Are they simply veggies in your refrigerator? Think again as Madeline Brumberg ’18 reflects on the learning, networking, and self-management opportunities in her fall CSA.
By the end of the week, I am usually ready to catch up on missed sleep or take off to the woods with my dog. The sight of my fridge, however, chock full of vegetables waiting to be cooked, tells me I better stay inside and cook.
This was the weekly struggle this semester as I attempted to keep up with classwork, teamwork, and a community supported agriculture (CSA) share. My share, paid for at the beginning of the season to provide farmers a more stable income and seed start up costs, got delivered weekly to a campus drop off spot. (For more information about CSAs please see this blog post from a local farm.) As the seasons changed, my share changed from bags of lettuce, cucumbers, and tomatoes, to bags of potatoes, squash, and kale. The share which I chose was very abundant and I had to be very diligent in cooking to minimize my food waste.
A number of other students in the program also had CSAs and we swapped ideas for getting through seemingly endless amounts of carrots and cabbage. We all depended heavily of veggie stir fries with a side of rice or quinoa, but this got dull after a couple of weeks and we had to branch out. A favorite recipe to emerge out of desperation to use up cabbage and potatoes was a stir fry of those two with ground sausage from Vermont Salumi, whole-grain mustard, and pepitas. The excess CSA veggies brought some of the students together for homemade dinners. We used the opportunity to collaborate on recipes, talk through assignments, study for exams, and unwind after a long week of classes.
Managing to use vegetables before they went bad and getting my homework done provided me with an excellent opportunity to practice time management. I depended on my crockpot and roasting so that I could cook and do assignments at the same time. Sometimes, though, I would take the evening off to go through my whole fridge and cook up anything and everything in there. Those nights were an opportunity for me to reflect on what I was learning in this program. With the break neck speed of this program, finding moments like these have been paramount. Getting through CSA vegetables has been a good excuse to do just that.
So is it possible to get through your CSA and your semester? Yes, it just takes a little planning and some teamwork.
With some very experienced hikers in this year’s cohort we’ve had a handful of successful hikes including Mt. Mansfield and Starks Nest. Other classmates have hit the road and enjoyed a charity bike ride for Old Spokes Home and one of our very own classmates, Becky Miller, led a local yoga class that many attended. Being a graduate student at UVM means you get to enjoy a beautiful landscape and a vibrant community. Beyond the university offerings, Burlington has a variety of outdoor offerings for everyone.
During the semester, almost half of our class participated in intramural sports offered by campus recreation. Campus Recreation offers a variety of options from multi-week team sports to one-night clinics, all free, or practically free. As a class we competed in broomball, kickball and volleyball. Games are weekly and the games and the season-ending tournament usually last from 4 to 6 weeks. While we didn’t take home any campus-wide championships this semester, we won some games, worked off some steam and got a little exercise, which is always nice after sitting in class for most of the day. There were also awesome events like a “Learn How to Curl” event in which a local curling club taught us the basics of curling. Due to our busy schedules, we won’t be joining the 2018 Winter Olympics, but we might shoot for the 2022 Winter games.
The 
During a break from undergraduate studies, Rothblatt was inspired by traveling and working with a NASA satellite station. She wondered if it would be possible to have something in the Earth’s orbit that could give music to the world. Feeling enthused, she returned to school to study communication. She continued onto grad school and graduated from UCLA with JD-MBA degree. All the while, Rothblatt’s passion for satellite communication continued to remain at the forefront of her life, leading her to become founder and CEO of 
Originally from Hinesburg, Vermont, Caitlin left to pursue an undergraduate degree at Dickinson College in Pennsylvania and later moved to Boston where she worked at Bain & Company, a top global management consulting company. At Bain & Company, Caitlin worked on analysis and employee engagement as part of the firm’s global human capital team to attract, engage and retain employees. Her success at Bain & Company enabled her to live in Shanghai for several years.
The unique bike shop is a not-for-profit organization that, in addition to selling and servicing new and used bicycles, helps get bikes into the hands of low income Vermonters who need them for mobility, health and freedom. In addition to providing bikes, the Old Spokes Home offers job training, classes, social programs and guided rides.