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farm participants & Alumni
Ellie Duncan
Farm manger and co-founder. Center for Community Learning Program Coordinator.
Hey there! I'm Ellie, I run City Sprouts Farm through my work at the Center for Community Learning at WWU. I grew up in the Bitterroot Valley of Montana (Séliš territory) where fell in love with vegetable farming as a teenager. My desire to connect deeply with place led me to work on vegetable farms across the region and to study sustainable food systems and wilderness studies at the University of Montana. I moved to the PNW in 2016 and since then I’ve been working in local food systems and chasing farm magic with my little red dog, Freya. It has been a privilege and a delight to dedicate my time to sharing the joy of farming with this community and to help cultivate the next generation of farmers. When I'm not farming I love to spend my time looking for new swimming holes, making pottery, or foraging the forest or seaside for treasures.
Hey there! I'm Ellie, I run City Sprouts Farm through my work at the Center for Community Learning at WWU. I grew up in the Bitterroot Valley of Montana (Séliš territory) where fell in love with vegetable farming as a teenager. My desire to connect deeply with place led me to work on vegetable farms across the region and to study sustainable food systems and wilderness studies at the University of Montana. I moved to the PNW in 2016 and since then I’ve been working in local food systems and chasing farm magic with my little red dog, Freya. It has been a privilege and a delight to dedicate my time to sharing the joy of farming with this community and to help cultivate the next generation of farmers. When I'm not farming I love to spend my time looking for new swimming holes, making pottery, or foraging the forest or seaside for treasures.
Sam Schmidt
Farm Assistant
Ecological Agriculture and Climate Leadership
Tiny Farm co-founder
Hello!
My name is Sam, I have been engaged with City Sprouts Farm since the spring of 2023, and have enjoyed two full farm seasons there. I found myself at City Sprouts in a serendipitous moment, right as I was going back to school. An interest in food systems and a curiosity about different farming techniques is what led me back to school and consequently to City Sprouts Farm, however what I found there includes much more. Although understanding food systems and different modalities of agriculture is still a big interest of mine, I am now driven to learn more about food insecurity, radical forms of community support and mutual aid, and how agriculture can be the context in which I practice living my values each and every day.
City Sprouts has also allowed me to engage with and explore my connection to place and community in a way I didn’t know was possible. Getting to know the family of cooper's hawks nesting in the cottonwoods, the anna’s hummingbirds living in the alders, the jumping spider hiding in the greenhouse, have all allowed me to see myself within place. I cherish the time I get to spend at City Sprouts, continuing to get to know the space each year.
City Sprouts and Ellie have been a place of support, learning, and immense growth, and I am so thankful to have this as a place I can continue to return to. I have gained lifetime friends, physical and mental wellbeing, an immense amount of experiential knowledge, and spiritual wellbeing.
Ecological Agriculture and Climate Leadership
Tiny Farm co-founder
Hello!
My name is Sam, I have been engaged with City Sprouts Farm since the spring of 2023, and have enjoyed two full farm seasons there. I found myself at City Sprouts in a serendipitous moment, right as I was going back to school. An interest in food systems and a curiosity about different farming techniques is what led me back to school and consequently to City Sprouts Farm, however what I found there includes much more. Although understanding food systems and different modalities of agriculture is still a big interest of mine, I am now driven to learn more about food insecurity, radical forms of community support and mutual aid, and how agriculture can be the context in which I practice living my values each and every day.
City Sprouts has also allowed me to engage with and explore my connection to place and community in a way I didn’t know was possible. Getting to know the family of cooper's hawks nesting in the cottonwoods, the anna’s hummingbirds living in the alders, the jumping spider hiding in the greenhouse, have all allowed me to see myself within place. I cherish the time I get to spend at City Sprouts, continuing to get to know the space each year.
City Sprouts and Ellie have been a place of support, learning, and immense growth, and I am so thankful to have this as a place I can continue to return to. I have gained lifetime friends, physical and mental wellbeing, an immense amount of experiential knowledge, and spiritual wellbeing.
Kumiko Juker
Public Relations and Journalism
2024 Farm Crew
I once was asked by a professor, looking for environmental journalists, if I cared about the
environment. My answer was that I did, but not in any special or meaningful way. After being at
City Sprouts Farm for the summer, my answer would be completely different— I could never be
so neutral about the vitality and vitalness of our environment. Getting to plant, grow, touch, and
eat food provided by this Earth, and that I and my companions tended, was life-changing in a
way I can only hope more people get to experience at some point in their lives. I learned
everything from the very basics of what family each vegetable is from to sustainable agriculture
practices, seed saving, and the complications that go into food access. Without this opportunity I
would be infinitely less connected to what I eat, and I believe I would be less connected to the
people around me. Each farm we toured offered a unique perspective, and as a Japanese
person I got to meet two Japanese farmers who really illuminated for me what opportunities
exist and what challenges there are as a farmer and business owner of color. I am so sad that
my time at the farm is up, but I’ve been telling everyone about it in the hopes that they’ll also get
to experience the wonder and hard work and community that comes from urban farming. I never
would’ve known any of this, if not for my time at City Sprouts.
2024 Farm Crew
I once was asked by a professor, looking for environmental journalists, if I cared about the
environment. My answer was that I did, but not in any special or meaningful way. After being at
City Sprouts Farm for the summer, my answer would be completely different— I could never be
so neutral about the vitality and vitalness of our environment. Getting to plant, grow, touch, and
eat food provided by this Earth, and that I and my companions tended, was life-changing in a
way I can only hope more people get to experience at some point in their lives. I learned
everything from the very basics of what family each vegetable is from to sustainable agriculture
practices, seed saving, and the complications that go into food access. Without this opportunity I
would be infinitely less connected to what I eat, and I believe I would be less connected to the
people around me. Each farm we toured offered a unique perspective, and as a Japanese
person I got to meet two Japanese farmers who really illuminated for me what opportunities
exist and what challenges there are as a farmer and business owner of color. I am so sad that
my time at the farm is up, but I’ve been telling everyone about it in the hopes that they’ll also get
to experience the wonder and hard work and community that comes from urban farming. I never
would’ve known any of this, if not for my time at City Sprouts.
Aeryn Garvisch
Environmental Studies & French
2024 summer-fall intern
Interning at City Sprouts Farm during the summer of 2024 was an invaluable experience for me. I learned about City Sprouts when I was seeking really any work experience in the agriculture industry to accompany my studies at Western Washington University; though City Sprouts is certainly not just any farm. Ellie and all of the farmers that have worked here share a profound devotion to the land and to our local communities. The farm is rooted in attentive, loving care and recognition of the interdependencies of people and our environment. Dedicating such attention to enriching the plant, animal, and microbe communities that support myself and us all, as well as feeding the people in my community directly, affordably, and heathfully is what made the experience so invaluable. Working here I learned practical farm skills and ethical agribusiness models that I am excited to take with me as I grow beyond university. I hope to sow the legacy of City Sprouts Farm everywhere I may walk as they are seedlings for a lush, green, and equitable future. That being said, City Sprouts farmers do an indispensable service for our community members today, filling hungry bellies with the most delicious veggies you’ll ever taste. Seriously!
2024 summer-fall intern
Interning at City Sprouts Farm during the summer of 2024 was an invaluable experience for me. I learned about City Sprouts when I was seeking really any work experience in the agriculture industry to accompany my studies at Western Washington University; though City Sprouts is certainly not just any farm. Ellie and all of the farmers that have worked here share a profound devotion to the land and to our local communities. The farm is rooted in attentive, loving care and recognition of the interdependencies of people and our environment. Dedicating such attention to enriching the plant, animal, and microbe communities that support myself and us all, as well as feeding the people in my community directly, affordably, and heathfully is what made the experience so invaluable. Working here I learned practical farm skills and ethical agribusiness models that I am excited to take with me as I grow beyond university. I hope to sow the legacy of City Sprouts Farm everywhere I may walk as they are seedlings for a lush, green, and equitable future. That being said, City Sprouts farmers do an indispensable service for our community members today, filling hungry bellies with the most delicious veggies you’ll ever taste. Seriously!
Isaias Torres
Biology
2024 Farm Crew
2024 Farm Crew
Stella Sterk
Environmental Studies
2024 Farm Crew
My time at City Sprouts this spring and summer has been, without a doubt, the most important experience I have had at college, and even in my life. It is hard to describe what makes City Sprouts so special. There is just this feeling you get when you walk through the gate, and suddenly everything feels like it is going to be ok. No matter what is going on in the world, the farm always grounds me and reminds me to appreciate the beauty and vibrancy of life that surrounds us. I have learned so much about farming and food systems at the farm, but more than that it has shown me what it means to see myself as a part of the world. To participate in stewarding the land and building community and connect with something that humans have been doing since the beginning of time. And to understand that as an essential part of what makes me human.
Something I think about a lot when I think about the farm is how it has taught me to be a leader. I never used to see myself as a leader, because to me that meant telling people what to do and always having the answers. It was never a role that I desired or felt that I could fill. But the farm is a space where we truly are all learning, and where nothing is ever static. It is a space of reciprocity where leadership comes very naturally to all of us, where we are all working towards a common goal and where everyone has something to contribute in their own way. Leadership at the farm does not come from a place of control and power, but from a place of care, cooperation and understanding. It feels like this infectious excitement, where when one of us gets excited about an idea, it spreads to the rest of us, and we each find something we want to contribute.
It is hard to single out specific memories from this summer that feel the most important. I have so many of them, and so many are just the littlest things. To me the essence of City Sprouts is in checking on the watermelon every day, stopping to show each other the spider or caterpillar we found, the morning check-ins that turned into hour-long yaps without us realizing, the giant purple radish and goth sunflowers. It is the little things that we shared and found collective joy and meaning in.
2024 Farm Crew
My time at City Sprouts this spring and summer has been, without a doubt, the most important experience I have had at college, and even in my life. It is hard to describe what makes City Sprouts so special. There is just this feeling you get when you walk through the gate, and suddenly everything feels like it is going to be ok. No matter what is going on in the world, the farm always grounds me and reminds me to appreciate the beauty and vibrancy of life that surrounds us. I have learned so much about farming and food systems at the farm, but more than that it has shown me what it means to see myself as a part of the world. To participate in stewarding the land and building community and connect with something that humans have been doing since the beginning of time. And to understand that as an essential part of what makes me human.
Something I think about a lot when I think about the farm is how it has taught me to be a leader. I never used to see myself as a leader, because to me that meant telling people what to do and always having the answers. It was never a role that I desired or felt that I could fill. But the farm is a space where we truly are all learning, and where nothing is ever static. It is a space of reciprocity where leadership comes very naturally to all of us, where we are all working towards a common goal and where everyone has something to contribute in their own way. Leadership at the farm does not come from a place of control and power, but from a place of care, cooperation and understanding. It feels like this infectious excitement, where when one of us gets excited about an idea, it spreads to the rest of us, and we each find something we want to contribute.
It is hard to single out specific memories from this summer that feel the most important. I have so many of them, and so many are just the littlest things. To me the essence of City Sprouts is in checking on the watermelon every day, stopping to show each other the spider or caterpillar we found, the morning check-ins that turned into hour-long yaps without us realizing, the giant purple radish and goth sunflowers. It is the little things that we shared and found collective joy and meaning in.
Parker Eckardt
Environmental Studies & Spanish
2024 Intern
I joined City Sprouts as an intern in the fall of 2024 and couldn’t be more grateful for the lovely community that I was welcomed into! Arriving at the tail end of the season meant that I was able to jump into the culmination of months (years, even!) of hard work and love for this land + these people. While Ellie really helped me to get oriented and filled in gaps in my knowledge, most of my learning came from the other students in the farm crew who have shared such treasured learning experiences, stories, struggles, and more. With my ENVS emphasis in Justice and Community Resilience, this farm work really hasn’t felt like work, but instead an invaluable learning space for us to connect with the community, the land, and with one another. After the farm shut down for the season, I’ve been working with Ellie on beginning a food assessment research project for the Puget neighborhood, which has been an eye-opening experience that takes on a totally different approach to learning about community food access. I’m endlessly excited to hopefully continue this internship in Spring 2025 and to see how everything gets started!
2024 Intern
I joined City Sprouts as an intern in the fall of 2024 and couldn’t be more grateful for the lovely community that I was welcomed into! Arriving at the tail end of the season meant that I was able to jump into the culmination of months (years, even!) of hard work and love for this land + these people. While Ellie really helped me to get oriented and filled in gaps in my knowledge, most of my learning came from the other students in the farm crew who have shared such treasured learning experiences, stories, struggles, and more. With my ENVS emphasis in Justice and Community Resilience, this farm work really hasn’t felt like work, but instead an invaluable learning space for us to connect with the community, the land, and with one another. After the farm shut down for the season, I’ve been working with Ellie on beginning a food assessment research project for the Puget neighborhood, which has been an eye-opening experience that takes on a totally different approach to learning about community food access. I’m endlessly excited to hopefully continue this internship in Spring 2025 and to see how everything gets started!
Greta Moses
Statistics
2024 Farm Crew
2024 Farm Crew
Kristy Matta
Environmental Justice and Climate Leadership
2024 Farm Intern
This summer I had the pleasure of interning as a farm hand at City Sprouts. While my time there was brief, the impact will likely last a lifetime. I got to meet some incredible and diverse human beings and gain an understanding of our food system from a lens I had never experienced. I have been passionate about cooking since childhood but never got the opportunity to see the kinds of work it took to get food into our kitchens. Farming takes hard work, diligent planning and expertise and I was able to experience that firsthand. The farmers growing our foods are faced with hard questions ranging from values to pests to economics every day. A special shoutout goes to Ellie Duncan for navigating those questions with tact and grace and for cultivating the magic that lies within the gates of City Sprouts. ( Of course an honorary mention to the farm pup, Freya for always keeping the vibes high and the cuteness levels at 10.)
2024 Farm Intern
This summer I had the pleasure of interning as a farm hand at City Sprouts. While my time there was brief, the impact will likely last a lifetime. I got to meet some incredible and diverse human beings and gain an understanding of our food system from a lens I had never experienced. I have been passionate about cooking since childhood but never got the opportunity to see the kinds of work it took to get food into our kitchens. Farming takes hard work, diligent planning and expertise and I was able to experience that firsthand. The farmers growing our foods are faced with hard questions ranging from values to pests to economics every day. A special shoutout goes to Ellie Duncan for navigating those questions with tact and grace and for cultivating the magic that lies within the gates of City Sprouts. ( Of course an honorary mention to the farm pup, Freya for always keeping the vibes high and the cuteness levels at 10.)
Carmen Truffat
Chemistry and Creative Writing
2024 Farm Crew
2024 Farm Crew
Kate Teele
Climate Leadership
2023 Farm Crew
Tiny Farm co-founder
My name is Kate Teele and I am a Fairhaven student at Western Washington University. The work I get to do at City Sprouts Farm is at the intersection of my three main interests as a student: environmental studies, climate leadership, and food systems studies. Having the chance to farm this summer with the rest of our farm crew has been such an enriching experience! Some of my favorite jobs around the farm include pruning plants for optimal growth, getting to harvest a plethora of delicious veggies, and building community over a shared commitment of reducing food insecurity. Outside of farming, I love cooking, swimming, spending time with my friends and family, and watching Gilmore Girls.
2023 Farm Crew
Tiny Farm co-founder
My name is Kate Teele and I am a Fairhaven student at Western Washington University. The work I get to do at City Sprouts Farm is at the intersection of my three main interests as a student: environmental studies, climate leadership, and food systems studies. Having the chance to farm this summer with the rest of our farm crew has been such an enriching experience! Some of my favorite jobs around the farm include pruning plants for optimal growth, getting to harvest a plethora of delicious veggies, and building community over a shared commitment of reducing food insecurity. Outside of farming, I love cooking, swimming, spending time with my friends and family, and watching Gilmore Girls.
Devon Cano
Environmental Studies
2024 Farm Intern
2024 Farm Intern
Hanna McEachern
Masters of Arts in Secondary Education
2023 Farm Crew
Hi! I'm Hanna. I'm from Bellingham and have spent my whole life trying to give back to our community. I am a grad student at WWU, studying my secondary education. Someday I hope to incorporate sustainable, small scale farming into my classrooms, so the farmers of our future can discover their own passion. My favorite part of working on farms this summer has been getting a front row seat to the process of growing, harvesting, and our food systems.
2023 Farm Crew
Hi! I'm Hanna. I'm from Bellingham and have spent my whole life trying to give back to our community. I am a grad student at WWU, studying my secondary education. Someday I hope to incorporate sustainable, small scale farming into my classrooms, so the farmers of our future can discover their own passion. My favorite part of working on farms this summer has been getting a front row seat to the process of growing, harvesting, and our food systems.
Iliana Bradley
Fairhaven College
2023 Farm Crew
Hello ! My name is Iliana, Beloveds call me Rabbit. I was born in the Rogue Valley, between the Cascade and Siskiyou passes, on the ancestral territories of the Latgawa and Takelma tribes. As a grower and caretaker, my renewed commitment is with Seed. As timekeepers, they compose and tell stories of rest, resistance, resilience, and recovery, even through migration, distubrance, and disaster. I came to seed work through questions about catastrophe, grief, and memory, which I explore(d) through the mediums of performance art and poetry. At Fairhaven College of Interdisciplinary Studies, I contend with these themes through the concentration "Decolonial Placemaking", where I explore networks of care and knowledge through relationships of difference, struggle, coherence, contradiction, and simultaneity. I believe in a world where multiple (cosmo)(world) visions co-exist, and that change is intimate, localized to the body, its bioregion, and its beloveds. This intimacy, to me, is practiced in the every day-- pertinently, as it is practiced between my hands, seed, and soil. I feel dedicated to working with Urban Farms as an intervention and rennaration of care, access, and abundance. Through this work, we bring reverence and imagination into food systems which otherwise aim to divide and disposess by engaging time-honored relationships that regenerate agreements to self, community, and land.
2023 Farm Crew
Hello ! My name is Iliana, Beloveds call me Rabbit. I was born in the Rogue Valley, between the Cascade and Siskiyou passes, on the ancestral territories of the Latgawa and Takelma tribes. As a grower and caretaker, my renewed commitment is with Seed. As timekeepers, they compose and tell stories of rest, resistance, resilience, and recovery, even through migration, distubrance, and disaster. I came to seed work through questions about catastrophe, grief, and memory, which I explore(d) through the mediums of performance art and poetry. At Fairhaven College of Interdisciplinary Studies, I contend with these themes through the concentration "Decolonial Placemaking", where I explore networks of care and knowledge through relationships of difference, struggle, coherence, contradiction, and simultaneity. I believe in a world where multiple (cosmo)(world) visions co-exist, and that change is intimate, localized to the body, its bioregion, and its beloveds. This intimacy, to me, is practiced in the every day-- pertinently, as it is practiced between my hands, seed, and soil. I feel dedicated to working with Urban Farms as an intervention and rennaration of care, access, and abundance. Through this work, we bring reverence and imagination into food systems which otherwise aim to divide and disposess by engaging time-honored relationships that regenerate agreements to self, community, and land.
Sophia Robertson
Studio Art and History of Culture
2023 Farm Crew
Hi! My name is Sophia, I am a Studio Art and History of Culture major at WWU and I am from Livingston Montana. There are many things that I love about working on urban farms, but I think my favorite part is learning about food systems from such a unique perspective. Growing fresh produce in what some would deem unconventional spaces adds to the fun as well
2023 Farm Crew
Hi! My name is Sophia, I am a Studio Art and History of Culture major at WWU and I am from Livingston Montana. There are many things that I love about working on urban farms, but I think my favorite part is learning about food systems from such a unique perspective. Growing fresh produce in what some would deem unconventional spaces adds to the fun as well
Natalia DeBardeleben
Environmental Studies
2023 Farm Intern
2023 Farm Intern
Ruby Roebuck
Fairhaven College
2023-2024 Work Study
2023-2024 Work Study
Seda Foley
Law and Society
2022-2023 work study and intern
2022-2023 work study and intern
Clara Copley
Climate Leadership
2022 Farm intern
2022 Farm intern
Travis Tennessen
Farm-thuiast, bureaucracy-navigator, popsicle-bringer, Center for Community Learning Director
Years ago, a college student told me that they’d learned more in a week spent working on a farm than in the previous two years of college. For so many people, nothing compares with the hands-on, real-world, cooperative, creative, challenging work of farming as a way to learn about oneself and the world. I love being part of this important effort to support learning, food access and justice, and community-building.
Years ago, a college student told me that they’d learned more in a week spent working on a farm than in the previous two years of college. For so many people, nothing compares with the hands-on, real-world, cooperative, creative, challenging work of farming as a way to learn about oneself and the world. I love being part of this important effort to support learning, food access and justice, and community-building.
Laurel Hammond
Farm Auntie. Brings cookies and asks good questions. Center for Community Learning
Program Specialist.
At City Sprouts Farm, my role is all about learning alongside students as we explore what it takes to sustain a farm within a vibrant community, while also ensuring we have the resources needed to thrive. My favorite part of urban farming is seeing how it empowers students to connect with their food and cultivate meaningful relationships within the local community.
Program Specialist.
At City Sprouts Farm, my role is all about learning alongside students as we explore what it takes to sustain a farm within a vibrant community, while also ensuring we have the resources needed to thrive. My favorite part of urban farming is seeing how it empowers students to connect with their food and cultivate meaningful relationships within the local community.
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