How do you catch the eye of the First Lady?

Through a growing passion for sustainable gardening!

At least that was the case for Dan Allen ’91, a chemistry major turned high school chemistry teacher with a unique hobby: he runs an organic farm and a suburban community garden in New Jersey.

We recently caught up with Allen to find out more about his farm and garden. We also got the scoop on his feature in First Lady Michelle Obama’s new book, "American Grown."

Tell us about your organic farm!

I raise about 80 laying hens and 12 sheep, and have a one-acre vegetable garden for my extended family to eat and sell from at our farm stand. We raise thousands of tomato and pepper seedlings and sell them at the stand, and I've planted over 250 fruit and nut trees over the past decade. I cut and split firewood from our wood lot for heating needs. I also help out with other family members’ farms raising pigs and cows, and growing hay.

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