Wendell Berry has written that eating is an agricultural act. I would like to go further and say that eating is also a political act, but in a way that the ancient Greeks used that word "political"not just to mean having to do with voting in an election, but to mean of or pertaining to all of our interactions with other people - from the family, to the school, to the neighborhood, to the nation, to the world.

-Alice Waters

Food plays a significant role in everyone's daily lives and the decisions we make about food have far reaching impacts. At Arcadia, cooking and food are part of the curriculum, and students working in teams cook every meal, as they learn about the environmental implications of their eating and how to lessen their burden on the earth. Below are some of the activities by which we model a materially simple and environmentally responsible life on the Adirondack Semester:

• Program involvement in Community Supported Agriculture

• We support local markets such as the Potsdam Food Co-op, Nature's Store House, the Canton Farmers Market and Shaheen's IGA in Tupper Lake

• Meals are prepared daily by pairs of students and/or staff

Kent Family Growers:

Located in Depeyster, Kent Family Growers, practitioners of sustainable agriculture, are heading into their sixth year of operation here in the northcountry. Dan and Megan manage over 1 1/2 acres of cash crops, more than 1 1/2 acres of soil-building cover crops, 1 acre of oats for their work horses Milly and Crystal and a 1/2 acre orchard. Along with selling some of the finest produce at the Canton Farmers Market and to the Potsdam Food Co-op, they also run a CSA with over 40 members.

Bittersweet Farms:

Bittersweet Farm has been in operation at their current location in Depeyster for the past eight years. Along with certified organic vegetables and herbs, they grow unique crops such as pea and sunflower sprouts out of their greenhouse. They have experimented with some organic grains such as wheat and sell a variety of livestock, including domestic turkeys, chickens and a rare breed of heritage purebred Tamworth hogs. Brian and Ann Bennett sell to many local outlets including the Canton and Ogdensburg Farmers Markets and are participating members in the North Country Grown Co-op.