Alison Causey
​Farmers' Market Warrior

​Alison, a former student of Dr. Amanda Waterstrat, loves studying interactions between the human body, food, and the land. Originally from Paint Lick, Kentucky, Alison moved to Laurel County as a teenager. When she isn’t selling goods at the London Farmers’ Market, chaperoning CSA shares to two Kentucky towns, or staking rows of tomatoes like a spear-thrower, you might see—or hear—Alison driving an ambulance through Whitley County, where she works as an EMT. In August, Alison hopes to matriculate into the Paramedic Program at Somerset Community College. After completing the program, Alison plans to pursue a career as a doctor, biomedical researcher, and sustainable farm owner. 

 Jesse McCandless
 Tinkerer and Thinker

​Jesse, our resident tinkerer and car flipper, joined the Sustainable Harvest team in May, after completing his junior year at Lindsey Wilson College, where he studies Sustainability and Energy Applications, as well as Recreation, Tourism, and Sports Management. Jesse’s desire to explore “off-the-grid living” (i.e., living in a one-person camper without daily access to the conveniences that most Americans enjoy), coupled with an interest in what a more sustainable interaction between people and the food they eat might look like, brought him to Sustainable Harvest. On a typical day, you’ll find him pulling up pigweed like a boss, designing more efficient systems for washing and packing CSA fare, and, at all times, acting as our on-site mechanic. More often than he’d like to admit, Jesse dreams of becoming an industrial hemp farmer. 

Fin Waterstrat 
​Expert Carrot Digger

Since he can remember, Fin has lived and worked on Sustainable Harvest Farm where he most enjoys the tasks of picking broccoli, approximately the size of his brother’s head, and of harvesting sweet, juicy melons. Though Fin enjoys cooked broccoli and dulcet melon, carrots are his favorite vegetables to eat in the raw. Fin can spot a perfect carrot from several feet away, and after two sterling tours in the carrot patch, he has earned the esteemed title of Expert Carrot Digger for his capacity to recognize, and harvest, the biggest, sweetest carrots for Sustainable Harvest CSA participants and farmers’ market patrons. This fall, Fin will take a much deserved break from the farm to begin kindergarten. ​

Meghann Hart
Greenhouse Goober

​Starting in May, Meghann, a former student of Ford Waterstrat, joined our team as a summer intern. A 2013 graduate of the University of Kentucky, she originally hails from Madison County, where her family raises beef cattle--and did raise tobacco, pre-Buyout. When Meghann isn’t picking strawberries or womanhandling cucumber beetles, she teaches English composition at Iowa State University and frantically writes pages for her graduate thesis.

Sean
Rebar Gladiator

Sean, a Clay County native, became part of the Sustainable Harvest team five years ago, when Ford offered him a few extra bucks to deconstruct two beaver dams down on the creek. After demolishing the beaver dams with the efficiency and thoroughness that continues to be a hallmark of his work, Sean became a more permanent fixture on the farm. At 16, Sean is not only the youngest member of our team, but one of the most skilled and knowledgeable. When he isn’t decimating weeds with a weed eater (his favorite task), or pushing a gnarly spike over rows of hot plastic, you’ll find Sean catching turtles, snakes, and other farm critters like a pro. In the future, Sean hopes to follow in the footsteps of Ford and run an organic farm of his own.

Ford Waterstrat
​Jack of Four Farms

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Ford, a former professional cyclist, schooled and trained as a Physical Education and Health educator, made the complete transition from desk to tractor this summer, after a 11.5 year teaching career.  Ford began to metamorphose as early as 2005, while working  at Elmwood Stock Farm, near his residence in Georgetown, Kentucky, where he came to love the daily challenges posed by farm work. By 2010, Ford sported callouses instead of gloves, and he and Amanda Waterstrat began to use their 16 acre farm in Laurel County to serve over 70 CSA members in London, Somerset, Richmond, and Lexington. As of 2016, Sustainable Harvest now serves over 100 CSA subscribers, and though the challenges of farming continue to propagate like weeds after a good rain and a dry spell, Ford still enjoys getting to know the land he farms better and adjusting his agricultural praxis, accordingly, to produce the loveliest and most nutrient-rich produce for his rapidly growing CSA family.

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