Kitchen Cabinet
September 14, 2015
Jeri Miller, Margo Druschel, George Elliott , Paul Matzke, Chuck Niederriter, Patrick Neri, Kailey Holmes, Molly Yunkers, Jana Elliott, Kaitlyn Bicek, Jessica Braun, Mark Hanson , Steve Kjellgren, Lisa Heldke, Lindsay Rothschiller
Why we are here: Introductions of Cabinet Members and our purpose and what we would like to see happen during Kitchen Cabinet was discussed. This committee is a combination of students, faculty, and staff from different areas of campus. Members are here to support sustainability and Free Trade initiatives, education of said initiatives, extending meal times for student athletes and offering healthy options later in to the evening, ways to contribute to the campus community, repurposing our leftover food other than just composting and how do we begin the conversation of educating our campus community on aesthetics and taste. Kitchen Cabinet supports Dining Service and offers advice and direction to initiatives that Dining Service may want to be a part of.
Big Hill Farm – We have the opportunity to take advantage of two donated Greenhouses; unsure if both are the exact same but we are aware one is 30’ x 96’. A few questions arose concerning such a gift: If we take this gift do we have funds to support it when things need to be replaced? What type of site preparation do we need to take on? As a group, is this something we would support? There is probably room for one on the current Big Hill Farm site and it would extend the growing season and provide fresh produce to students who are on campus in the fall. Currently the growing season peaks in August when students are not here to reap all of its fresh rewards. It sounds like the question is how we support upkeep. If we took both could one be used for parts to support the first one? Kailey said she could talk to the owner of Living Land Farm as he has a similar greenhouse and speaking with someone that knows the operating cost and pros and cons would be helpful. The question was also raised as to how students could use the Greenhouse and take advantage of the experiences. How much time would a student have to give up to participate as currently Big Hill Farm is only a paid summer position? A few other questions raised: Can we get grants for solar panels. If we grow it, it will be consumed? It was noted that Big Hill Farm provided the melons that were served this past weekend prior to the football game. Kitchen Cabinet is willing to support when the questions are answered; it seemed cost over time was a big factor.
Kitchen Cabinet conversations – Beginning this month Kitchen Cabinet will begin tabling in the Dining Room. We will have a once a month presence with each month taking on a different conversation. Big Hill Farm is on this Wednesday and will bring some representative produce. These are the monthly topics: September – Big Hill Farm, October – Sustainability (gustieware program), November-Cultivate your palate, December – Eating for finals. The cabinet members can add to the agenda monthly. This is available on google calendar and you can add yourself. We will have information available on Kitchen Cabinet as well.
Gustieware – Steve was able to talk to CF’s and Gustie Greeters this semester as he thought he had some meal plan money concerns and those issues were resolved. He was able to discuss some Dining Service concerns and did discuss gustieware. Steve asked a few pointed questions and students agree they should bring back what they borrow (such as the gustieware). And they also agree that they don’t want to and gustieware does not make it back to be washed and reused. Does it make sense that we are using an earth friendly reusable product yet it does not make it back to be reused and instead gets thrown in the trash creating more landfill than its paper counterpart? Prior to gustieware Dining Service was using 250,000 disposables per year. Now we don’t but we spend a significant amount replacing gustieware. And ultimately who pays for disposables or gustieware: the cost gets passed on to the students. So does it make more sense to not spend money on disposables and utilize the gustieware program to save money?