Carolina Farm Stewardship Association
P.O. Box 448, Pittsboro, NC 27312
Phone: 919-542-2402
Fax: 919-542-7401
info@carolinafarmstewards.org

Staff

Roland McReynolds, Executive Director

Roland grew up in Columbia, Missouri. His grandma was a longtime subscriber to Organic Gardening, his family raised its own layer and fryer chickens and grew most of its own vegetables, and the family home was surrounded by conventional corn and soybean fields.  He is a licensed attorney, and with the births of his children he decided to devote his legal training and business experience to the service of promoting healthy agriculture for future generations.

Cheryl Ripperton Rettie, Finance & Administration Director

Cheryl holds degrees in Accounting and Ancient & Medieval History and has worked for over a decade in various accounting positions; she joined CFSA in 2006. A native of Chatham County, she lives on the family farm where she meanders in the woods with her dog, gardens, keeps bees organically, and rides horses.

> Contact Cheryl with any financial questions. If you have any general CFSA questions pop her an email; if she doesn’t know the answer, she can tell you who does!

 

Anna is a Durham native, and currently enjoys living in Hillsborough with her husband, Ryan, and their two Australian Cattle dogs, Zep and Stella.   Although gardening with dad was a chore when she was a kid, she now looks forward to the opportunity – in his garden and her own!  Anna earned an M.Div from Duke and an MSW from UNC-Chapel Hill in 2011.

> Contact Anna with questions about CFSA membership, registering for our events, and the Local Food Finder. 

Fred Broadwell, Education Director

Fred grew up in South Carolina. He’s spent extensive time in California, New England, Germany and Asia. Fred is a graduate of Davidson College and has degrees from UCLA and UNC. He loves urban permaculture gardening, farmers market cookery and very lazy kayaking.

> Contact Fred about the Sustainable Agriculture Conference.

 

Laura Reedy, Education Coordinator

Laura Reedy holds a BA in Sociology from Knox College and a Masters in Management from Antioch University Seattle. She co-farms small produce farm out of Pittsboro, NC and is raising her first flock of chickens. She also makes goat milk soaps and loves seeing what farm crops will result in a unique new soap. Laura’s professional background includes volunteering for and later managing an AmeriCorps team, as well as organizing trainings and events in various non-profit environments.

> Contact Laura about the Piedmont Farm Tour, the Eastern Triangle Farm Tour and Exhibiting at the Sustainable Ag. Conference.

 

Diana Vossbrinck, Food Systems Coordinator

Diana brings to her work a degree in speech communications and a diverse professional background in marketing, business development, community relations, and grassroots organizing. She grew up on a small, sustainable farm in the Santa Cruz Mountains of California, but developed a passion for local food systems development while working on the Anderson County Farm & Food Plan.

> Contact Diana about the Upstate Farm Tour, Internship Referral Service, and the SC New & Beginning Farmer Program.

Shivaugn Rayl , Policy Director

Shivaugn joined CFSA in 2010. She holds a law degree from Michigan State University where she focused her studies on environmental law and policy. Her work offers the perfect opportunity to put her wonky devotion to public policy to good use in support of vibrant food and farm businesses. She grew up on her family’s dairy farm in Michigan and she worked at a farm-to-fork chef-owned restaurant during college and law school. These days, she enjoys tending the fruits and veggies in her container garden and improving her cheese-making skills.
> Contact Shivaugn to learn more about how you and your organization can become more effective advocates for local, organic food and farm policies in North Carolina.

Jared Cates, Community Mobilizer

Jared is a native of Chapel Hill and a recent graduate of the UNC School of Social Work, where he received his Master’s degree. Jared has been working in the non-profit sector since his graduation from Appalachian State University in 2003. His previous experience includes two AmeriCorps terms with Chatham Habitat for Humanity, coordinating a juvenile community service program at Volunteers for Youth in Orange County and assisting with shelter and emergency aid services at the Salvation Army of Wake County.  Jared is looking forward to being a champion for sustainable food and farm policies.  He was an intern for CFSA before officially joining the staff.

> Contact Jared to learn more about the Farm Bill.  

 

Karen brings ten years of organic farming and teaching experience to the organization. Her practical hands-on experience, combined with a B.S in Crop and Soil Science from Cornell University and an M.S. in Horticulture & Sustainable Agriculture from Iowa State University make her keenly aware of issues faced by small farmers. When not hard at work for CFSA, Karen has her hands full raising twin boys with her husband Joel in Asheville, NC.

> Contact Karen with questions about the Local Produce Safety Initiative, Enterprise Budgets, Organic Inputs, and Record-keeping.

 

Eric studied sustainable agriculture at Warren Wilson College in Asheville, NC. Since then, he has worked for a number of farms throughout the Eastern US, most recently helping to build a full-diet CSA program in northern Virginia. He is based in Edenton, NC where he also works with Somerset Farm, a mixed livestock and certified organic produce operation run by CFSA member Frederick Inglis.

> Contact Eric for information on transitioning to organic certified production and the certification process.

Jennifer Lapidus, Organic Grains Program Coordinator

Many of you know Jen already from her outstanding work to establish a local small scale mill for Carolina-grown organic wheat, which is now officially operating as Carolina Ground. Previous to her work with CFSA, for 14 years Jennifer owned and operated Natural Bridge Bakery one of the first wood-fired brick oven bakeries producing naturally-leavened breads in the Southeast. Jennifer holds a Masters in Creative Nonfiction from Goucher, is mother to a pretty incredible teenage daughter, and enjoys spending her free time on long walks with her dog bobo (who is little but thinks he is big.)
> Contact Jennifer about the North Carolina Organic Bread Flour project, Carolina Ground, or if you are interested in purchasing wheat, rye or other grains from the mill.

 

Alice Alexander, Sustainability Director

Alice comes to CFSA with over 25 years in nonprofit management, beginning with The Nature Conservancy. She became convinced that sustainable agriculture was a solution to many environmental and community health issues after working with local farmers in Durham to build the Durham Farmers’ Market pavilion. Alice is on a mission to persuade Carolinians that CFSA presents a unique and powerful opportunity to positively affect our regional food system.

> Contact Alice if you’d like more information about supporting CFSA’s work or sponsoring the Sustainable Agriculture Conference.

 

Amy Armbruster, Communications Coordinator

Amy studied sustainable agriculture in Costa Rica and has over 10 years of experience implementing grassroots campaigns, coordinating print, web and social media, and encouraging folks to take better care of the environment. She grew up next to an apple orchard and her favorite thing to eat is a just-picked, still-warm-from-the-sun strawberry. She lives with her husband and son in Raleigh, NC.

> Amy is our go-to person the website and eNews, as well as marketing, PR, and event promotions.

Cricket Rakita, Saving Our Seed Project Coordinator

> Contact Cricket if you are interested in saving seed for our Saving Our Seed Project or check out the seed saving resources he developed!

 

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Evan Swink, Intern

Evan is originally from Greensboro, NC and most recently moved from Asheville to complete his Master’s in social work at UNC Chapel Hill. Hehas a Bachelor’s in English from UNC Wilmington. His work background has been with community mental health, wilderness therapy, and individuals with autism. Evan’s interest in interning for CFSA grew from social work class discussions about advocacy, community organizing, and social movements. Evan is driven by his motivation to help sustain North Carolina’s communities and culture. He is the guitarist for a bluegrass band in Asheville called Buncombe Turnpike. He loves to run, bike, surf, and occasionally competes in triathalons. He is excited to be on board with the Carolina Farm Stewardship Association’s community of progressive thinking individuals.

 

Lydia Johnson is a graduate student at the UNC-Chapel Hill School of Social Work. A recent transplant to North Carolina, she hails from the Eastern Panhandle of West Virginia, where she spent the past several years working in a small non-profit serving sexually abused children. In her spare time, she enjoyed helping out in friend’s gardens, hiking in the mountains, and floating lazily down the Shenandoah River. Lydia is committed to community involvement and has been thrilled to discover the thriving local foods movement here in the Carolinas. While not (yet) a farmer herself, she is excited for this opportunity to grow her organizing skills through the work of CFSA.