May 2011 Corpsmember of the Month

Jessica Barber

Supervisor: Jenna Brager and Henry Wallace, Farm Coordinator and Farm Crew Supervisor

Crew: Farm Crew

Length of time at CCNB: 5 months

Reason corpsmember was selected: Jessi is a fantastic addition to the farm crew. She brings a positive attitude and great enthusiasm to her job. She is reliable, dedicated, and has strong communication skills. Jessi arrived at the farm with some farmers market experience and has taken the lead on much of the Farm’s market duties. She leads the harvests for the Novato Farmers Market and Indian Valley Organic Farm & Garden Stand and trains the crew and volunteers on harvest tasks. She has taken on many record-keeping responsibilities, which are required of the farm for organic certification. Jessi has an interest in pollinators and their habitat. She has designed and planted a demonstration pollinator garden around the Farm’s new beehives. Jessi inspires others on the team with her wonderful work ethic and has shown much initiative throughout her time on the Farm Crew.

Leadership roles at CCNB: Harvest and marketing point person. Trains new corpsmembers on the harvest, does associated record keeping, is beginning to give tours.

Skills training received at CCNB: She has really learned a lot more about farming at CCNB. Her understanding of bed preparation and amemdments, individual crops, and the farm system as a whole has greatly increased. She has also become a lot more comfortable with many tools, particularly power tools that she had never used before.

Favorite project: Designing the Bee Garden

Favorite educational component: Taking the farm class with Wendy and Henry really complimented the work Jessi's been doing on the Farm.

Favorite aspect of working at CCNB: The supervisors are supportive and interested in all of the corpsmembers as individuals. The team has a great community feeling.

What did Corpsmember do before joining CCNB? She was working as a farmer’s market manager and as an intern at the Edible Schoolyard.

Why they joined CCNB: It’s really the only educational farming program in California other than UC Santa Cruz, and its flexibility allowed her to keep her other job and pursue her academic interests.

Future plans: Continuing to pursue sustainable agriculture through graduate school and the development of her own farm and farmers advocacy organization.

How CCNB has changed their life: CCNB has provided the opportunity for Jessi to become highly skilled in the field she wants to work in and has connected her to a farming and educational community in which she finds much support and opportunity.

Life lessons learned: She has learned a lot about how to work with a diversity of people and experiences. Jessi's also learned a lot about herself and how she works.

Advice for young people: It takes courage to do something you’ve never done before but its absolutely worth it.

Most important thing learned: How to trap gophers