Sylvana is a member of our veg team and brings her enthusiasm for working in the elements to work with the land and grow good food for the community. Her childhood in the Pioneer Valley of Western Massachusetts really sowed the seeds for her interest in farming. She attended the Hartsbrook School where she developed a love of working with farm animals—Jersey cows in particular—and gardening through their Land Stewardship program. Those experiences, coupled with her family’s CSA membership at Brookfield Farm, were central to how she has viewed and interacted with food and the land.
Sylvana’s first deep dive into production farming came in 2020, when she had the opportunity to visit a regenerative ag farm in Tennessee to do some soil sampling for a college course, and ended up spending the whole summer there working. As serendipity would have it, one of her fellow farmers had apprenticed here several years ago and recommended it as a great place to learn. Sylvana is enthusiastic to learn the ropes of production vegetable farming from the initial planning and propagation work that happened when she arrived in February all the way through the fall harvest. What she especially loves about being at HVF is the ability to maintain a connection with the animals. With the warmer weather, she leaves her bunkhouse window open so that she can hear the cows coming in from pasture for milking in the mornings.
To learn more about apprentice opportunities at Hawthorne Valley Farm, visit our Apprentice Page.
