Campus Farm

From field to farmer’s market

On the campus farm, students from the CLC Horticulture program grow, tend and harvest about 6,000 pounds of produce every year. Café Willow and the student-managed Prairie Restaurant at Brae Loch use the produce.

You can buy farm-grown vegetables, herbs and flower bouquets at CLC’s seasonal Farm Market:

Thursdays, June—October

3—5:30 p.m., H Building Lawn

What can you find at the market? Check out the CLC Horticulture Facebook page.

Field to table, table to field

We use sustainable farming practices to gain a better yield every year. As part of this, we compost food scraps from Café Willow—food that might have started as our organic garden products.

We bring the food scraps back to the farm and mix them with garden waste in our composting process. As the food and garden waste decomposes, we maintain an environment rich with healthy microbes. The microbes help turn waste into clean compost, which is blended with soil to fertilize the next round of food.

Cover crops for winter

We take steps in fall to protect the garden from erosion and compaction. We plant deep-rooting cover crops and spread leaves from the arboretum over soil. This keeps the soil fertilized, aerated and healthy for the next growing season.

Campus Farm benefits

At CLC: Learning sustainability

Supplying Café Willow and the Farm Market with food is a goal of Campus Farm. It also serves as a living laboratory for our horticulture students. The Horticulture program offers a certificate and an associate degree in sustainable agriculture, as well as other areas. Learn about the Horticulture program.

The Campus Farm lets students get their hands in the dirt and see the fruits of their labor.

In Lake County: Look locally

The CLC Campus Farm is just one of many organic farms near you. Nearly half of all organic farms in the U.S. sell directly to consumers. They do this through farmers' markets and Community Supported Agriculture (CSA).

Get to know the sustainable suppliers in your community. The produce is tasty, and the practices make your environment cleaner, safer and more supportable in the long run.

Around the world: Sustainability everywhere

Sustainable farming is a global movement. From coffee plantations in San Jose, Costa Rica, to vineyards in Dijon, France, small growers are adopting, adapting and perfecting organic methods. CLC students have opportunities to visit some of these farms through study abroad.