Cindy and farm dog, Bella.

“Ciiinnnnnddaaaaaaaayyyy!”

The call for our fearless leader rings through the fields. A red baseball cap appears in the cornstalks and bobs our way. En route to the rest of the crew, Cindy picks up two crates of beets, weeds all of the carrots, and weaves a wall hanging all while logging the morning’s harvest in the farm’s database…with her eyes closed.  After two and half years as a student farmer and an additional two growing seasons as a farm apprentice Cindy bleeds soil, sweats fish emulsion, and her heart beats to the rhythm of the post-pounder.

A Pennsylvania native, Cindy made her way from Greensburg to Carlisle as a member of the class of 2016. Cindy credits her love for the farm to her Nutritional Anthropology class with Professor Karen Weinstein, an experience that opened her eyes to the intersection between food systems and society. After taking the class her sophomore year, Cindy applied to work on the farm  and has never looked back. Her student experience culminated in the authorship of “An Analysis of the Local Food Movement in Carlisle, Pennsylvania,” a thesis that won the Christine Wilson Award for Excellent Undergraduate Work from the Society for Anthropology of Food and Nutrition. 

Cindy and seedlings, circa 2016.

Her work as a post-grad has been equally impressive. As the farm’s greenhouse manager and hospitality curator for the pop-up restaurant GATHER, not to mention her work in the community as a member of the Farmers on the Square board, Cindy is kept busy. It’s hard to believe that this lady ever stops moving forward; even she admits: “I don’t have free time, I’m always productive.” But when Cindy is not on the farm, her productivity looks a little different. She trades in her seeding bench for a loom and her shovel for felting needles and gets to work on fiber art. Her latest obsession is working with wool, preferably that from the farm’s own sheep, and has dabbled in felting and weaving.

When this all-star Dickinsonian does pack up for good, she is headed to the rolling hills of Maryland where she hopes to contribute to the success of another sustainable farming operation. We know that she will stay in touch (we stole part of her heart and planted it in the back fields), but will miss this one-of-a-kind gal all the same.