Staff
Staff
John Harris, Director of Knox County CAC Green Thumb
In 1998, I was an AmeriCorps member at Beardsley. This was the first year for Beardsley. In 2003, I became the program director for CAC AmeriCorps- our corps is focused on environmental service. In 2004, I became the director of community gardens for CAC. I like gardening, cooking, and taking my kids to Ijams and Beardsley on Saturdays. I make apple pie from scratch for my friends. My wife, Terri, is a professor at National College. I have two daughters, Mallory and Sophia.
Khann Chov, Farm Manager
I grew up in Chattanooga and am the youngest of five children. My family immigrated to the United States from Cambodia a year before my birth. We grew a lot of our vegetables and my father enjoyed fishing and hunting with his friends. My appreciation for homegrown vegetables and slow, home-cooked meals began at childhood, where I played in our bustling kitchen and enjoyed delicious Cambodian, Chinese, and Vietnamese cooking. At a very young age, my parents taught me these lessons: to always work hard, to live frugally, and to eat well with the people you love. In addition to these very important lessons, I sought out educational opportunities that encouraged learning (and eventually teaching) through meaningful experiences. I earned my M.S. in Environmental Education following two years of CAC AmeriCorps service in Knoxville, Tennessee, where I taught students about solid waste and water quality issues through hands-on learning. Beardsley Community Farm encompasses so much of what I have learned and cared for all these years: working hard, living simply, food justice, sustainability, and to teach and learn from those around me whenever possible.
AmeriCorps Members
Daniel Aisenbrey
If farming is in my blood, it must have skipped a generation. My grandfather farmed his whole life, but my parents opted to run off and be missionaries in West Africa instead. I spent most of my pre-college life taking advantage of Senegal’s fresh produce, not really knowing much about organic practices or the way food got to my table or the tables of my American counterparts. Now that I’ve had my “green enlightening” and seen how a local, organic tomato compares to a chemical-laden tomato shipped 1500 miles to a supermarket, I want everyone to enjoy and take part in sustainable and local agriculture! I’m especially excited to be working at Beardsley, helping folks learn how to grow their own food, and hopefully learning some of their tips and tricks too.
Karina Costa
I was born in the suburban wilds of Northern New Jersey and started at the ripe age of six my life as an avid gardener and composter, often marvelling at the wonders of slimy worms and egg shells turning into dark soil. I remained a curious environmental student growing up and spent much of my high school years at a Quaker boarding school pondering the relationship between our environment and our community. It then came as noone’s surprise when I decided to pursue a degree in Environmental Studies at Vassar College. The spring of my freshmen year I worked at an urban community garden and saw my two passions–community and the environment–combine in a beautiful way. Since then I have devoted as much as I can to learning about food inequalities, agriculture, and potential solutions for bettering our food system. Post-college I decided to put my community and environmental interests to work in a new way and came to Knoxville, TN with CAC AmeriCorps to work on the Water Quality Team, teaching about water pollution in schools and community events. I am thrilled this year to return to my love of food by stay with AmeriCorps a second year to work at Beardsley Farm!
Kat Raese
After taking my Bachelor’s degree in education from Vanderbilt University, I moved to Knoxville to puruse my Master’s degree in creative writing at the University of Tennessee. For most of my life I considered food to be a simple necessity, not something to cause concern and certainly not something to be pondered over. Since moving to Knoxville, however, food has taken on a new importance for me: I realized that the food we eat, how we eat it, and where it comes from are topics that require careful thought. I have become a passionate supporter of Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) programs, and teach canning/preserving classes so that people can take advantage of local and seasonal produce, while also becoming more self-sufficient. I believe that it is important for everyone to understand how their food grows so that they can make informed decisions about what to eat. Although I had always known education would be at the center of my life I did not anticipate the role that food, gardening, and ethical veganism would play in my life. Working at Beardsley farm this year is the perfect opportunity for me to find expression of these seemingly divergent aspects of my life.