Meet our Summer Fellow Tom Chalmers

We're excited to be welcoming a couple of Summer Fellows here at Arcadia through Tufts University's Active Citizenship Summer program. Read on to get to know Tom Chalmers, who is working with us through August on both farm education and with the Mobile Market.

What past experiences have prepared you for this position?

While in high school, I spent a year and a half interning for the Food Project, a nonprofit in the Boston area that deals with issues of food accessibility and sustainability in both urban and suburban environments. Through helping maintain their CSA, leading volunteer groups, and implementing urban outreach programs, I gained a rough understanding of the problems facing the modern American food system as well the role nonprofits might play in solving them. Afterwords, I worked at a local land trust in my hometown that attempted to integrate farming practices and healthy food into a modern, relatively dense suburban environment.

What do you hope to come away with from your summer Fellowship with Arcadia?

While at Arcadia, I'd like to learn more about the methods and practices that go into promoting sustainable food system education and outreach. I hope to see what goes into constructing the educational programs and the networks of food producers, sellers, towards which Arcadia has directed itself.

What about this position are you most excited for?

Everything! If I had to name one thing, however, it would be the educational events and programs that are being implemented for the first time this summer, including the camp and family fun day. Arcadia is growing at an incredibly rapid pace, and it's great to be able to examine and experience that growth from within the organization itself.

If you were a vegetable, what would you be?

A kohlrabi. I'm not sure why, but it was the first thing that popped into my head, and it looks pretty cool.

What’s your favorite season for growing produce and why?

Late summer to early fall; the momentum that carries through from earlier in the summer is a great thing to behold, and you can plant an incredibly wide variety of food knowing that it will all grow relatively healthily.