This past year, the YDS community made a commitment to sustainability and responsible stewardship of the environment. We've started a farm, and we have ceramic plates in the refectory as an alternative to plastic ones. As part of this commitment, Alex and I will be encouraging you to bring your own reusable plates, cups, and utensils to the meals during BTFO.
We know that some of you will have just arrived in New Haven when BTFO begins, and that you won't have had time to unpack your dishes. Others of you may not have cars and can't just run out to Wal-Mart or Target to buy tupperware. With that in mind, we will a limited number of dishes for you to use (but we'll also ask you to wash them yourselves). We also have some plates and utensils donated by former students in the BTFO Give-Away Room, which we'll make available on a first-come, first-served basis. If we have to, we will use disposable paper plates, but we'd really rather not.
As an incentive for those of you who bring your own plates and utensils, you'll be first in line at all of the meals. If you decide to bring tupperware instead of a plate, we'll even let you take any leftovers you want home with you.
The moral of this story is to make sure that you pack some reusable dinnerware and a water bottle in an easily accessible place. Here at YDS, we feel that responsible stewardship of the environment is a theological issue (rooted, among other places, in Gen. 1.28-30). Please help us to become better stewards as a community.
Plus, look how happy the family in the picture is about their tupperware. We want you to be this happy during BTFO (although probably less medicated and dead on the inside).
This is good. I'm glad for it. By the way, folks at the school seem to frequently reference "The Farm," and there is some information online, but not a lot of specifics. What are the best steps to take in order to get involved at The Farm early on in one's time at the school? Is family involvement welcomed? Is produce from The Farm available to students, outside of its use in some dinners (and when are those dinners, anyway?)? How is the bounty shared in the larger New Haven community, and how can folks get involved in that?
ReplyDeleteThe Divinity Farm will have a presence during BTFO, during which time you can meet the leaders and find out how to get involved. I'm not sure if produce is available to students; to the best of my knowledge, the farm's produce is used in community meals. Berkeley has a weekly meal on Wednesday nights that has used farm produce, as have YDS' monthly community dinners. We're also planning on using some farm produce during BTFO.
ReplyDeleteI'm not exactly sure what you're asking with your last question. The Divinity Farm is a small operation, so it isn't used outside of the Div School. Yale runs a larger organic farm which (I believe) is used philanthropically. Also, depending on where you live in New Haven, you might have a community garden in your neighborhood, where produce is free to everyone who contributes to the upkeep (my old neighborhood had one).
Thanks for the info and the tip about getting more info at BTFO. In the case of the last question, I must have been mixing up The Farm with something else, as I definitely read somewhere about "farm" resources being shared in the community. Sounds like I've now mixed that up with The [Divinity School] Farm, and will have to go find what I am really talking about.
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