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• 1 media/Screenshot 2019-12-11 at 12.23.42 PM.png 2019-11-15T14:58:05+00:00 Personal Reflection 13 plain 2019-12-18T15:31:47+00:00 This project was something that was important for me to do in order to feel more in touch with the climate at Rowan. Farming was a huge part of my life before I moved to Rowan. Through talking to local farmers and learning more about agriculture in my new home, my perception of Rowan as a place has changed. As a Political Science major, this was not a project I typically would have been able to do. One surprising part of the project came from examining farming through multiple lenses. Esther taught me about Glassboro agriculture in a way that no one else could have becasue of her personal relationship with Summit City Farms. Esther also witnessed all of the major developments and expansion of Rowan which pushed her family to declare their farms as preserved land. Dr. Lowman, on the other hand, was able to tell me about farming from the perspective of the University. Although the University and surrounding farms may occasionally push against each other, I learned that both are looking forward to finding new ways to coexist and sustain each other into the future. They have already started to do so through President Houshmand’s Hot Sauce operation, which brings Rowan students and Glassboro farming together in a new and exciting way. This is a cultural shift that I wasn’t expecting to encounter before I spoke to local farmers and heard how much pride they took in growing the peppers and in turn, how much pride President Houshmand takes in using Glassboro grown peppers.
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• 1 media/Screenshot 2019-12-11 at 12.23.42 PM.png 2019-11-15T14:57:03+00:00 About the Cultural Geographer 11 Maura Freeland plain 2019-12-05T17:06:13+00:00

  Maura Freeland 

  I am a first-year student at Rowan University majoring in Political Science and Sociology and a member of the Honors College. I'm also on Rowan's club swim team and a member of the Rowan Democrats Club. In high school I did worl surrunding civic advocacy and voter registration with my town's League of Women voters. However, my interest in agriculture stemmed from growing up with a front-row seat to New Jersey farming. I’ve been a 4H kid for as long as I can remember and for most of my teens years, I worked as a produce picker, learning about what made a plant healthy and what the best way to pick a row and fill your tray fastest with the least amount of waste. Starting in he summer of 2018, I worked at a farmers market near my house called Terhune Orchards where I learned about the business side of agriculture. I spent summers and every weekend at the farm preppign and sellign produce while taking care of more farm animals then I could handle. Throughout all of this, I rode horses and worked at my barn for lessons and to pay my horse’s board.  Having agriculture in my life is something that I’ve missed a lot since living on campus. To me, having a farm mural in Glassboro near Rowan’s main campus will bring farming a little closer to students who won't otherwise get to see it.