Danielle Bates' Commitment to Sustainability

Painted Turtle Farm is a student run, natural garden that grows vegetable produce and herbs to donate to the Gettysburg Dining Center and to the South Central Community Action Program (SCCAP). It is located on campus behind the West Building and is about an acre.

In the summer of 2008, Danielle Bates '10 (far right) worked at the farm as a intern. She co-directs the project with Heather Grace-Rutledge '09 (middle). Both direct and record the work and progress of the farm.

As part of their learning, both try to learn about sustainable and natural farming and sustainability on college campuses. They implement projects that help the campus reduce their environtmental footprint, such as composting food-prep waste and growing herbs on campus for the dining center instead of buying them.

Danielle is an Environmental Studies major who sees first hand the effects of unsustainable resource use and development. She believes that a college campus such as Gettysburg is the perfect place to set the standard for environmentally sound practices in order to reduce our impact.

The Painted Turtle Farm would like to expand and increase their production in order to supply vegetables and other produce to the Dining Center so that they can buy their produce naturally and locally instead of importing it. They would also like to expand the composting program in order to be able to compost the "pulp" of uneaten food left over on students trays in order to virtually eliminate waste in the Dining Center.

Painted Turtle Farm is a student run project that is always looking for volunteers and leaders to keep it going. The more volunteers and student support we have for the program, the more college support we can get to one day expand our production.

Danielle's tips to other students:

• Many students are often afraid that they would not be able to help the farm because they have no prior gardening experience. Don't let that stop you, many student volunteers don't either.
• Some students do not think that the gardening per se is exciting but almost any interest can be applied to some project that would help the garden from record keeping, to construction, to pest control. That's one of the great things about this project, is the ability for so many different interests to come together and help the campus become more sustainable as well as provide food for the community.
• We are always looking for new ideas and projects and leadership, so join us!