The First Lady’s Food Lab seeks to engage the university and local communities through programming related to food systems and education. There are a variety of ways to get involved with the Food Lab, and we are always considering new projects and partnerships.
Field Trips
The Food Lab has worked with a number schools in the Albemarle & Charlottesville area—please reach out to our team if you are interested in designing a K-12 field-trip program.
Morven’s field trip curriculum was designed by UVA’s Curry School of Education for fourth and fifth grade science students, but can be augmented for younger or older age groups. The Food Lab field trip focuses on food systems, agriculture and nutrition, as well as provides time for mindfulness activities and fun games like capture the flag. Morven has hosted Stone-Robinson Elementary School, the Boys and Girls Club, Computers for Kids, Tandem Friends School, Central Charter, and numerous UVA student-led programs for local k-12 students.
Student Innovation
Among other things, the Food Lab is a space dedicated to student ideas and innovation related to food.
Morven’s 2018 MSI Fellows developed inaugural programming ideas for the Food Lab. Concepts included activating Morven as a farm incubator for young aspiring farmers, reinvigorating a Bee keeping program for students and community members, and designing new property maps and logos.
Virtual Programming
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Workshops
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Food Lab Events
VAFB Farm to Table
More than 50 University of Virginia medical and nutrition students recently toured area farms and enjoyed a locally-sourced dinner at Morven Farms. There they discussed the links between good nutrition and good health, and why it's so confusing to pass along sound nutrition advice.
Morven Farms Resources Proposal Project
Our project is centered around the desire to use UVA’s resources to their full potential and reduce the University’s environmental impact.
Food Lab Fellows Sustainability Plan
A team of UVA students worked to align UVA's sustainability mission with the mission of the First Lady's FoodLab at Morven. Their plan proposed programming for food studies and collaborative initiatives between students, faculty, and community members.
UVA Student Program Proposals
Morven’s 2018 MSI Fellows developed inaugural programming ideas for the Food Lab. Concepts included activating Morven as a farm incubator for young aspiring farmers, reinvigorating a Bee keeping program for students and community members, and designing new property maps and logos.
Farming Initiative
UVA Students Brooke Kinsey and Erika Stadsklev developed a proposal that explored parts of Morven becoming a farming incubator for locals. An Incubator Farm is a place where people are given temporary and affordable access to small parcels of land and infrastructure, and often training, for the purpose of honing skills and launching their own businesses. UVA MSI Fellow Sarah Carter continued to explore this idea by identifying sites on the farm and testing the soil.
Beekeeping
Beekeeping has been an interest for Morven Kitchen Garden students since the program was developed ten years ago. In May 2012, UVA MKG Alum Rowan Sprague, received a Harrison Research Award to study beehive entrances. She set up six honeybee colonies on Morven Farm, and continued her research for a year. Rowan later received a Fulbright to study bees in New Zealand. Until 2018, a local beekeeper assisted in caring for the bees.
Elin Woolf, 2018 MSI Fellow, analyzed the bee program and created a presentation and proposal about future possibilities. The proposal’s goal was to enhance the existing mission of MKG to provide other students with hands-on educational opportunities.
The beehives in the garden continue to present a unique opportunity for students to interact with bees while learning about beekeeping. Now, current MKG Exec President Kaitlyn Elliot has continued the program and serves as Morven’s student Beekeeper.
Mapping Project
Valentina and Bridget worked together with former Morven employee, Danielle Loleng, to design new touring maps for the entire farm. The maps were used by students attending Reading Days at Morven. They also created the concept for the Food Lab logos and proposed ideas for Morven’s field trip program.