Get involved! Club activities are open to students and community members. Opportunities are available for internships, research, and volunteer service. For more information, contact unh.ogc@gmail.com.

Are you an aspiring farmer? Click here for information on training and employment opportunities!

Updates from the Farm: Fall 2011

The OGC has been busy selling produce to local restaurants, selling to the dining halls, and organizing monthly local food potlucks. The club also planted 70 blueberry bushes this spring, and there a windmill will be built this fall that will mechanically pump water collected from the garden shed roof to a water tank, so that the water can be used as a gravity-fed source of irrigation. 

Mission

To cultivate a campus-community organic farm focused on promoting social, economic, and environmental sustainability.

Goals and Objectives

• To maintain a sustainable farm in accordance with current USDA organic certification criteria.
• To provide locally grown organic produce to the community through UNH Dining Services, local markets, and work-based food initiatives.
• To offer hands-on, interdisciplinary educational opportunities for students, faculty, and community members.
• To increase local awareness of sustainable living as we grow, evolve, and adapt as a community.

History

The UNH Organic Garden Club (OGC) is a student-run organization established in 2003. OGC maintains a two-acre, USDA certified organic farm on Spinney Lane in Durham. In the winter of 2004, OGC collaborated with UNH's Students Without Borders to secure a $10,000 grant from the UNH Parent’s Association to create the “built” components of the farm site, including drip irrigation and a shed. The first growing season was the spring/summer of 2004. Crops harvested at the site are purchased by UNH Dining Services and sold at a weekly UNH Durham campus farm stand during the growing season. In 2007, OGC was voted Student Organization of the Year, and the Durham Community Dinners won Best Community Project of the Year! 

Crops & Soil Management

• Grow a wide variety of items! OGC grows a variety of crops, including tomatoes, lettuce and greens, kale and Swiss chard, onions, peppers, broccoli, beets, radishes, garlic, potatoes, celery, pumpkins, squash, watermelon, herbs, medicinals, and ornamentals.
• Healthy soil is key to growing organically! OGC uses soil amendments such as compost, manure, seaweed, and cover crops such as winter rye and red clover to help build, maintain, and improve the soil.
• Farming is a year-round activity! OGC keeps busy throughout the year. In the winter we are planning and designing our farm, as well as attending lectures and films on sustainable food systems. In the spring we plant seedlings and prepare beds. In the summer we are planting and maintaining crops. Fall is harvest time and also the time to plant our cover crops.

Take a Tour

Visit the garden site, located on Spinney Lane, just before the turn for Woodman Farm. Click here for a campus map.