06/29/2026
Ten years ago, I got a job from a Craigslist post for a part time gig on a small permaculture farm in Virginia. While I knew little about growing food, I quickly fell in love with farming.
After graduating with a degree in business, I took on farming full time. My rose colored glasses faded after spending several seasons sticking it out in the heat, cold, dealing with pests, and endlessly picking beans. What started as a dreamy part time job turned into a passion backed by actual experience that I knew would take hard work and persistence to keep at.
I took a few years off of farming and landed a job at a tech company working remotely as a Project Manager. Last year, I realized that while I was good at my job, I wasn’t fulfilled and I needed to get back to the land. A day after this decision, I landed myself in a bad car accident that nearly took me out of my first season with Outlaw Organic. This reinforced the importance of doing something I love every day and putting all my efforts in to making sure it works!
Getting to the point of starting Outlaw Organic would not have been possible without other farmers and supports. Ben at Den Hill Permaculture (now ) got me started and gave me opportunities to take on leadership and manage a crew. I spent some amazing seasons at Paul’s farm, , learning from the best and gaining a mentor. And of course my parents - my dad fixing my machinery and my mom *offering* to volunteer, but helpfully buying produce instead 😅
While I had some incredible experiences on other farms, I’m now on my own land. My learning is not done and I’m excited to continue adapting to make Outlaw Organic better and sustainable for the long term. I applied for the Masterclass scholarship with in the hopes of gaining more education to expand my csa and grow more veggies efficiently without sacrificing quality growing practices.
No matter what happens with the scholarship, I’m incredibly grateful for everyone who helped get me to this point and for those I get to feed 🌱
note: this post was made without the help of ai 🤖 🔥