FIELD tour, the East Coast and Midwest

“Cheese Cave” in Springfield, Missouri Photo Credit: Brown Political Review
From left to right: Luis Yepiz, Ben Collier, and Sophia Adelle on Capitol Hill for The United Fresh Conference.

Join Stella on her FIELD tour!

Storm surge floods the parking lot to McElroy’s Harbor House restaurant in Mississippi on August 26 as Hurricane Ida approached. Hannah Ruhoff
Photo credit: SunHerald.com
FIELD tour, the East Coast and Midwest
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Hey folks, I am back with another FIELD tour update! If you’re new here, or need a recap. Over the next six weeks, I will be journeying across the states to meet with our FIELD fellows who are partnering with various food system organizations. These fellows are gaining practical experience, making valuable contributions to current operations, and striving to develop more just and sustainable food systems. Additionally, I will take this opportunity to engage with Farmlink’s wider community, including our alumni, food program partners, and donors.

White Plains to DC!

This tour is brought to life by the support of Planet Home Lending, LLC! They backed our inaugural national tour in 2020, and it made perfect sense to collaborate again. Through their Planet With a Purpose social responsibility platform, Planet Home Lending is devoted to making substantial environmental and social contributions. They are enthusiastic about partnering with us to inspire the next generation of leaders in the food system.

My East Coast leg of the tour opened with a fabulous alumni event in New York. We enjoyed pizza in central park (because how else do you do an event in NYC)! In attendance was combination of current full time staff, college kids who started their journey with farming as high schoolers, current interns, previous FIELD fellows, and folks we call “OGs’” who worked on farmlink when we were a group of kids with no plan of starting a non profit. It was so special to hear about what folks are up to now and how their experiences, long or short, with Farmlink have contributed to where they are today. 

NYC Alumni Event

From the city, I headed up north to Tarrytown, where I met up with Jenna for a site visit at Stone Barns Center for Food and Agriculture and Blue Hill Farm. If you are a foodie or from New York, you’ve probably heard of Blue Hill, the Michelin Star restaurant that pioneered the farm-to-table movement. Jenna is working at the intersection of agriculture research and culinary excellence. It was beautiful to explore the farm, see the animals, and talk to the wonderful folks that work there. From Terrytown, I cruised back down to the city to get ready for the GenZ Food and Hunger Summit in D.C.

I joined up with our Head of Policy & Advocacy, Sophia Adelle, to pick up our fellows along the way to D.C where we spent 3 days learning about bills dedicated to reducing hunger and food waste. It was the first time our fellows met each other in person after months of working together and becoming good friends. We all stayed at an Airbnb, played games, and cooked dinner today. Needless to say, it was a blast!

Hosted by the Congressional Hunger Center and Food Systems Collaborative, the summit was an incredible experience! We had the chance to connect with 50 amazing young people from all over the country who share our passion for food and anti-hunger advocacy. For two days, we engaged with policy experts, chatted with members of Congress, and learned from leaders in the food systems field. It was an inspiring and empowering event, filled with education and advocacy!

I carpooled with Allison back up to Baltimore for her site visit at 4MyCity. 4MyCity was founded in 2018 with the intention to create more circular food systems in the Baltimore community. They have 4 main focus areas: food rescue from wholesale and retail distribution, eliminating hunger, creating biodegradable products or energy, and composting. They run an end to end zero waste operation while supporting food insecure people in Baltimore and farmers in the area. Allison showed me her favorite coffee shops and bookstores and then it was time for me to head to Chicago! 

I flew into Chicago and drove to Madison, Wisconsin, where Nolan greeted me with some delish vegan food! From the city, we made our way to Flynn Creek Farm in Verona, just 30 minutes away. I spent two nights staying in the farm house and learning all about what they do there! Day 1 started when the sun rose. We walked around the farms, checked on the animals, and got the lay of the land. Then Nolan and I joined the produce team to harvest, wash, and pack romaine! In the afternoon, I learned and experienced “swamping.” Flynn Creek is clearing forest to return the land to its native and regenerative state. Clearing the forest meant chain saws, and I was in charge of taking the chopped up parts of the tree and putting them into piles. Nolan sat in the shade and DJ’ed for us since he was nursing some pretty gnarly wild parsnip burns. In the evening, Nolan, Ari, the farm manager, and I cooked up a beautiful meal to celebrate the long day. Before heading out the next morning, we got up early to put up fence and move the sheep to a fresh grazing area. It was so neat to see how the land, animals, plants, and people work together in harmony. I hope to return back to the farm soon! 

After traveling through 7 states, it was time to head back to Cali for the last leg of the tour! I am excited to get back in a van and meet our fellows working in the salad bowl of America. 

Over and out, 

Stella Delp

Fellowship Manager

< Back

Hey folks, I am back with another FIELD tour update! If you’re new here, or need a recap. Over the next six weeks, I will be journeying across the states to meet with our FIELD fellows who are partnering with various food system organizations. These fellows are gaining practical experience, making valuable contributions to current operations, and striving to develop more just and sustainable food systems. Additionally, I will take this opportunity to engage with Farmlink’s wider community, including our alumni, food program partners, and donors.

White Plains to DC!

This tour is brought to life by the support of Planet Home Lending, LLC! They backed our inaugural national tour in 2020, and it made perfect sense to collaborate again. Through their Planet With a Purpose social responsibility platform, Planet Home Lending is devoted to making substantial environmental and social contributions. They are enthusiastic about partnering with us to inspire the next generation of leaders in the food system.

My East Coast leg of the tour opened with a fabulous alumni event in New York. We enjoyed pizza in central park (because how else do you do an event in NYC)! In attendance was combination of current full time staff, college kids who started their journey with farming as high schoolers, current interns, previous FIELD fellows, and folks we call “OGs’” who worked on farmlink when we were a group of kids with no plan of starting a non profit. It was so special to hear about what folks are up to now and how their experiences, long or short, with Farmlink have contributed to where they are today. 

NYC Alumni Event

From the city, I headed up north to Tarrytown, where I met up with Jenna for a site visit at Stone Barns Center for Food and Agriculture and Blue Hill Farm. If you are a foodie or from New York, you’ve probably heard of Blue Hill, the Michelin Star restaurant that pioneered the farm-to-table movement. Jenna is working at the intersection of agriculture research and culinary excellence. It was beautiful to explore the farm, see the animals, and talk to the wonderful folks that work there. From Terrytown, I cruised back down to the city to get ready for the GenZ Food and Hunger Summit in D.C.

I joined up with our Head of Policy & Advocacy, Sophia Adelle, to pick up our fellows along the way to D.C where we spent 3 days learning about bills dedicated to reducing hunger and food waste. It was the first time our fellows met each other in person after months of working together and becoming good friends. We all stayed at an Airbnb, played games, and cooked dinner today. Needless to say, it was a blast!

Hosted by the Congressional Hunger Center and Food Systems Collaborative, the summit was an incredible experience! We had the chance to connect with 50 amazing young people from all over the country who share our passion for food and anti-hunger advocacy. For two days, we engaged with policy experts, chatted with members of Congress, and learned from leaders in the food systems field. It was an inspiring and empowering event, filled with education and advocacy!

I carpooled with Allison back up to Baltimore for her site visit at 4MyCity. 4MyCity was founded in 2018 with the intention to create more circular food systems in the Baltimore community. They have 4 main focus areas: food rescue from wholesale and retail distribution, eliminating hunger, creating biodegradable products or energy, and composting. They run an end to end zero waste operation while supporting food insecure people in Baltimore and farmers in the area. Allison showed me her favorite coffee shops and bookstores and then it was time for me to head to Chicago! 

I flew into Chicago and drove to Madison, Wisconsin, where Nolan greeted me with some delish vegan food! From the city, we made our way to Flynn Creek Farm in Verona, just 30 minutes away. I spent two nights staying in the farm house and learning all about what they do there! Day 1 started when the sun rose. We walked around the farms, checked on the animals, and got the lay of the land. Then Nolan and I joined the produce team to harvest, wash, and pack romaine! In the afternoon, I learned and experienced “swamping.” Flynn Creek is clearing forest to return the land to its native and regenerative state. Clearing the forest meant chain saws, and I was in charge of taking the chopped up parts of the tree and putting them into piles. Nolan sat in the shade and DJ’ed for us since he was nursing some pretty gnarly wild parsnip burns. In the evening, Nolan, Ari, the farm manager, and I cooked up a beautiful meal to celebrate the long day. Before heading out the next morning, we got up early to put up fence and move the sheep to a fresh grazing area. It was so neat to see how the land, animals, plants, and people work together in harmony. I hope to return back to the farm soon! 

After traveling through 7 states, it was time to head back to Cali for the last leg of the tour! I am excited to get back in a van and meet our fellows working in the salad bowl of America. 

Over and out, 

Stella Delp

Fellowship Manager

< Back

FIELD Fellowship Manager

FIELD tour, the East Coast and Midwest

Hey folks, I am back with another FIELD tour update! If you’re new here, or need a recap. Over the next six weeks, I will be journeying across the states to meet with our FIELD fellows who are partnering with various food system organizations. These fellows are gaining practical experience, making valuable contributions to current operations, and striving to develop more just and sustainable food systems. Additionally, I will take this opportunity to engage with Farmlink’s wider community, including our alumni, food program partners, and donors.

White Plains to DC!

This tour is brought to life by the support of Planet Home Lending, LLC! They backed our inaugural national tour in 2020, and it made perfect sense to collaborate again. Through their Planet With a Purpose social responsibility platform, Planet Home Lending is devoted to making substantial environmental and social contributions. They are enthusiastic about partnering with us to inspire the next generation of leaders in the food system.

My East Coast leg of the tour opened with a fabulous alumni event in New York. We enjoyed pizza in central park (because how else do you do an event in NYC)! In attendance was combination of current full time staff, college kids who started their journey with farming as high schoolers, current interns, previous FIELD fellows, and folks we call “OGs’” who worked on farmlink when we were a group of kids with no plan of starting a non profit. It was so special to hear about what folks are up to now and how their experiences, long or short, with Farmlink have contributed to where they are today. 

NYC Alumni Event

From the city, I headed up north to Tarrytown, where I met up with Jenna for a site visit at Stone Barns Center for Food and Agriculture and Blue Hill Farm. If you are a foodie or from New York, you’ve probably heard of Blue Hill, the Michelin Star restaurant that pioneered the farm-to-table movement. Jenna is working at the intersection of agriculture research and culinary excellence. It was beautiful to explore the farm, see the animals, and talk to the wonderful folks that work there. From Terrytown, I cruised back down to the city to get ready for the GenZ Food and Hunger Summit in D.C.

I joined up with our Head of Policy & Advocacy, Sophia Adelle, to pick up our fellows along the way to D.C where we spent 3 days learning about bills dedicated to reducing hunger and food waste. It was the first time our fellows met each other in person after months of working together and becoming good friends. We all stayed at an Airbnb, played games, and cooked dinner today. Needless to say, it was a blast!

Hosted by the Congressional Hunger Center and Food Systems Collaborative, the summit was an incredible experience! We had the chance to connect with 50 amazing young people from all over the country who share our passion for food and anti-hunger advocacy. For two days, we engaged with policy experts, chatted with members of Congress, and learned from leaders in the food systems field. It was an inspiring and empowering event, filled with education and advocacy!

I carpooled with Allison back up to Baltimore for her site visit at 4MyCity. 4MyCity was founded in 2018 with the intention to create more circular food systems in the Baltimore community. They have 4 main focus areas: food rescue from wholesale and retail distribution, eliminating hunger, creating biodegradable products or energy, and composting. They run an end to end zero waste operation while supporting food insecure people in Baltimore and farmers in the area. Allison showed me her favorite coffee shops and bookstores and then it was time for me to head to Chicago! 

I flew into Chicago and drove to Madison, Wisconsin, where Nolan greeted me with some delish vegan food! From the city, we made our way to Flynn Creek Farm in Verona, just 30 minutes away. I spent two nights staying in the farm house and learning all about what they do there! Day 1 started when the sun rose. We walked around the farms, checked on the animals, and got the lay of the land. Then Nolan and I joined the produce team to harvest, wash, and pack romaine! In the afternoon, I learned and experienced “swamping.” Flynn Creek is clearing forest to return the land to its native and regenerative state. Clearing the forest meant chain saws, and I was in charge of taking the chopped up parts of the tree and putting them into piles. Nolan sat in the shade and DJ’ed for us since he was nursing some pretty gnarly wild parsnip burns. In the evening, Nolan, Ari, the farm manager, and I cooked up a beautiful meal to celebrate the long day. Before heading out the next morning, we got up early to put up fence and move the sheep to a fresh grazing area. It was so neat to see how the land, animals, plants, and people work together in harmony. I hope to return back to the farm soon! 

After traveling through 7 states, it was time to head back to Cali for the last leg of the tour! I am excited to get back in a van and meet our fellows working in the salad bowl of America. 

Over and out, 

Stella Delp

Fellowship Manager

FIELD Fellowship Manager