North Star Orchard

Helpers

There are many wonderful people who help out to make the farm work. Helpers work in the fields on the farm, in the barn cleaning and packaging produce or CSA shares, and helping out at farmers' markets. Some of our helpers are students, who help for just a year or two in the summer, and other local helpers return year after year during the busy summer and fall. All of these folks are important to the farm, whether they work 2 hours a week or 20. We appreciate them all!

Emma - we welcome Emma this year, who will pick up management of the vegetable garden. Emma joins us after a season working with the Fair Food Farmstand in Philadelphia and the previous season as an apprentice farmer at the Anchor Run CSA. "I grew up helping out at my father's tree nursery, and working in and eating from my family's large organic/biodynamic vegetable garden and orchard." Emma hopped on board (well, in the field/greenhouse) in February.

Erin - our assistant orchardist. Erin started with us in the spring of 2009 following an internship in Sustainable Food Systems at the University of California Santa Cruz and several years as a CSA manager at the Greensgrow Philadelphia Project. She helps out in the veggie garden when needed and at farmers' markets, but her primary interest is learning more about tree fruit production. She spends a lot of her time in the orchard pruning, training, thinning, and harvesting. Check out Erin's blog, which is full of musings on farming and food.

Dan - our "Jack of all trades" who started with us in August 2007. Dan helps out wherever help is needed most, be it in the veggie garden or the orchard. He spends lots of time thinning peaches (not fun!), harvesting fruit and veggies, helping with building and repair projects, going on the long cider-making runs every week, and helping as a fill-in at various farmers' markets.

Inge returns to help out year after year (since 2004!), helping with veggie harvest and CSA share packing. Erica started helping us in the spring of 2008, and does a little bit of everything: planting, harvesting, packaging, markets, deliveries.

Bill - our amazingly intrepid helper (rainy days are 'refreshing', Bill says), who's been with us since 2000 . Bill helps us get tree pruning done in winter and spring, and is an invaluable help during orchard harvest. He picks fruit so fast, you can barely see his hands move! Come to that, he doesn't really stand still for a photo either, so pictures of him tend to show him buried in a tree, picking fruit.