Who grows your food?

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• Andy Andrews, Farm Director
  Andy Andrews is the Farm Director at Pennypack Farm, a position he has held since coming to the farm in 2005. In this capacity, Andy manages the farm operations pertaining to crop and animal production, hires staff, formulates the agricultural budget, and oversees other farm projects as necessary.
  
  Andy began his farming career in 1996 after leaving a job in the health care field to move to Nova Scotia, Canada. There, he worked on an organic farm and sustainable forestry operation and learned the basics of farming, animal husbandry, logging and land management. He then spent several years working on several farms throughout the Northeast and was exposed to a broad range of agricultural practices. Before coming to Pennypack, Andy co-founded Colchester Farm CSA in Georgetown, Maryland and managed the growing operations there for several years.
  
  In addition to the above farming experience, Andy also worked for American Farmland Trust on agricultural land cost analysis, agricultural economic development, and agricultural economic impact studies. Andy holds a B.S. from the Virginia Military Institute and a M.S. from Antioch New England Graduate School.
   
• Fred Beddall, Farm Manager      
  Fred Beddall has been working on farms for over ten years, from Montana to Scotland. He has herded cattle and sheep on a 100 square mile ranch, and grown herbs for the White House in a half-acre suburban yard. He has failed to sell tomatoes at a roadside stand and has the dubious honor of introducing potato chips to the biggest farmer’s market in the mid-Atlantic. He has hand-weeded five acres of turnips while being bitten by midges, rebuilt a colonial-era farmhouse, and generally done whatever was necessary. Boy, has he had fun! Before that, Fred spent a decade toiling in the field of environmental politics, in California’s SF Bay Area. He gathered 100,000 signatures in store parking lots, made countless fundraising phone calls disturbing people at supper, and helped elect a few conservationists to run a water supply agency, among other things. That was after a college career spent smashing bottles at the campus recycling yard at Stanford.
  
  Fred hails from Washington, DC, where he first saw the light of day during the Eisenhower Administration. He is married to a lady who practices the hula hoop and lobbies Congress. They live in Willow Grove.   

• Dennis Reil, Farmer
   
  
• Jessica Gerani, Farmer 
  I am grateful to Pennypack Farm for giving me the opportunity to put my time and energy back into my community. It is imperative to me that my livelihood allows me this. Besides our group lunches, this winter I will remember with a fond heart the new friends that I made, hard work on a harvest day, and an everyday farm education. Many thanks to all! It was an amazing season for me!
  
  Until the spring I plan on volunteering with Everybody's Kitchen sharing food. A mobile kitchen under the non-profit umbrella of Common Ground Relief of New Orleans, LA, last winter Everybody's Kitchen spent six months in the Louisiana bayou sharing disaster relief meals with those whose lives were devastated by 2008 hurricanes Gustav and Ike. Previously sharing food in the Katrina zone, right now they are parked in West Virginia supporting those who are demonstrating against mountain top removal and destruction.  Donations have allowed them this privilege over the years, so I have no hesitation donating my time and energy in solidarity. Check out Everybody's Kitchen on facebook!

 Education and Administration:

• Raina Ainslie, Farm Educator
  Raina grew up in the hustle and bustle of New York City where she learned to appreciate small pieces of land tended by neighbors. She grew vegetables and herbs at her local community garden and taught at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden Children's Garden. This led her to SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry in Syracuse, New York where she earned a B.S. in Environmental Biology. Her main interests were plant biology, mycology, and entomology. She likes to think of herself as an ecologist, keeping her eyes open to the interconnectedness of the systems around us. Raina has been farming with Pennypack for two seasons. This year she will be leading educational programing on the farm. She can't wait to innoculate some mycorrhizal symbionts, and get kids to play in the dirt and eat veggies. She lives in Mt. Airy with her husband Zach, and several other young farmers.
   
• Margot Bradley, Administrative Director                          Local Foods Market Manager
  Margot is a founding member of Pennypack Farm. She was the first Board President and is now working at the farm half-time. In addition to working at the farm, Margot is a nurse-practitioner at Bryn Mawr College, United Cerebral Palsy Association and an adjunct faculty member in Immaculata University’s Nursing Department.
  
  Margot is a retired nurse-midwife. For many years, she worked at The Birth Center in Bryn Mawr. She learned about the CSA concept from clients. After visiting the Kimberton CSA in the mid-nineties, she was determined to help found a CSA farm in eastern Montgomery County. She wanted children to grow up knowing who grew their food and how it was grown. It is thrilling to for Margot to watch families return from the u-pick areas with baskets of berries and stained faces.

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