CommonGround Delaware
CommonGround is a national movement of farm women who want to share information about farming and the food they grow. Consumers in the cities and suburbs are more disconnected from farm life than ever before, and that disconnect has led to misconceptions about modern farming and the people behind it. We’re a group of Delaware farm women working to help dispel myths and build trust in farm families again. We want to answer questions and share facts as well as our personal stories of Delaware farm life. Please join us in finding our CommonGround.
MEET THE Delaware FARM WOMEN
Christy and her siblings started a successful family business that runs to this day out of what began as 4-H and FFA horticulture projects as kids in Bridgeville, Delaware. Her parents always had a large garden, and Christy and her siblings would sell their extra harvest from a picnic table at the end of their street. Eventually, her dad built them a covered wagon. They would stock it up with produce they picked throughout the day and leave the wagon manned through the “honor system.” They welded a money box to the wagon and allowed customers to add up and pay for the goods themselves. This operation not only taught Christy the value of hard work and running a business, but also helped her pay for a car and her college degree in food and agribusiness management.
Today, Christy works for Nemours Health & Prevention Services, a nonprofit organization that works with families and community partners to help children grow up healthy. When not working, she continues to help her parents with Little Wagon Produce on the weekends. She also helps her mother at local farmers markets, works with her dad on irrigation systems and handles their website and Facebook pages as well.
Because Christy previously worked as an agriculture teacher, she remains passionate about advancing agricultural education, nutrition education and eliminating child obesity. She was excited to join the CommonGround™ Delaware program in the summer of 2011 in order to share her stories about today’s food and farming with consumers.
Twitter: @LilWagonChristy
Facebook: Little Wagon Produce
Blog: Farmer Dan’s Daughter
Michelle lives in Harrington, Delaware. She is a unique woman because she touches agriculture from five different perspectives. First, her grandfather and uncle both have farms where they raise grain and dairy heifers. Following suit, Michelle has been showing Holstein cattle since she was five and is also currently an owner/breeder/showman. Growing up, Michelle would spend her summers on her grandfather’s farm, where she would feed and water animals and drive the tractor when needed. To this day, she will help out with crop production during the busy season on both farms. Second, Michelle also became educated in horticulture and vegetable production by working for a local produce farm. Third, her parents raise Standardbred horses and participate in harness racing, which has also rubbed off on Michelle, who now has her own paint horse that she uses to give riding lessons. Fourth, add the pet donkey and two market pigs she is raising to the full picture and you can clearly see that Michelle has a love for animals. And fifth, Michelle works for the Delaware Soybean Board while studying as a full-time graduate student at University of Maryland in Loyola.
In addition to loving animals, Michelle has a soft spot for working with youth. Because family was a strong support system for her growing up, she likes to help children (especially children with disabilities) achieve their dreams. In Michelle’s free time, she volunteers as coach for a high school field hockey team. When the small miracle happens that she is not in school, at work, helping on a farm or coaching, she likes to go camping or head to the beach for some rest and relaxation.
Michelle feels that agriculture has helped to positively shape her life by teaching her responsibility, time management and how to work together as a family to achieve a common objective. She was excited to join the Delaware CommonGround™ program in the summer of 2011 as a way to share her experiences through conversations with consumers about food and farming and how they have shaped her life.
