Farmer Spotlight: Alexis
You can hear her deep soul-laugh echo from our shipping container office, find her munching under the shade mid-summer on healthy cheetos, or staying late to help a co-worker make a “just because” bouquet. Whether she’s knee deep counting winter squash, bent over faithfully scrubbing flower buckets, or discovering funny shaped pack line peppers, Alexis is a staff favorite (shhh, we don’t have those here)! She’s our youngest team member, but don’t let that fool you. Grounded, curious, hard-working, and creative, Alexis brings both a youthful vigor and rooted (pun intended) maturity to our team.
Born in the San Jose/Santa Clara area, Alexis claims her identity as a “bay baby.” Naturally, she spent many weekends and summers doing outdoor adventures with her family in the California landscape. Going on hikes, bringing new pet animals home, and taking pictures of hummingbirds filled her childhood and gave her special appreciation for the natural environment. When the pandemic hit, she turned to instagram (as we all do, don’t lie) for some inspiration on fun ways to spend her time. That’s when she got the idea to start a garden.
“It happened in the matter of a week. I drew up blueprints the night I saw some garden photo ideas, asked my boyfriend if he wanted to help out, then went straight to home depot to buy soil, beds and seeds. I just did it.”
Once Alexis started her thriving home garden, her hands never left the soil (well, she took them out to eat and shower and things). Of course, her time growing vegetables in her back yard wasn’t enough, so she got connected through a friend to start selling them at Spade & Plow’s farmers market! From there, summer began and her studies at De Anza College went on hold, allowing her to jump on board full time at the farm. She spent the summer continuing at farmers markets while harvesting flowers, making bouquets, and recording data for the growing flower program.
“I find more purpose in life working here, digesting things slower, being more purposeful and intentional with what I do. This work style has impacted me so much more than I thought.”
Now that the winter flowers are “sleeping” and classes have picked back up in school (likely with some sleepy students too), Alexis has been supporting the post harvest and CSA program needs. Faithfully helping our beloved “Shed Heads,” Alexis has learned how to be incredibly adaptable and value using her hands to implement what she’s learning in school. She’s especially excited about applying her new environmental studies courses on sustainability!
It was a perfect whirlwind of events that brought her to us: new interest sparked by a pandemic garden, a good reference from a farm friend, and a much needed transition in school and life. The farm family is so lucky that her seed landed in our soil, and that we get to enjoy watching her grow and bring new life-filled energy with each season.
