Fertile Ground Farm
Our 2022 Team
We are a mix of full time and seasonal workers, passionate about growing beautiful vegetables for a community we love.
Angie Koch
Owner/Farm Manager
For Angie, Fertile Ground has been an exciting venture into the world of farm entrepreneurship. With an educational and professional background in community development, Angie made a shift towards the life of vegetable-growing in 2007. Favourite farm tasks include basket weeding, trellising tomatoes, watering the greenhouse, and chatting with members at CSA pick-ups. Angie loves getting her hands dirty & is kinda proud when the grit just won’t come out from under her fingernails. When not in the fields or wrestling spreadsheets, she can likely be found strumming her banjo, sipping a craft brew, puttering in her kitchen, peering through binoculars for local birds, or shamelessly reading a novel in a sunbeam.
Lara Jerome
Field Manager
Lara is inspired by the power of food and our relationship to food for creating healthy communities. Since 2013, she's worked in a diversity of environments where people and food connect: on farms, food policy councils, in community gardens and with local food producers and retailers in Waterloo Region and Perth County. Her favourite tasks at Fertile Ground are pruning tomatoes, harvesting salad, and introducing team members to new crops. Lara manages our off-season distribution, with the goal of increasing access to local veggies through the colder months. This includes a Winter CSA, Spring Greens shares and - new in 2022 - Fall Fresh Boxes with salad-friendly veggies Nov-Dec.
Mark Missio
Mark's constant curiosity and interest in community building first led him to a career as a library technician. He then discovered a love of farming with an internship at the Working Centre Market Garden in 2019, and continued there as both a volunteer and seasonal staff member. For him, nothing can beat farming: it's challenging, rewarding, and best of all, there's always more to learn! Mark enjoys seeing how food brings a community together, and feels grateful to help produce something that people find meaningful. He has also been known to get excited about turnips. At home, he is often experimenting with cooking and fermentation, reading, or enjoying a so-bad-its-good movie with his cats.
Jessica Amacher
Jessica thrives in outdoor environments where she is able to learn from the world around her. In the past, Jessica focused on restoring lands through planting initiatives to aid in supplying habitat for local wildlife. With a background in City Studies and Geography from studying at University of Toronto, Jessica enjoys delving deep into urban social issues. The availability of fresh, locally grown food sources can be a challenge in urban settings and Jessica wants to be part of the solution. An advocate for the environment and naturalist at heart, Jessica loves getting her hands dirty. 2022 is Jess' 3rd year at Fertile Ground where she is our Infrastructure Lead and can often be found surrounded by piles of tools, bits of wood, ladder, various pieces of plastic & metal and her cell phone, MacGyvering solutions for the many things that need building & fixing around here!
Maria Dueck
Maria values quality, local food and is excited to join Fertile Ground's mission to provide organic nutrition for the community and inspire others to get excited about their food. She is completing her undergraduate degree in nursing at McMaster University. When not in class or at the hospital, she loves spending time in nature, going on bike rides with her family and trying new recipes, like fermented sauerkraut and ginger beer. She has a passion for organic gardening and is interested in different practices, such as permaculture and food forests. Maria looks forward to challenging herself in this new environment and expanding her skills in this field.
Rebecca King
Rebecca is excited to share her passion for nature and sustainable living with Fertile Ground Farm again this season. A graduate from the University of Waterloo with a BSc in Environmental Science, she strives to apply her knowledge and experience in her day-to-day life. Past work experiences include working on an apple orchard and inside a research greenhouse. An avid naturalist, her hobbies include hiking, foraging Ontario’s flora, and tapping her maple trees for sap each year. A previous nature interpreter, Rebecca loves being able to share her expertise of local wildlife, especially with the next generation. In her spare time, she enjoys reading, baking, and crafting.
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