Students for Lake Superior Sustainable Farming (LSSF) is hosting a T-shirt fundraiser Saturday at Whole Foods Co-op in Duluth’s Hillside neighborhood beginning at 11 a.m.

Founded by junior Environmental, Sustainability and Geography (ESG) majors Paxton Zirpel and Matt Sperazza, LSSF seeks to share knowledge with the community and students who are interested in sustainability and organic farming.

Zirpel and Sperazza originally sprouted the idea in a first-year ESG course while working on a class project together at the University of Minnesota Duluth Land Lab. 

“We started talking about forming some sort of organization around the Land Lab to do projects to not only benefit the Land Lab, but also provide knowledge to area farmers and the community,” Zirpel said.

In the club’s two years of existence, they have hosted events such as HarvestFest and SpringFest at the Land Lab to try to draw attention and interest toward their organizations work.

Typically, the group would hold more events on campus, but COVID-19 restrictions in place at UMD have forced them to look outside the bounds of campus.

“[The restrictions] have kind of put a damper on HarvestFest and SpringFest because of capacity limits,” Zirpel said.

Despite this, the group’s 52-person membership has been continuing their work at the Land Lab in groups of two to four.

Some of LSSF’s student-led projects include an edible forest garden, a mushroom cellar and beehives.

“These research projects provide new information and hands-on learning to students as well as the greater Duluth community,” Zirpel said.

LSSF’s Saturday fundraiser offers T-shirts that are made of 100% recycled material and were printed in Minnesota.

T-shirts can be purchased for $15 with a valid student ID, or for $20 without.

Zirpel said that all funds will go directly back into the organization to fund their ongoing projects.

Anyone interested in joining LSSF can contact a club’s representative through Bulldog Connect.