This is a great farm to learn how to: grow organic vegetables, run a CSA, work on a small family farm, build a shed, weed, hook up an irrigation system, drive a tractor (or two, or three...), transplant....  It has been a great learning experience and I look forward to an abundant growing and harvest season in 2009.
Three years ago my family & I were living in New Jersey where I was working in a career that had nothing to do with farming.  Sensing a leading from God to get more in touch with the land and my own family, we made the move to the farm.  Before coming to Village Acres, I apprenticed at a farm in Virginia, which had buffalo, broilers (meat chickens), layers (hens), pigs, goats and geese.  I've certainly had ample contact with the soil and have enjoyed working the land, most of all with my family close by.

I grew up in Guys Mills, PA, a tiny town about 40 miles south of Erie.  My parents were not farmers, but they gardened extensively, and my dad worked in a variety of sales jobs in the food industry – so I’ve spent a lot of time eating homegrown produce, mass-produced frozen food, and everything in between.  I went to college at Penn State where I got a degree in environmental resource management and then went on to study plant ecology at Stony Brook University on Long Island.  I learned a lot in graduate school but I was never sure if I really wanted to work in a university for the rest of my life.  What really made me happiest was not writing papers or planning experiments but just working with plants, both outside and in the greenhouses on campus.   I have always been an environmentalist, concerned with how society was going to manage to live on the land without destroying it, and I was simultaneously becoming more and more excited about cooking and eating good fresh food and reading more and more worrying news about the problems with conventional agriculture.  Now this was a problem to get passionate about!  I decided the best way to figure out what was going on with sustainable agriculture was to jump right in and get a job on a farm and because I had loved the landscape of central Pennsylvania while at Penn State, I decided to look for something nearby.  I arrived here May 4 and have been learning the ropes and growing your vegetables ever since.

I started working at Village Acres in April of 2008.  I started here not knowing what to expect.  Since then I've learned more than I ever thought I could about growing vegetables.  One day, I'm hoping to start my own farm and provide organic food to more people.  I'm excited and looking forward to this summer and all the new things it will bring, including my first child.

My employment with Village Acres began in 2008 right in the middle of the summer.  That meant a quick introduction to my coworkers and right to work.  I was amazed at the amount of responsibility that I was given so quickly.  It’s truly an on-the-job training.  From that day forward, I have been learning a whole new language.  Before I made this career change, I worked for 15 years in an office in front of a computer every day.  It is wonderful beyond description to be outside breathing fresh air, hearing the birds sing, and getting dirty. 

I’m new to organic produce farming, however I’m familiar with the hard work that is involved with farming.  I grew up on a dairy farm south of Port Royal.  As a child I had a variety of chores such as feeding chickens, gathering eggs, milking cows, and driving tractor.  My parents also planted a lot of green beans, sweet corn, and potatoes for many summers while I was growing up.  Naturally at the time I didn’t appreciate all the hard work, but now I am very thankful for the work ethic that my parents instilled in me. 

As a Village Acres CSA member since 2007, I’ve always enjoyed eating the colorful variety of produce I receive.  Now that I get to harvest, sort, portion, and pack your (and my) CSA box, it has given me a whole new appreciation for the delicious food that is grown on this farm.  I’m blessed to be a part of this great Village Acres crew and to play a part in bringing “live” food to your table!

After many years of harping, my parents finally get to see me love vegetables. I don’t know how kids learn that vegetables are a bad thing- perhaps they can sense the pleading tone in their parents’ voices that signifies something to be coerced into. I hated vegetables. I hated weeding my father’s garden. I hated the smell left on my hands after harvesting tomatoes, the itchiness that it causes (surely we were not meant to eat members of the Nightshade family). This hatred changed, of course. I’m not sure what sparked the interest- maybe being able to open a jar of my mother’s canned green beans in the dull of winter, or seeing the bright red caution signs of hot peppers peeking through the leaves, or perhaps the amazement of a crawling squash vine as it took over our compost pile. I don’t really care what it was, I love vegetables now.

            This love brought me to Village Acres. I graduated from Goshen College last year with a focus in metalsmithing. When Roy asked me why I did that, I had to tell him it was my pursuit of happiness. Coming to work on his farm is just another pursuit of happiness. After several really stellar experiences working on the preparation side of food, I wanted more background on the source of food. I wanted to get my hands in the dirt and really experience food in the purest sense. So that is what I’ll be doing- getting my hands in the dirt to get you your food. I hope you find it as beautiful as I do.