About me

In 2013, I moved back to Massachusetts with my future husband to start a small vegetable farm on leased land.

We had met farming in Vermont and after years of working on farms we were passionate about growing nourishing food for and in community. After only one season, we had to leave our leased land and without access to farmland turned to a new chapter in our lives.

I began working at Equal Exchange, a company almost as old as myself that had been working to create a more just food system since the early 1980s. I stayed on for nearly seven years, working to import produce from democratically operated farmer cooperatives in Latin America, and seeing first hand the struggles that small farmers face on a global scale.

Although the work was important, it was not where my heart was. I had never wanted to leave farming. My passion was in creating not global but local solutions, vibrant community and rebuilding a culture of connection and respect. 

I was stuck though. With no access to land or capital I could hardly start another farm or any business for that matter. I felt like all I could do was watch a world that did not care for its inhabitants, and lament a food system built on exploitation and oppression.

One day I was out in my backyard garden thinking of this as I often would, and a vision came to me. I saw myself and my garden as one shoot, pushing through the surface with roots reaching below the surface, connected like a rhizome reaching out to other backyards, some where there were shoots already and others that had yet to emerge.

It was so obvious. This was our food system, not acres upon acres of stripped land and tunnels full of hydroponics. It was us. Whether in other backyards, or community gardens or small farms. 

I thought to myself, I may not have land to farm, but I know how to help things grow, how to transition a yard into an abundant garden and how to care for the earth in my own way.

So in that moment Emergence Gardens was born. The name was inspired by Entschtanning, the name of the 12 day festival celebrating the coming of spring in a branch of my Pennsylvania Dutch ancestral tradition. Those ancestors grew with the land for many generations before being led to the cities and losing the connection with their roots. The word means emerging, and to me it is the very act of the sprout breaking the surface.

The Emergence officially started in January of 2022, supporting gardeners through healthy organic plants, seeds and 1-1 as well as group classes. The following March, I signed a lease with our local land trust, DNRT to steward another emergence at the Helfand Farm. 

Emergence Gardens is still in it's infancy, and is ever-evolving to be in closer alignment with what is needed on our beautiful planet. Currently, we are home to:

The Emergence Farm Project 

A micro-local farm growing fruits, vegetables, flowers, herbs & cuttings with reverence for our beautiful planet using only no-till and natural methods on 2 acres of preserved farmland. 

&

The ABC Farmshare

A community endeavor where members and growers work together to create a sustainable and vibrant local food system.   

You can email me here: connect@emergencegardens.com