We love getting to share with you about how your food is grown and raised but we figured we’d also share a bit more about the people who are behind it all – our team!
Next in our series is Annie! Her background is in foreign language education and nonprofit development which she brings to her work helping behind the scenes to make sure the farm’s internal systems are running smoothly.
We sat down with Annie to learn more about her varied roles on the farm, her hobbies outside of work and more:
I help the farm’s systems (like production, marketing, sales, fulfillment, bookkeeping, and human resources) run together as smoothly as possible. I’m responsible for onboarding new employees and helping teams leverage data to make good decisions and I also do project-based work, including grant writing, building data systems, and implementing new softwares. I am also the printer fixer and birthday rememberer.
Big picture, I love that even though I don’t have a farmer’s skills, I can still apply my skill set to my passion for strengthening local sustainable food systems. In the day to day, I love talking about food with teammates and customers, and I love seeing the turkeys, lambs, and chickens on my drive in to work.
I really enjoy eating with the seasons, so my favorite farm meal (and what I replicate most often at home) is the stir fry or one-pot meal where you just use what’s fresh in the fridge. It’s never the same twice but always yummy.
It’s usually not useful to compare Elmwood’s meat and vegetables to those you find in the grocery store–to me, they are entirely separate categories. ESF’s organic practices, sustainable farming methods, and connection to the local community (and economy) yield really high-quality products. But more importantly, those factors mean our food supports a way of agriculture that is better for individuals, communities, and the planet. I wish everyone thought about their food choices like this!
I have a hard time picking favorites, but I can tell you two that I am a convert on: Swiss chard and Hakurei turnips. I never thought I would be excited to eat those foods, but now that I’ve learned how I like to prepare them, I find them so delicious!
I like gardening, thrifting, reading, practicing yoga, cooking with my spouse, and doing board game nights with my friends.