Sierra Harvest has a new director at the helm of the Farm Institute, and the job might have well been designed with her in mind. She is Molly Nakahara, and we just can’t imagine a better fit for this important position. Click here to learn more about the Farm Institute. If you want to learn more about the woman who is determined to get local farmers’ food onto the shelves at ALL of the grocery stores in our county, read on.
Molly started her farming career as an environmental educator for urban populations in the Bay Area, which transitioned into school garden work and teaching high school kids about food production and nutrition. “I’ve always been interested in how food and farming connect people to the environment and each other,” says Molly. “The role of the dinner table in working towards a more sustainable planet – its’ such a powerful place to connect kids to food and each other.”
After completing a Farm and Garden apprenticeship at UC Santa Cruz, she moved to Nevada County and started Dinner Bell Farm, where she now raises pigs and grows flowers. She got connected with the farming community in Nevada County working for the UC Cooperative Extension and learning from two people she calls “the best advisors in all of California” (Roger Ingram and Cindy Fake). After three years of supporting local commercial farmers and ranchers (and six years of running her own farm), Molly is ready to take Sierra Harvest’s farmer training program to the next level. Molly has big plans: “Our idea is not to have more farmers at the market, our goal is to push the boundaries of how people access food from farms, like locally grown food at traditional grocery stores. Sierra Harvest can help broker those agreements, and fill in the education gaps for consumers and producers.”
Molly has become an integral part of our local farming community in her own right, and Sierra Harvest is delighted to have her as part of our team. If you or someone you know are interested in a career in agriculture, be sure to check out the Farm Institute. We are now accepting applications for our Farm Crew agriculture training program and Farm Biz business skills course. We also need support from the community to find more farmland. If you’ve got land suitable for agriculture, get in touch! You can reach Molly at molly@sierraharvest.org.