The Hands That Grow Your Food

For Angie, Fertile Ground is an exciting venture into the world of farm entrepreneurship. Although university-educated in the social services, with five years of community development experience behind her, Angie started shifting towards the world of vegetable-growing through a season of WWOOFing and 3 years of doing urban agriculture work for The Working Centre. Her rural explorations continued during the 2007 season which she spent as a CRAFT intern at Everdale Organic Farm & Environmental Learning Centre. She’s now embracing the next challenge of starting her own market garden business. Angie loves getting her hands dirty & is proud when the grit just won’t come out from under her fingernails. When not in the fields or behind her computer, Angie can be found dancing blues or lindy hop, puttering around her kitchen, tossing a disc, or shamelessly tormenting her cat.



Photo: Early-morning spinach harvest

Taarini works as Assistant Editor for Alternatives Journal, but joins us for evening & weekend farming most weeks. Taarini worked at Chick-a-biddy Acres near Peterborough for the 2006 season and has done plenty of her own backyard and indoor growing. She's an avid potter, a local food activist, and the creative hands behind our logo.



Photo: Getting the 2008 eggplant started

Karin has worked for nearly a decade in the non-profit sector, with a focus on community development, social justice and urban agriculture. She has been training as an herbalist since 1999, and operates a small natural herbal business called Homestead Herbals. Karin has been a vegetarian for nearly 20 years and has a passion for cooking & catering, emphasizing a seasonal, organic menu using fresh whole foods. When not tending the garden or browsing at the local farmer’s market, she can often be found baking delectable vegan treats for her other business Wildflour Baking or hosting guests at Little City Farm Bed & Breakfast with her partner Greg. In addition to working in the fields, Karin is the creative fingers behind many of our newsletters & the gracious host of our drop-offs at Little City Farm.



Photo: Showing off a heritage variety black tomato

> Ruth is figuring out what to do with her life while she finishes up a Peace and Conflict Studies diploma over at Conrad Grebel and dreams about being back in eastern Africa. While she’s doing that figuring, she’s filling her days with all of her favourite things, like:

• Baking bread, having the lovely process fill an afternoon
• Wandering around the park with an old camera and an extra roll of film in her pocket
• Writing letters (the ink and paper kind) to faraway friends
• Watching foreign films from the library with her partner Krystan
• Getting excited about getting her fingers in the dirt on the farm!

Sarah - with the occasional accompaniment of her daughters Hannah & Kira - helps with pretty much every Tuesday harvest. Although she has a huge backyard garden of her own to tend, she's been making time every week to come out & transplant, seed, harvest or do whatever else needs doing. When not in one garden or another, Sarah teaches science, runs the girls to school and swimming lessons, and bakes A LOT of muffins (which she generously shares!)



Photo: Harvesting salad mix.

There's a lot of dirty hands behind your food...



Photo: The greenhouse framing crew, end of day.