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.
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.
Ford Waterstrat Jack of Four Farms
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.