The Associated Students of Madison Student Services Finance Committee met Monday to grant eligibility to campus environmental group FH King for the 2016-’17 academic year.
FH King runs a 1.75 acre farm a mile west of campus, in Eagle Heights. Here, student workers grow roughly 4,500 pounds of vegetables each year to share with the rest of the campus community.
The organization attempts “to establish a relationship between land, food, and the UW-Madison community …through shared learning experiences,” according to its website.
FH King is widely recognized for its Harvest Handouts program, where members hand out free vegetables to students on East Campus Mall each Friday.
“By doing this we are making a more food-secure campus,” FH King Administrative Director Hannah DePorter said of the program.
FH King attempts to involve the UW-Madison community in all steps of the food cycle. Students involved in the Full Cycle Freight Program can be seen biking through downtown Madison with trailers full of compost collected from around the UW-Madison area.
“It allows the bikers to really see the process of how composting works,” DePorter said.
The group’s workshop series allows students to connect with their food through a variety of topics that interest them. Past workshops have included a partnership with the Campus Women’s Center, a seminar on canning and preserving food past the growing season and a series on living sustainably while on a budget.
Students wishing to get involved in FH King are encouraged to volunteer at the garden or stop by the sustainability library in the FH King office. Workshop programming is also done upon request, and any student is invited to request a topic.
“Students can come in, work in the garden and there aren’t any limitations on what they can do,” said Erin Daly, finance director for the Eagle Heights garden.
And with a new annual eligibility, FH King will be able to continue to push its mission of providing sustainable food.
“Every living being has to eat, and it’s really important to know where our food is coming from, how to grow it and how to live more sustainably,” DePorter said.
