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	<img alt="" src="{filedir_5}Jon-Zirkle-photo-250pxl.jpg" style="width: 200px; height: 268px; float: right;" />Au Sable alum Jon Zirkle has a wealth of experiences -- Chicago Botanic Garden, Congress for the New Urbanism, Office of the Lieutenant Governor of Illinois -- all focusing on issues of sustainable, urban living. In 2009, Zirkle vacated these positions and headed to the cool mountains of Vermont to pursue a graduate program in soil science. To many, the idea of going from urban planner to soil scientist seems like a departure. To Zirkle, a student of Winter Stream Ecology and Sustainable Agriculture and Gardening at Au Sable and Geography major at Calvin College, the program was perfectly consistent.&nbsp;</p>
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	Zirkle&#39;s life work could be said to follow author and farmer Wendell Berry&#39;s twist on the golden rule, &quot;Do until those downstream as you would have those upstream do to you.&quot; Caring for our downstream neighbors is the work of urban planners and soil conservationists. Zirkle has simply transferred his work from urban neighborliness to rural neighborliness. Sustainable lifestyles must involve how we grow and distribute our food, and Zirkle practices and teaches this every day as the Farm Manager at the Merry Lea Environmental Learning Center of Goshen College. We caught up with him to learn more:</p>
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	<strong>What do you do in your current position?</strong></p>
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	I am the Farm Manager at the Merry Lea Environmental Learning Center of Goshen College, which is a nature sanctuary 30 miles away from Goshen where we practice Christian earthkeeping on our diverse prairie/forest landscape and teach courses to K-12, college, and graduate students. My work as Farm Manager includes:</p>
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	&bull;<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Managing organic vegetable production (weeding, soil preparation, composting, fertilization, greenhouse plant production, natural pest control, harvesting)&nbsp;</p>
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	&bull;<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Overseeing sales and marketing efforts of Merry Lea-grown produce at farmers markets, food co-ops, and on campus as Goshen College</p>
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	&bull;<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Coordinating field and marketing tasks with summer agroecology students&nbsp;</p>
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	&bull;<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Working alongside and managing our farm interns&nbsp;</p>
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	&bull;<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Developing long-term planning efforts to improve infrastructure and organizational structures of the farm</p>
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	&bull;<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Disseminating information about our Sustainable Farm projects through our&nbsp;blog and social media outlets</p>
