We sat down with Chemistry professor, fiber artist, and owner and operator of Enno Farm, Angela King, to discuss what’s changed since she was named a Champion of Change in 2017.
So you were named Champion of Change back in 2017–
Oh wow, 8 years ago. That’s crazy.
I know. It is! Can you take me back to that moment and what it felt like for you?
I was really proud because there are so many people on campus doing good things, right? And so many of our colleagues on campus buy food from our sustainably run farm. And I’ve always been proud of how we produce food on our farm, but I was very proud that people on campus put me in the same group with these other award winners who I’m always so impressed by. It’s a good group. And it’s fun to look through and see everyone from different years.
And part of your award was given because you made your farm a model for sustainable practices, including partnering with the Soil and Water Commissions to fence off your farm area. Could you talk a little bit about that?
Yes, so that was about our wool sheep and we cost-shared with the government. Our farm has two streams on it. They wanted to keep that fresh water, not just by keeping feces out of it, but to keep the plants along the stream and not let it erode. So we cost-shared fencing the sheep out, but that removed their source of water, so they helped us put in an alternative source from groundwater.
When did you start the farm?
Oh, I’d have to ask my husband. It’s been a long time. But I can tell you we got the sheep probably 18 years ago. So we have been doing this for 18 years.
And how many sheep do you typically have at a time?
Probably around 20 ewes. But I sold a lot of the flock this year because I’m going to teach in Scotland in the summer. My husband is not going with me, because somebody has to feed all these animals. And I’m just trying to make it easy for him. So we want bare bones. We kept the best of the best, and the class in Scotland is timed carefully between when the last of the lambs will be here, so he doesn’t have to worry about that. And then we have a family milk cow, and she’ll calf on August 1, so I’ve got this little window.
Wow, good for you. That’s well timed. What are you going to be teaching over there?
Orgo II. The Chemistry department has a rotation of three Chem courses from our lower level – Orgo II, BioChem, and CHM 280 – and we offer one in the UK every summer.
I know you’ve incorporated campus engaged learning in your previous FYS classes, from True Value Meals at the Campus Garden to more recently, Little Green Dress. Are you planning to incorporate any sort of sustainability education in the class this summer?
Well, it’s Orgo II, but the support team in Dundee plans a weekly outing for us. And our outings are all related to sustainably produced fibers and dyes. So, yeah, we’re going to – I mean, I’d rather go to a sheep farm – but we’re going to a cashmere goat farm and we’re going to an indie dye shop.
I stumbled upon an interview you did for TechX where you said you’ve been a fiber artist forever. What first sparked your interest in the fiber arts?
I’m a first gen college kid from Appalachia, so everybody in my family quilted. So I can remember – and this is a little embarrassing – taking my embroidery to show and tell in kindergarten. It was a little chick, like I remember that.
Not embarrassing at all, I think that’s great. How did that morph into having your own sheep and spinning?
I grew up with sewing and embroidery and my grandparents had a farm, so when I became independent – when we came here – I really wanted some animals. My husband and I are pretty serious gardeners, right? When I was on maternity leave with my daughter, who’s now in vet school, Organic Gardening ran an article that chickens were the best thing you could do for your garden – they ate the bugs, they fertilized. And so I said I wanted chickens. And he was like, “Absolutely not. We don’t know anything about how to keep the chickens alive.” But I was on maternity leave, and you can do pretty much whatever you want, like you owe me, buddy. So we got five chickens and just loved them. And then I wanted bigger. I wanted more animals. So I was like, “Oh, get sheep. I can learn to spin.” So that was probably about 22 years ago that I started exploring the sheep world.
I come from a family of quilters myself. Can you tell me a little bit about that first-year seminar class that you teach related to textiles – Little Green Dress – where you take students to WakerSpace. When did you start teaching it?
I’ve taught it twice now. It’s always been in the spring.
And I counted at least a couple of times when you taught your other FYS, True Value Meals, that you took students to the Campus Garden to learn about regenerative agriculture.
Oh yeah I taught it for a long time. And in fact, the reason I stopped teaching that was because I reread all the material I assigned for them, and I just was so tired and I was reading the same materials over and over.
It’s funny you say that because we talk about how by the time some students graduate, they have been out to the Campus Garden so many times. So I love that you decided to take students to the WakerSpace and introduce them to it in their first year.
But I think both are important for those first-year seminars because some students find their niche at the Campus Garden, right? Some are now your interns. And I go to the WakerSpace now and I see my former students and they volunteer there. So I think it’s good, especially for the first year classes, to show them all of these different things on campus so that they can find their home within a home here.
I totally agree. Every student needs exposure to a lot of things so they can figure out what it is that they are passionate about. I’m curious about your interest in sustainability, specifically. Has it always been a part of who you are and how you operate, or has it grown over the years?
I think the basics have always been with me, right? Again, I’m a first gen college kid from Appalachia. We weren’t rich. Things were reused. Everybody used a clothesline, right? You know, we’re not paying for electricity when you could put it outside. So those things just sort of made sense for me. And then as I learned more, and it became trendy at one point, I was like there’s all these other things about it that are important to me.
How else do you incorporate sustainability into your Chemistry courses?
I haven’t recently taught it, but there’s also a course called Everyday Chemistry for non-science majors. When I teach it, all the chemistry concepts you want to teach are presented in a global window. So to talk about composition of fixtures, it’s air pollution. Like, you should be fluent in this so you can decide if your air is safe to breathe. And then the same for water. And then we move into energy.
And I’m going to put a plug in for your Magnolias Curriculum Project. That was really eye opening for me, because I think when most chemists think about sustainability, it’s from a science viewpoint, right? We’re thinking about molecules and energy. And I did the Magnolias Project, and there were so many people in there who were focused on people. I was like, “Oh, there is a completely different lens that you can view this from.” So I think that shaped my Little Green Dress first-year seminar. We talked not just about water pollution from clothing production and the massive amount of clothing in the landfill and the lifetime they stick around, but also about workers and community and things like that.
Our mission in our office is empowering leadership for the sustainability transformation and our Champions of Change are leaders for that transformation. I’m wondering what you hope students will take away from their sustainability education here, whether it’s through one of your classes or just generally at Wake Forest?
What I hope they emerge with is the ability to think about these complex problems and how to base their decisions on research that’s been done. I mean, they’re complex issues, right? For True Value Meals, when they’re deciding what to eat, it’s not just nutritional value. It’s like, what impact did it have on water usage and soil and the people who were producing that food? So they’re complex. It’s not just a quick, easy answer. I hope they leave with a better understanding of how to approach and dissect such a complicated problem, resulting in decisions that are good for planet Earth and sustainable.