We are delighted to welcome two new staff members this month – Amelia Padini and Kalita Todd – and congratulate Rachel Berry on her promotion.
Amelia Padini, Food Love Project Farm Educator
Amelia will be serving as the Food Love Project Farm Educator, coordinating school field trips to Sierra Harvest’s educational farm as well as the popular Food Love Farm Summer Camp. Originally from Boston, MA, Amelia has lived and farmed in Philadelphia, New Mexico, Hawaii, and Central America. “I’m just really excited to dig into this community,” says Amelia (no pun intended). “I want to give from all the experiences I’ve gathered from so many diverse places.” Her experience as a Food Corps Service Member, among other positions where she taught kids about social and environmental justice, cooking, nutrition, and gardening has prepared her well for helping Nevada County kids learn about where their food comes from. When she is not at Food Love, Amelia will be working at First Rain Farm, hiking, backpacking, camping, rock climbing, and practicing yoga.
Kalita Todd, Farm Institute Education Coordinator
Kalita brings a wealth of experience to her role as Sierra Harvest’s Farm Institute Education Coordinator. In her role, Kalita will help our farm apprentices choose and carry out special projects (such as beekeeping) on their host farms, in addition to their daily farm duties. She will also coordinate classes taught by a variety of mentor farmers, and organize social activities for the apprentices. Kalita was a founding member of the Ecological Farming Association (producers of the Eco Farm conference) and has been an organic farmer for decades. She is excited to help Sierra Harvest achieve its goal of increasing the number of people who regularly consume local, sustainably grown food in our community from 2% to 25% of the population. “This is bringing my long-term goals into local work,” says Kalita. “This work is incredibly important — it has to go hand in hand with supporting the farmers that we now have through opening more markets as well as educating new farmers and consumers.” In addition to her duties as Education Coordinator, Kalita is farming a 5-acre homestead and enjoying her five grandchildren.
Rachel Berry, Engagement Director
Sierra Harvest would like to congratulate Rachel Berry on her promotion from Engagement Manager to Engagement Director. As Engagement Director, Rachel will work to inform and engage more people on the impact that Sierra Harvest is having on Nevada County: “A lot of people have heard of Sierra Harvest, but they don’t know the breadth of what we are doing,” says Rachel. “We are on the cusp of making some really big changes in our community. I’m looking forward to getting more people on board and excited about our vision.”