The Gardens of Eagan Team
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Linda Halley, Gardens of Eagan Farm ManagerOn
any single day Linda can be found fulfilling myriad roles on the farm.
From the field, monitoring the growth of our highest quality crops, to
the office, maintaining strong relationships with our customers, Linda
ensures that Garden's of Eagan's mission to provide for the people and
the land is being actualized. Everything about the Romanesco cauliflower: from its beautiful swirly minarets to the smooth nutty flavor that follows every bite makes it Linda's favorite food Linda encourages
everyone to plant a seed. No matter how modest the container or the
plant it contains, tending that first plant is the "gateway drug" to
becoming a farmer of your own food! |
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Mike Leck, Production and Harvest ManagerFrom seedling to harvest-ready crop, Mike is in charge of the plants and the people who pick them. Mike brings five seasons of experience and lots of natural talent to our solid farm team. The job that makes it all worth it for Mike is checking the watermelons on a blistering hot day, cutting into and tasting the juicy cool sweetness of the ripe red, orange and yellow fruit.
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Allen Philo, Field ManagerAllen came to the Midwest from a farm in West Virginia where he studied sustainable farming techniques, specifically soil preservation and fertility with vegetables, goats and forestry. While he does enjoy a perfect tomato, especially a large Amish heirloom variety, Allen’s true love is working with horses. |
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Susan Quigley, Pack-Shed CoordinatorSusan oversees the packing of produce, organizing each day's shipment and making sure everything sent to the cities is guaranteed to impress. She also took the reins of the Starter Plant enterprise at our off-site greenhouses east of Farmington. In between growing transplants and packing produce she is developing our Good Agricultural Practices manual and documenting our safe and sanitary harvest and packing systems. Susan hopes to continue learning new skills here at Garden's of Eagan to apply to her own farm one day. |
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John Middleton, Operations ManagerJohn Middleton traded his position as right hand of Roxbury Farm CSA in Kinderhook, NY for a chance to put his experience in to work as part of the management team at Gardens of Eagan. He will also get the opportunity to develop his own farming business at the Gardens of Eagan incubator project. |
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Bob Nielsen, Operations AssistantBob Nielsen takes sweet corn seriously. Learning the ins and outs of organic sweet corn culture from Martin Diffley, Bob is responsible for keeping week after week of delicious harvests coming all summer long. After years as a master carpenter, farming is "retirement" for Bob. While he' may have traded his hammer and saw for a John Deere and a rotary hoe, he can't leave his talent for square corners behind. He has straightened roads, kept fields squared up and lays down a truly straight bed of refletive mulch! |
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Reed Turner, Harvest Team LeaderReed brings three years organic farming experience from his time at Easy Bean Farm in western Minnesota. He returned to the University of Minnesota in 2005 to study geography and geology, then came back to farming in 2009. Reed’s favorite vegetable is a ripe, beautiful, red pepper, and Gardens of Eagan grows and harvest an acre of them with Reed's help.. The Gardens of Eagan photo blog on WordPress is Reed's latest undertaking and allows the whole crew to see the farm with their creative side.
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Lidia Dungue, Harvest Team Member and MarketeerLidia learned about produce and hard work at an early age helping out with her family's green grocer enterprise in Brasil. After just a couple years interning in the US on organic farms in New England, she mastered English and the the logistics of CSA and farmer's market marketing. Her goal to broaden her farming experiences and begin developing her own farming business will be realized by working at Gardens of Eagan and utilizing Gardens of Eagan's incubator farm program beginning in the fall of 2010. On Saturdays you'll find her teaming up with Jennifer at our Midtown Farmers' Market stand in Minneapolis.
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Jennifer Nelson, Market CoordinatorJennifer brings three years experience of managing the Rochester Downtown Farmers’ Market to her new position coordinating GOE’s market stand at the Midtown Farmers' Market. She loves farmers markets and real, good food and relishes the opportunity to be on the other side of the market stand and a member of the Harvest Team. In her opinion, there’s nothing better than a perfectly roasted beet. |
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Julio Lozano, Harvest Team MemberJulio has been the bedrock of our harvest team for years. He originally hails from the Texas borderlands and operates a mercantile with his wife when he's not busy being a one-man dynamo at Gardens of Eagan. |
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Harvest Team MembersEach year we rely on professional harvesters who do this job efficiently and skillfully and a handful of new folks learning along side to be just as quick and discerning. Perseverance and perfection (well almost!) characterize this team. We are always interested in talking to potential team members. See the job description on our employment page. |
 | Martin and Atina Diffley, Farm FoundersAs fifth generation farmers, Martin and Atina Diffley operated the original Gardens of Eagan in Eagan, Minnesota beginning in 1973. As one of the first certified organic produce farms in the Midwest, the Diffley's worked with co-ops and natural food grocers to build the Twin Cities' organic market and usher in a new kind of green revolution. In the early 1990s suburban sprawl pushed them from Eagan to the farm's current location in rural Farmington where they continued developing their reputation as organic land stewards and farm pioneers.In 2004 they were honored as Organic Farmers of the Year by Midwest Organic and Sustainable Educational Services. They now serve as mentors to the current Gardens of Eagan staff and the broader organic farming community in the upper Midwest through their independent consulting business, Organic Farming Works LLC. |