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Astrid Castillo
Co-Director, Director of Education Born in Kiskeya/Ayiti (Dominican Republic), Astrid was introduced to soil & plant magic by their grandfather. Astrid has a close connection to liberatory land movements and is a community organizer, educator, soil steward, a campesina, artist, abolitionist, community herbalist, futurist, and weaver. Their politic is informed by legacies of land-stewards and growing up in the states, leading them to work in both sustainable urban and rural farms in Montana, New Jersey and throughout the Finger Lakes region in New York. Following their passion for youth mentorship and activism, Astrid became the Director of Education at the Youth Farm Project where they utilize their knowledge and experiences to create liberatory land-based curriculums, social justice youth programs, and community education Knowledge Shares. Organizing communities around land-based healing via food sovereignty, community resilience, housing justice, mushroom cultivation, herbal medicine, plant ID, basket weaving, and dream tracking are some of the ways in which they share their deep commitment to liberation and freedom. Central to this work is the dismantlement of barriers that surround land-based healing, as she helps others acknowledge their own power in becoming stewards of the natural and social environment. Honoring ancestral interconnectedness to land, Astrid’s work reinforces the power that Black and Brown folks have to shape culture, community and thus shape change. |
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Katie Church
Co-Director, Director of Administration Katie (she/her) co-founded YFP in the winter of 2009, and has been with the program ever since. Katie works as development coordinator and provides administrative and jack-of-all trades support for all programming. Katie comes from a small-farming background, and has worked in the local food system for 20+ years. Katie's passion for the powerful voices of young people, and her love for the land, drive her commitment to the Youth Farm Project. Katie grew up in the Ithaca area, and is raising her own family here. For much of her life, Katie's work has centered around food, from working on farms, to managing a large CSA, to working as a chef. Katie's work with the Youth Farm Project ties all of these passions together. |
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Elizabeth Coakley
Farm Manager Liz (she/her) moved to Ithaca in 2005, and began working on local vegetable farms. She spent the next decade+ learning from the local farm community about sustainable farming practices. Liz had a near-brush with YFP while managing the farm at Wood's Earth Living Classroom before the two projects joined forces! Most recently, Liz was the Incubator Farm Manager at Groundswell Center for Local Food and Farming, where she supported beginning farmers to adapt to the Ithaca climate and start or expand farm businesses and projects. Liz is inspired by equitable land access, finding joy in the hard work of growing food, and spending time with humans and other animals. |
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Leila Kiraz
Farm Assistant Leila (they/them) is a body moved by the power of growing your own food and medicine. They are deeply motivated by what happens after harvest- knowing that local food and plant medicine are absolutely crucial transformative tools for people living with disease and unease, disability, burnout, and chronic illness. Leila sees land-based practices as a tool that can uncover expanded possibilities for interpersonal relationships and the ways we relate to one another. They are always excited to connect to and through the land with others. |
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Rose Fleurant
Farm and Program Assistant Rose (we/us/ours) brings a natural ease and fluency to learning and connecting the dots between a formal education and what occurs on the farm for students. Rose’s interests range from advocacy to social justice, youth and development and seasonal biodiversity- how plants and animals operate during a given season- why do evergreens remain green during the winter? Rose enjoys working with youth and the elderly and brings a wide range of knowledge both in agriculture and animal husbandry. Rose enjoys working on the land and having conversations, music, chasing rainbows, and frolicking |
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Maryam Adib
Art Program Coordinator Maryam (she/her) is an emerging artist working in Albany, NY and Ithaca, NY. She graduated from the SUNY Cortland BFA program in May 2020. Maryam is a multidisciplinary artist working primarily in oil paint, gauche and screenprinting. She also works in public art, with four original murals in Ithaca, NY. Her art centers around themes of social and environmental justice, exploration of the self and the unconscious/ conscious mind. Maryam believes the artist can be the catalyst to creating and manifesting what society needs in order to heal. Whether that means creating beauty, dispelling myths, spreading messages or just creating joy. |
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Lechandre Mix
Chef Lechandre (she/her) is an artist, a free spirit, a lover of authentic and purposeful human connection. With adventure always calling her and the perpetual eagerness to learn and grow, she is always ready to jump in to something new. And that pertains to cooking as well. Never afraid of trying something unfamiliar at least once, she strives for every meal to be exciting and bold (and delicious :) ) She learned how to cook on her own and is excited to spread the joy she found in it to others. She believes that like music, good food is a connector. It can be something that is able to gather people together, creating a space that allows for exciting and bold conversation. |
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Ezra Baptist
SJI Program Coordinator Ezra (he/they) has lived in Ithaca since he was two years old and has been involved with the Youth Farm Program since 2017. He has worked in our Teen Summer Program as a crew member and a crew leader. He is now a coordinator for the Social Justice Immersion program where he teaches about farming, race, justice, philosophy and self-governance. He hopes to pass on what he learned to the next generation of Youth Farm Project leaders. |
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Gil Menda
Beekeeper Gil (he/him) is our honeybee educator and mentor. Gil inherited this tradition of beekeeping education from his grandfather and kept bees with his father in Israel, where he grew his first honey business. He has a masters degree in honeybee behavior from Hebrew University and a PhD in neuroscience from Cornell. He and Naama now manage Gil’s Honeybees, a small family owned apiary in Ithaca, NY. Him and his family love to work with honeybees! They make sure the bees are happy and healthy all year-long and in return get millions of dedicated workers producing high quality pesticide-free raw honey, pollen, and beeswax. The honey they get is all natural – from the beehive directly to the jar. |
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Stephen Nunley
Bookkeeper Many years ago Stephen (he/him) sidestepped a career as a junior high math teacher to become a modern dancer. Over the years he danced with a variety of companies and choreographers around the world, most notably with Rachel Lampert & Dancers during the 80's and early 90's, and Jane Comfort & Company from 1995 thru 2004. He arrived in Ithaca in 2004, serving as the the Managing Director of the Kitchen Theatre Company thru 2020. He is currently working part-time as the bookkeeper for Groundswell Center and the Youth Farm Project. |
Past core team members
We are grateful to those who have been part of our core team over the years and showed love and dedication to the Youth Farm Project and its mission:
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Ann Piombino, Co-founder, Farm Manager and Educator, 2009 - 2020
Natalia Rathbun, Assistant Farm Manager, 2019 - 2020 Christa Nunez, Manager of Fresh Snack Program, 2018 - 2020 Laura Arias, Farm and Social Justice Educator, 2017 - 2019 Rafael Aponte, Executive Director, 2016 - 2018 Vanessa Wood, Manager of Fresh Snack Program, 2010 - 2018 Zale Hutchington, Assistant Farm Manager, 2018 Rayna Joyce, Assistant Farm Manager, 2017 Joseph Amsili, Assistant Farm Manager, 2013 - 2014, 2016 Simon Warhaft, Assistant Farm Manager, 2014 - 2015 |
