Local Greens Community Lunch Series presented by Cityscape Farm Supply

Join us for lunch on the first Friday of each month, where we engage in conversation and enjoy a fresh and healthful community meal! Cityscape Farm Supply will provide the salad greens, you provide a side or salad fixings, and the conversation for our expert guest!

March’s Topic:

Leslie Pillen is Associate Director of Farm and Food Systems at Penn State. This role requires her to coordinate the cross-college planning process aimed at creating a sustainable food systems minor and a student-centered experiential learning farm at Penn State. She works with diverse stakeholders, including students, faculty, staff, community members, and alumni to envision and develop this new initiative. She received her MS in Rural Sociology from Penn State in December 2013. Prior to graduate school, Leslie managed a beginning farmer training program and incubator farm at a non-profit in Lincoln, Nebraska. There, she developed farm production and business curricula for beginning farmers, managed a multi-farmer CSA, oversaw farm site development and maintenance, and grew the program through community partnerships and financial development.

The Student Farm at Penn State was established in 2016 and aims to help students learn about where food comes from and give them an opportunity to apply their unique skills and experiences to a farm setting. The Farm is truly a collaborative endeavor; students studying topics from communications, to marketing, to architecture, and more can find exciting ways to contribute to the Farm.

Join us as Leslie discusses the progress the Student Farm has made, and the exciting direction it is playing as it expands its role in the University’s food system.