 40 meat chickens through funding from an Environmental Council Grant

2014

• The Farm becomes part of Environmental Affairs and the Global Food and Farms Program is created. Sophia Calvi ‘03.5 becomes Associate Director for GFFP.
• Jay Leshinsky returns as PT Food and Garden Educator
• Students build a pizza oven at the farm for community events

2016

• Students build an outdoor kitchen

2017

• 15 year celebration and naming of The Knoll
• Labyrinth is built in collaboration with the Scott Center for Spiritual and Religious Life

2018

• Jay Leshinksy retires (round 2!) and Megan Osterhout Brakeley ‘06 is hired as part-time Food and Garden Educator to support assoc. director global food and farm program, Sophie Esser Calvi
• Five poplars surrounding high tunnel and garden shed damaged in winter and cut down; trunks used to build two new Hugulkultur-style mounds
• First year of collaborating with Middlebury Intercultural Leaders Coalition (MILC) and Anderson Freeman Center for fall Harvest Festival
• Scott Center Internment of sacred texts, welcoming Torah scribe Kevin Hale
• Karima Borni “Fields of Reckoning: an Interspecies Dance” performance
• Local artist Lisa Condino serves as Artist in Residence for fall
• Maisie Anrod ‘19 Biology thesis research with Apils mellifera and Phsyalis ixocarpa
• First@Midd Orientation Program begins annual fall event partnership at Knoll

2019

• Grazing Garden established in Summer; Gazing Garden established in Fall to provide food and blooms to all who visit the Knoll
• In the seventh consecutive year of field-grown experiments with ENVS 112, we shift the experiment to Carrots to explore tillage practices with Profs. Kathy Doyle and Marc Lapin
• The Land Institute via the New Perennials Project and the Perennial Turn class gift the Knoll Silphium integrifolium and Kernza ™ plantings
• Knolci feast held at Knoll, hosted and organized by Dolci featuring our produce
• Hermit Woods Trailbuilders and Knoll summer crew install dry stone walled staircase
• First year of Middlebury Football annual fall volunteering day
• Yale Professor Maria Trumpler leads “Re-creating Paleolithic Flatbreads”
• Chief Don Stevens (Nulhegan Band) approaches Knoll about seed saving and program partnerships
• Environmental Affairs staffing reorganization: Assoc. Director Global Food and Farms Program position sunsetted, leaving Knoll with one part-time staff member. Final year for Food Works Fellows

2020

• March: COVID-19 pandemic causes campus shutdown; students sent home and shift to remote learning
• Pres. Patton’s commitment to “keeping staff whole” manifested in Knoll summer crew comprised of Midd Dining staff: Nancy Parsons, Jess Crossman, Nick LaDuke, Jeff Emerson working 40hrs/week at Knoll
• Summer of 2020 prompts racial reckoning in the US, guided by Black Lives Matter. Knoll reorients our mission around anti-oppression work
• Thousands of student visitors come to the Knoll during fall campus quarantine period; travel off-campus restricted and Knoll sees heavy use as classroom, lab, etc.
• Due to COVID-19 monitoring, signups for garden hours were required, and limited; signups filled immediately
• Knoll students and staff organize and successfully lobby for volunteers to receive PE credit for participating in 8 hours of gardening in one semester
• Knoll begins offering “campfire kits”

2021

• COVID-19 impacts continue to fuel interest in the Knoll and opportunities for outdoor learning; Students return to summer internship and Knoll program demand booms
• Megan Brakeley takes third place in Addison County Fair and Field Days Hand Mowing Competition
• Climate Action Fellowship hosts Clifford Symposium: “Radical Implications: Facing a Planetary Emergency” with a morning of activities at the Knoll
• New Perennials’ Perennial Harvest Fest concludes with Knoll performances and presentations

2022

• Knoll alumni and Climate Action Coordinator Andres Oyaga and Megan Brakeley co-present at NOFA-VT Winter Annual Conference: Connecting Grassroots
• Knoll Summer interns participate as part of a Summer Cohort of Environmental Affairs interns together with Sustainability Solutions Lab and Climate Action Fellows, attending lectures by Sen Kesha Ram Hinsdale, Carolyn Finney, Judy Down, and Bill McKibben. Weekly Wednesday Summer Cohort Volunteer Parties begin
• Aria Bowden ‘23 and SJ O’Connor work as Knoll x SSL interns on Rewilding Campus project and Knoll 20th Anniversary Celebrations. They create a Knoll x Stone Leaf Teahouse tea blend; Aria guides 20th Anniversary Anthology co-creative process with Bill Vitek of New Perennials Publishing and collaboration with A Revolutionary Press on prints
• Crystal Zhou ‘23.5 and CJ Nabung 22.5 create iconic designs for Knoll for 20th Anniversary
• Beginning of documentation and collaboration with Disability Resource Center staff on in-house site assessment of Knoll accessibility constraints as an extension of student work in HARC 231 and 330
• Beginning of annual 4x/summer biweekly gleans on area farms with HOPE
• Summer interns begin annual field trips to Soul Fire Farm for Community Work & Learn Days
• School of Abenaki transplants sweetgrass in two plots at Knoll, gifts of Patty Herb and Kaskow
• Full integration of No-till growing practices (except for tillage required for ENVS 112 experiment)
• Geology professors and Facilities dig a giant soil trench as part of ECSC 357: Soils and the Environment class
• The Knoll serves as a site for HARC 231: Architecture and the Environment (spring) and HARC 330: Intermediate Studio (fall) with visiting professor Shelly Pottorf
• Katie Reuther ‘16.5 creates portfolio of interviews for “Finding Roots: Asian American Farmers in Contemporary America” for Library of Congress’s Occupational Folklife Project
• First Annual Knoll End of Season/Thanks to Volunteers Hot Sauce Competition

2023

• After years of petitioning, Knoll staff position shifts from 0.6 FTE food and garden educator to 1.0 FTE associate director of the Knoll through bridge funding from Provost’s office
• Winter Term ENVS 500 Knoll Independent Study offered to seven students to organize and connect community partners, 20th anniversary, and season plans for Knoll by Megan and Bill Vitek
• Rooted and Reindigenized grant received from Provost’s Fund for Strategic Initiatives by Jesse Bruchac (Dir. School of Abenaki), Shelly Pottorf (HARC visiting faculty), and Megan Brakeley (Knoll). Work begins with HARC, SOA, Knoll and Lands staff, community member Greg Borah, and facilities on harvesting, preparing materials, and constructing a Longhouse at the Knoll
• Weekly committee meetings culminated in the Knoll celebrating its 20th Anniversary with a spring Knolci tea party, presentations for Cane Society, Alumni College, and a three-day celebration in September, including a celebratory release of our book (Growing with the Knoll: 20 Years in the Garden, edited by Aria Bowden), a Mid-Autumn Harvest Festival featuring 4 musical performances, 16 demonstrations including worksong garlic planting led by co-founder Bennet Konesni, and a renga poetry workshop featuring Writer in Residence Emerita Julia Alvarez. Special recognition for student lead organizers Aria Bowden, Crystal Zhou, Andres Oyaga, Charlotte Xu, SJ O’Connor, and Claudia Etrillard; thanks to President Laurie Patton for discretionary funds and support
• Professor Shelby Kimmel shares 8 weeks of pungmul Korean drumming with Knoll summer crew
• In collaboration with Michaela Stickney ‘84, Knoll interns volunteer with timing, running, and judging; Sheila Camacho ‘25 takes third place in Addison County Fair and Field Days Hand Mowing Competition
• Outdoor classroom re-finished by Facilities
• Following work with AGDAI, the Disability Resource Center, Facilities and Environmental Affairs, a level, gravel parking spot and gravel path were installed to connect parking to ADA portalet to the pizza oven dining area
• Significant flooding throughout VT
• The Knoll hosts UVM’s Institute for Agroecology for a day-long cross-campus collaborative
• 45 PE Credits earned through Garden Volunteer Hours

2024

• Well pump failed and replaced by John Derick and Megan
• Hoophouse baseboards, purlands, endwalls failed and replaced by John, Megan, and Facilities
• First annual outdoor cooking event welcoming VT Releaf Collective members
• Campus Farmer Collaboration with three weeks of taking turns hosting: UVM Institute for Agroecology AX Fellowship at Catamount Farm; St. Michael’s College, and the Knoll
• Middlebury Schools Abroad colleagues from International Christian University spend a day at the Knoll
• We all witnessed a Full solar eclipse on April 8, 2024
• 2,624 people attended 146 events, classes, and volunteering opportunities including 15 class meetings, and 17 pizza parties

2025

• Assoc. Director of Knoll position formalized as 1.0 FTE on College’s annual budget
• We continue to nurture each year’s growth on the sturdy, well watered, myceliated roots of prior commitments. We look forward to the growth to come!

Former Knoll Staff

Sophia Calvi ’03.5

Food and Garden Educator 2012-2013, Associate Director of the Global Food and Farms Program 2013-2019, Director of Programs, Sustainability & Environmental Affairs 2019-2024

Jay Leshinsky

Garden Adviser and Food and Garden Educator 2003-2011 and 2014-2018; Garden volunteer 2018-present