Hiram College

• Type: Liberal Arts, Private, 4 yr, 1000-5000, Rural
• Region: Midwest
• City: Hiram
• State: OH
• involvement in the Real Food Challenge?
  Level 1: Connected to the network
• On campus concessions: Starbucks
• Needs and challenges: *We started a Fair Trade and Eco enterprise last fall (mostly selling sustainably made clothing, jewelry and handcrafts, but also a lot of Equal Echange Coffee, Tea, Chocolate (all organic). *We have a vermicomposting program going (composting all the college's non-processed foodwaste) with worms all year round. *We are beginning to work with our vegetarian coop to purchase more local foods, and to that end have also built a root cellar for winter storage. *We help sponsor and coordinate a Heifer International program at Hiram House Camp which works with inner-city and suburban youth. We have a good-sized raised bed garden, and livestock out there for the summer, and focus on environmental and food education. This year and next year... *We hope to get a community garden going in Fall 2009 (I think we have the land now, we just need to start cultivating it and put up fencing this fall). *There is a group that is trying to start an austism farm program in our village on property that used to be an organic farm but is now in land trust (they would like to begin programs this spring, and we would like to work with them as much as possible). *We are looking into starting a food buying co-op through our county's family farms program. There used to be one in Hiram years ago until a whole foods store opened in the next town (we don't have stores in Hiram, just corn fields), but that closed years ago. *I would like to set up a program to provide our local food bank with fresh produce seasonally. They do a little of this with their local farmers already. I have some ideas in this regard. *We hope to fix up an old green house and start a little year-round production, and get students working in gardens at the Autism and Hiram House Camp farms in the spring and fall. *Finally, and this is our most ambitious, we are building a new dining hall for 09/10, and the old one will be free for other uses, so we are in talks with the college to use it and its commercial kitchen to sponsor local food activities, a rental space for commerical canning, etc...
• Composting: pre-consumer food waste
• Food activities: fair trade purchasing, local purchasing
• Relevant academic programs: Course(s) offered, Extracurricular Activities, Student-run programs