Friends Who Grow Food {Week 7 CSA}

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Jul 14, 2022
4 min read

The days are getting hot and yet our team is cooler than ever! Cool cats, that is. Meet the fantastic folks growing your food this season!

Our peak season crew changes each year, despite us wishing we could keep everyone here all year long. It works well, however, as we've shaped our work offering into an in-depth learning opportunity for aspiring farmers. There aren't many regenerative market farms in climates as unique as ours, so we've welcomed much interest in this chance to be incubated as a high desert farmer.

Your CSA, nor any of our nourishing harvests, would be possible without this tireless crew. They arrive on frozen mornings in April and keep pace on sweltering July afternoons. They bring a youthful zest to each day, make laughter the soundtrack to farm tasks, and are hopeful about what truly sustainable relations with the soil hold for their generation and the ones to follow.

Give it up for your Prema Farmers!

CASSIDY CASE has been with us since she interned over the 2018 winter. She was still a student at Evergreen University in Washington, but native to Reno. When she graduated, we scooped her up as quickly as we could! Cass is our Farm Manager and she ensures operations are smooth and interns are well-directed.

Why You Farm: Farming continues to replenish me emotionally even when I'm physically tired. It's fulfilling and grounding all at once.

Favorite Farm Task: Harvesting herbs! It's an enjoyable sensory experience.

Surprising Fact: I nearly had perfect pitch in high school when I played the violin.

Favorite Prema Veggie: I really am enjoying the fragrant herbs we're harvesting and I put them in about everything.

KAYLA DE LANCEY was an intern last year and stayed on with us to farm and run many a project! Beyond being a guide for our several interns this season, she is also the Manager of the Riverside Farmers Market and the Director of the Reno Mobile Market.

Why You Farm: Because I’m passionate about sustainable agriculture and building a strong foodshed

Favorite Farm Task: Harvesting potatoes

Surprising Fact: I’ll catch everything you throw at me

Favorite Prema Veggie: Our carrots raw

and straight out of the ground

CLAIRE DAVIS joined our intern team this year after working as an Environmental Engineer. She caught the 'farm bug' and couldn't stop thinking about regenerative farming as a new profession. Her partner lives in Reno and when she caught wind of our intern program... she couldn't resist.

Why You Farm: Because I want to be as close to the earth as possible, all of the time.

Favorite Farm Task: Watering the compost pile

Surprising Fact: I am a closeted cat lady

Favorite Prema Veggie: New potatoes on homemade pizza (with homemade goat cheese and pesto please!)

DEL MARTING joined our intern team to prepare for farming his family's land in South Reno. He's farmed in the past, including planting trees in Bali, but this internship begins his first journey into high-production desert farming.

Why You Farm: I'm drawn to deeply rooted traditions and appreciate how farming is one of the most ancient professions one can pursue.

Favorite Farm Task: Planting Surprising Fact: I'm a self-taught drummer.

Favorite Prema Veggie: Tomatoes. I eat them like apples.

JUSTICE TILMAN joined our intern team after working on a farm in his hometown of Boulder City, NV in the past and moving up to our area for UNR. He brings a gentle kindness and an eye for detail to the farm

Why You Farm: Because it gives me hope for the future.

Favorite Farm Task: Amending the beds.

Surprising Fact: I have two plumerias tattooed behind my ear.

Favorite Prema Veggie: Arugula and turnips raw in a salad.

DAVID LONGO had a colorful career as a bartender, general manager, and teacher before deciding that farming was calling the loudest. He joined Prema to manage our off-site operations and is willing and able to do it all. When he isn't learning how to rewire greenhouses, or being chased by mischievous farm fairies, he's making everyone on the team laugh.

Why You Farm: To better myself and my community

Favorite Farm Task: Pulling weeds.

Surprising Fact: I can eat at least half a horse in one sitting.

Favorite Prema Veggie: Turnips cooked in butter. Sprinkle of S&P

ZACH CANNADY is co-founder and the heartbeat of our operations, fixer of all things broken, and vault of the immense farming knowledge acquired over the years. Zach's undaunted optimism and endless energy are the reason Prema Farm exists. He built our essential infrastructure nearly by himself in the winter of 2017, learned how to farm from the internet, and has been supplying us with a steady stream of salad greens (and beyond) ever since!

Why You Farm: Because it's the greatest offering I could give to our community and our society.

Favorite Farm Task: Seeding trays

Surprising Fact: I backpacked across the world in my twenties

Favorite Prema Veggie: Red cherry tomatoes

KASEY CRISPIN is co-founder and the digital maven on the farm. She runs all online operations, marketing, and customer relations. She balances her time on the computer with managing the flower operation on the farm. She also started and runs the Riverside Farmers Market so we have a place to sell our harvests in the winter.

Why You Farm: Because food is the nexus of our own health and our journey back to balanced relations with nature.

Favorite Farm Task: Harvesting cosmo flowers (and watching the bees sleep inside of them!)

Surprising Fact: I dropped out of medical school to pursue farming as a means of healing

Favorite Prema Veggie: These days I'm really loving the microgreens in pretty much everything.

FARM FAIRIES Anjali May and Rishi Lou are also an integral part of our team. They lead our quality control efforts and personally test everything that gets harvested (often before anyone else!). They specialize in ladybug relocation and the classic compost pile climb-jump-roll maneuver.

Thanks for getting to know Team Prema! We couldn't be out here doing what we love if it wasn't for your loyal support and encouragement!