Our farm crew will look a little different this year with the addition of a new assistant manager. Kerry (and her beloved pup, Freckles) will still play a significant role at Stearns as an Assistant Grower, but will be working part time for the duration of the season. So without further ado, I’m thrilled to introduce our new Assistant Manager, Hannah Ladesic.
Hannah started working at Stearns at the beginning of March and has jumped right in with enthusiasm. She’s been seeding in the greenhouse, pruning blueberries, spreading compost in the fields, and making some much needed repairs on our greenhouse doors. She is knowledgeable in all aspects of veggie farming and will make a great addition to our community. Learn more about her in her bio below:
Hannah Ladesic (she/her) excitedly joins the Stearns crew as Assistant Manager.
After growing up canning pickles and tomato sauce from her family’s garden and making gooseberry pies with her dad from their prolific backyard bushes, she came to know food would be a throughline in whatever work she pursued. In college, she had a magical experience volunteering at The Food Project’s Baker Bridge Farm in Lincoln, so much so that she took a job as the The Food Project’s Communications Manager and Graphic Designer after graduating.
In the spring of 2020 Hannah pivoted from the office to the farm and farmed her first season on the same piece of land in Lincoln where it all started— there she fell deeply in love with working outside, sharing the harvest bounty, and developing deep relationships with place. She spent three farm seasons there, and recently spent a year as the Garden Fellow at the John C. Campbell Folk School— a folk art school in the mountains of Western NC.
Hannah loves to think about cultivating reciprocal relationships with land— knowing plants well enough to know what they need and being offered a bounty in return, of lessons from processes in nature and an abundance to harvest for food, medicine, and craft. Hannah is one of those people who loves to trellis tomatoes, and also loves growing peas, hot peppers, and any and all kinds of flowers.
Outside of farming Hannah is excited to be starting an herbalism program this spring, hopes to grow lots of indigo for natural dye projects, has fun playing the banjo for and with friends, and enjoys involving herself with community organizing efforts in Boston, where she lives.
Hannah is excited to meet all the folks that make Stearns the special place it is— and would love to nerd out with anyone about dye plants, food preservation projects, dahlias, and seed saving.
