2023 Isadora Harper and Rachel Foley
Isadora decided she wanted to farm as a freshman in high school and (crazily!) is still on that path. Originally from Chicago she moved to Massachusetts to study agriculture at UMass Amherst. When she expressed interest in horse-powered farming she was pointed in the direction of Natural Roots, and kept her eye on the apprenticeship program throughout her studies. While finishing up her degree she started working at Kitchen Garden Farm in Sunderland with Rachel, where she stayed for two seasons before coming to our farm. She’s super excited to be here learning about farming with draft horses, and homesteading, and just about everything else that we do.
Rachel has had a longstanding passion for working with animals and growing food. Also from Chicago, she moved to MA in 2013 to complete her B.S. in Animal Science at UMass Amherst. She has previously worked as a vet tech, horse-drawn carriage, wagon and trolley driver and caregiver to horses and light livestock at many farms in the Pioneer Valley, as well as put in a total of 4 seasons growing vegetables with Queen’s Greens and Kitchen Garden Farm. She is aspiring to start her own low-till draft powered farm and is duly excited to learn about farming with draft horses here at Natural Roots and getting to know the community in Conway.
2022 - Caralyn Roeper and Austin Davis
Bios coming soon!
2021 - Maggie Smith, Mo Katz- Christy and Will Borchard
Originally from Long Lake, NY, Maggie fell in love with veggie farming while in college and has been working on different organic farms since 2015. She fell in with the draft-animal-power crowd during a summer at Northland Sheep Dairy in central New York and will probably never get out! After her year at Natural Roots, she felt ready to start her own project and is now farming on bartered land in Ithaca, NY with two borrowed Percherons. Her operation, Tidings Farm, is currently a small family winter CSA with a summer farmers market side gig, but has hopes of specializing in long-season storage crops, including dry beans, and making fermented value-added products in the commercial kitchen onsite. In time, she hopes to move her operation farther north in the state to serve people in regions with lower access to good local food!
Bios coming soon!
Elyssa Eull - 2020
Elyssa started farming because she loves food and couldn’t think of any better way to spend her time than to be hanging out in the sun getting dirty all day. She became interested in horse-powered farming while studying at The Farm School in Athol, MA. Natural Roots was the ‘natural’ next step, and she is so happy she took it because she learned innumerable valuable lessons and made the most lovely friends. Now she runs her own human-powered farm out of an old railroad yard in the heart of Minneapolis, growing veggies and flowers for her community. Her farm is called California Street Farm. Unfortunately they don’t let her keep horses in the city. Maybe one day.
Aaron Young - 2019
Aaron hails from the Appalachian mountains of North Carolina, where her love for farming began. Over the years she has farmed all over the country, from New Mexico to California. While farming has taken the place as her first love, she is also an enthusiast of days deep in the woods, and good books, and is a seeker of the best piecrust recipe. She is over the moon to learn from Natural Roots and add teamster to her repertoire.
Josh Andrews - 2018
Josh is a runner in nature, hockey player in dreams, and wannabe writer. After spending the summer of 2015 on Fred's Farm in Alexandria, NH, farming captured his heart. He spent the following two growing seasons at Drumlin Farm in Lincoln, MA, building on his vegetable production skills. He's excited to be venturing into an enterprise of his own now on a farm in New Hampshire.
Nick Sibley - 2018
Nick came to Natural Roots with a broad array of agricultural experiences, including forestry, maple syrup production, and vegetable seed production. He worked as an ecologist and woodworker and has completed graduate-level coursework in the Conservation Biology program at Antioch University New England. Nick was fortunate to participate in the draft horse program at Sterling College in 2014. He is now back in Vermont, ready to start up something on his own homestead, involving maple syruping at the least.
Courtney Ryan - 2018
Courtney was born and raised in Northern California, although she has danced around the East Coast several times before. Previous to Natural Roots she completed a Biodynamic training program in Spring Valley, New York and Sacramento, California. She is now working at Heartbeat Farm in Vermont.
Sidney Katz & Brian Thompson - 2017
Brian & Sidney are a power-duo who've been parners since they were in highschool together in California. They're married now and living in Vermont, farming and building up a homestead on land they share with Brian's family. They have a blog about their farming adventures that includes their year at Natural Roots, which you can check out here: https://brianandsidneyfarming.wordpress.com
Owen Tatum - 2017
This is Owen with Amos, our dog. Owen is great. He's currently working at Joe's Brook Farm in Vermont, his home state.
Kyle Farr - 2016
Kyle is a dear, and a jack of all trades. After apprenticing with us in 2016, he and his sweetheart, Maria, who he met here when she came through on her bike, decided to return for a season with us in 2020. He made this lovely weathervane for our horse barn toward the end of his apprenticeship year, and also built our plant stand and Farm Store fixtures.
Calixta Killander - 2016
Calixta has her own horse-powered farm - Flourish Produce - in England now, and is growing up a storm. You can follow her on Instagram if you search her name.
Hunter Link - 2015
Hunter lives in Virginia now, so we get to see him when we go to visit Anna's family there. He's doing all sorts of good work there, and happy to be living in the community he's part of.
Anonymous - 2015
This was a top notch fellow who wishes to remain anonymous on the internet, but who we won't forget. He did build this very fine porch on the front of one of our old cabins, so here's a photo of that in his place.
Nate Kraus-Malett & Emily Landeck - 2013 & 2014, and Lauren Bruns - 2014
Nate came to us from a season at Hearty Roots in Red Hook, NY, and before that Sylvester Manor Educational Farm on Shelter Island, NY, where Emily worked for both years. Lauren farmed previously at Dickinson College Farm in Carlisle, PA. Lauren has since moved back home to Maine, where she is busy in farming. Emily is farming full-time at Riverland Farm, and Nate is pursuing studies in architecture.
Tyler Sage - 2012
Tyler came to us from North Plain Farm in Great Barrington, and before that spent a season at Moon in the Pond Farm in Sheffield, the same year as Jeff Backer was there. Tyler is now living in Bernardston where he is raising hogs on his own land. He has a horse logging business as well. Here's a link to a great article about Tyler's logging business: Daily Hampshire Gazette
Andrew Currie - 2012
Andrew worked the previous season down in the valley at Crimson & Clover Farm, and before that attended The Farm School in Orange, MA. After Natural Roots Andrew spent a few summers helping out at Anne and Eric Nordell's farm in PA (the Nordells model being a primary inspiration for what we do). He is now pursing higher education simultaneously at the Yale School of Forestry and Oxford, in England.
Lily Carone - 2011
For the 2011 season Lily commuted in from her home on Atlas Farm in Deerfield. She had hoped to glean what she could of horse-powered farming from her days here with the goal of someday implementing horsepower to some degree at Atlas as well.
Daniel Berry - 2010 & 2011
Daniel arrived here in June of 2010, plunging right into the fray for the first day of CSA. He came with his hive of bees and educated us little by little in the ways of beekeeping as he made his own way through his first years as a beekeeper. We were thrilled that Daniel returned for a second season to round out his developing teamster skills and deepen his experience on our farm. We are also very happy that he has decided to settle in the area.
Jeff Backer - 2010
After a great year with us in 2010 Jeff went on to manage his own farm in Grafton, MA. He leased land from the Grafton Land Trust to establish Potter Hill Farm, where he grew mostly heirloom vegetables and raised a few beef cows and some hogs. He may transition to animal power at some point, but for the time being he is relying on a 1952 Farmall Cub to help get him through. He has since moved to New Hampshire where he raises hogs and makes his own sausage blends. Here's a link to his farm website: Short Creek Farm
Devon Burgess - 2010
Devon's apprenticeship with us was cut short after only two months when he died from an accident in Cambridge on May 2nd, 2010. He was an adventurous, determined, caring, and vibrant spirit who lived life to the fullest and is remembered with much love. Together with his friends and family we planted a red oak by the bridge in his memory.
Dan Criss & Rachel Hestrin - 2009
Dan & Rachel came to us from a season at Keith's Farm in New York, and before that Buckwheat Blossom Farm in Maine and Tillers International in Michigan. We're not sure what either is up to currently.
Micah & Bethany Spicher Schonberg - 2008
Micah & Bethany graced our farm with their lovely presences for the 2008 season. They then went on to start up their own farm on Bethany's parents' land in Pennsylvania in 2009. Visit their website at Plowshare Produce to see what great things they are up to now.
Anthony Mecca - 2008
Anthony is now a partner in a CSA farm of his own in the Hudson Valley in New York. See more about what he's up to at Great Song Farm.