VERMILLION, S.D. -- College students and bargains, especially when it comes to food, go hand in hand.
At a Vermillion vegetable and fruit farm, volunteers get quite the bargain by getting their hands dirty.
Over the past decade, dozens of volunteers -- many of them University of South Dakota students -- have earned greens rather than greenbacks at Heikes Family Farm.
In return for a few hours of pulling weeds, picking fruit and vegetables and other tasks, volunteers receive free tomatoes, peppers or whatever else is in season at the farm. It's also a bargain for Heidi Heikes, who operates the farm with her father, Sam Heikes.
"It helps with our labor costs. It just helps me so I don't have to do all the work," Heidi Heikes said. "There's always something for them to do."
In 2012, the father-daughter team started their community supported farm, in which shareholders pay an upfront fee in order to receive shares of the 50 kinds of freshly harvested fruit, vegetables and herbs. It wasn't long before they realized they'd need more help in addition to one or two part-time employees on their 1.5-acre farm.
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Knowing student groups on the USD campus were always seeking volunteering opportunities, Heidi Heikes got word out on campus that she needed help on the farm during the growing season. As a bonus, volunteers would receive fresh food for their labors.
That promise of fresh food, plus fresh air, has proven popular, especially among international students, many of whom come from cultures in which fresh food is bought daily from local farmers at a market rather than a grocery store that ships in produce from growers hundreds of miles away.
"They place great value in fresh food," Heikes said.
On a recent evening, roommates Sai Sriman, Sai Neeraj and Hansa Krish, all USD computer science graduate students from India, pedaled their bikes to the farm, where Heikes put them to work weeding long rows of vegetables. For nearly two months, they've come two or three times a week to work.
"I love to garden. I used to garden in my home. It's really like home," said Sai Neeraj, whose father farms, growing rice and chiles.
Hansa Krish is from an urban area and had no gardening experience. The lure of free fresh food drew him to join his friends, and it's been a fun experience, he said.
"It's organic, it's fresh. You can really smell the food," Krish said.
As an added bonus, he's discovered that a few hours working on the farm relieves stress from studying and school work.
"I'm completely new to this," Krish said. "I really like this."
Taking a break from pulling weeds, Sai Sriman said coming out to the farm beats the alternative.
"It's summer, and I have nowhere to go. I'm bored at home," he said.
With new vegetables coming into season continually and fruit from the farm's orchard on the way, the menu at the students' home will be anything but boring. Neeraj enjoys the fresh food so much, he comes to the farm on open market days and buys more.
"I prefer mostly to buy from here because as a farmer's son, I want to support the farmer," he said.
The three roommates are typical of many of the student volunteers, Heikes said. She's happy to see they enjoy the benefits of having a source of fresh food.
Heikes, too, benefits aside from having some extra help. While they all work, Heikes enjoys asking her volunteers about their backgrounds, their home climate and what kinds of food they grow there. She might even pick up a few tips from students who have a gardening background.
"There's been a lot of students," she said. "I've met a lot of people."
She hasn't yet met one who turned down the offer of a sack of free produce after some hard work.
