Food Systems Fellowship

Ally Pecego (she/her) grew up in Long Beach, CA, one of the most polluted cities in the United States, a byproduct of our fossil fuel-reliant society. Concerned about humans’ impacts on the world, she earned her B.A. in Environmental Studies and Legal Studies at UC Santa Cruz among the redwoods and sandy Pacific beaches. Determined to engage in transformational climate action, she became a California Climate Action Corps Fellow where she led a food recovery program in Watsonville, CA, collecting businesses’ excess food and donating […]

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Robin (he/they) loves three things most in this world. Play, delicious healthy food, and chicken cuddles. It’s no surprise that Robin’s parents, Pete and Kristin, taught him that play and connection are the most important things in this world. Robin grew up in the Patapsco river valley of central Maryland where his favorite games were “where does this trail go?”, “how much cuddling can one human do?” and “when is dinner?” Play has always been a throughline in Robin’s life, but of course he had […]

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Fern Sarquiz grew up in Montpelier, Vermont on the unceded land and ancestral territory of Abenaki. She grew up amongst the maples, pines and birch trees. Fern Holds a B.A from Prescott College in Social Justice and Adventure Education. Her studies and mentors helped guide her towards understanding the complex political, ecological and social landscapes of life through a lens of interconnectedness. The work Fern is engaged in is critical, it involves carefully questioning and detangling the long projects of Colonialism and Capitalism. She believes […]

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Sophie is so excited to be at Groundwork for another season! As a Food Systems Fellow throughout the 2024 season, Sophie fell in love with the work, the land, and the community of Paonia. The seven month fellowship had been her first time farming in one place from the first buds of spring to the first frost of winter. Having the space to observe, wonder, and learn in rhythm with the seasons was a profound experience that made her feel deeply rooted in herself and […]

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I want to write a few words about mental health in local food systems. Casey’s suicide has been overwhelming, partially because of the loss of such a visionary person and partially because in our agricultural community, there are most certainly people who have walked close to that edge and felt alone and unsupported during at their lowest moments. Small-scale organic farmers are being squeezed—crushed rather—between the economic pressures of a hyper-industrialized food system and the risky challenges of growing food for uncertain local markets in […]

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It’s 6am, and I’m wide awake, my body refusing to forget the farm harvest schedule. I’m sitting in my brother’s high rise apartment, looking down at the bustling street of people beginning their daily grind. Coasting down highway 70 away from a blazing sun, my heart felt full as I headed into Denver this weekend. Being in the city is like night and day from life at Groundwork. The values we practice day to day at the farm have seeped their way into my mind […]

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I applied for this fellowship because… I recognize that change must happen sooner rather than later. A movement to localize our food systems has taken root throughout our local communities and the world. I want to play a larger role in ensuring its success by focusing on the food systems that provide sustenance to communities all the while engaging in a healthy relationship with the land, people, and earth as a whole. While learning is vital, making connections is equally important. Understanding other cultures as […]

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I applied for this fellowship because… I want to create meaningful change toward a socially and environmentally just future. There are many, many ways to do this and I’m still trying to find my place in the movement, but over the last year I’ve grown especially curious in how local and organic farming can embody that future. I learned about Groundwork through its ties to Pun Pun, an organic farm and seed saving center I was volunteering at in Thailand, and applied because of the […]

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I applied for this fellowship because… I applied for this fellowship because I have been seeking to understand and work towards a vision of the world that inspires me. I have ever-changing ideas of what this future could look like: It always includes community, a close relationship to the food we’re growing, vulnerability, and personal responsibility. I often ask myself if some version of this future is possible in our polarized and disconnected culture where these values hold such little importance. How do we get […]

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I applied to this fellowship because… I was desperate for a change. Prior to this experience I was living in ways that didn’t align with my vision of the future. It was unsustainable, so finding a program that explored ways of living firmly based on the land seemed like the opportunity I was waiting for. I have wanted to learn ways of being that are based on harmony and reverence for the place we call home. To get a chance to do exactly that while […]

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