Grow Your Own

Parkhurst "grows their own" food on many college and business campuses.  Guests enjoy fresh produce, vegetables and herbs that are grown in containers, greenhouses or college-based farms located right on our clients' property.  Onsite gardening provides a fresh and consistent food source to dining and helps our clients become more sustainable.

Schools like Saint Francis University of Loretto, Pa., are part of this "growing" trend.  With the approval of Saint Francis administration, the Parkhurst culinary team was granted permission to use space in an existing greenhouse structure on the university campus.   Under the guidance of Executive Sous Chef Mike Passanita, the greenhouse received a face lift:  Planting beds were reconstructed, and a new irrigation system was installed.  Chef Passanita harvests a variety of vegetable and herbs in the greenhouse garden, including Little Gem Romaine lettuce, Black Simpson leaf lettuce, flat-leaf parsley, curly parsley, thyme, sweet basil, stevia, winter thyme, cilantro, rosemary and cosmos (an edible flower).  Everything that is grown in the greenhouse is used in the preparation of food for students, faculty and staff.  "I like to know where the food comes from...It's the quality alone, plus having it on hand.  It's kind of cool to just go out to the garden and pick what you need," says Chef Passanitta.

Organic gardening is also under development at the Bucknell University Environmental Center in Lewisburg, Pa.  Currently, it has 12 raised beds and grows a variety of produce, including strawberries, grapes, assorted greens, herbs, beans, peppers and tomatoes.  There is also an orchard of young apple trees.  The garden is not yet productive enough to provide a consistent source to dining, but there are plans for future expansion, which may allow such a relationship to emerge.

Even professional athletic organizations like The Pittsburgh Steelers are growing their own.  Steelers Executive Chef Corey Hayes practices "urban" gardening right outside his kitchen at Steelers headquarters in Pittsburgh, Pa.  Chef Hayes grows sage, basil, rosemary, cilantro, parsley, oregano, thyme and purple basil.  "Everything that I grow is used in the preparation of fresh food for the players," says Chef Hayes.  What's the herb of choice for Steelers? "Football players don't have a favorite herb," he says. Then he adds: "Pepper."