Our Team

My list of love for farming is lengthy (here’s some excerpts): eating meals that tell me what month it is, releasing trapped butterflies from the greenhouse,  having a sun-soaked tired body at the end of a summer’s day, reversing the transplant tractor, hot strawberries in my mouth, welcoming the yellow times of late summer, cozy office days in winter, the pulsing vibrancy of plants and people in June… so many delights, so many simple joys and tiny pleasures.  When I’m not working, I’m either spending time caring for and/or having fun with my three kids who amuse, challenge, and amaze me OR I’m doing something fun with friends – hockey and hiking are favorites.

I spent two seasons learning how to farm at Michael Fields Agricultural Institute.  In 2005, I started farming on my parents land in the town of Middleton.  I studied horticulture at UW Madison.  When I graduated in 2008, Cassie and I had established a thriving vegetable farm and purchased land of our own. I love to move my body.  I find great pleasure in fine motor skills.  Nowadays I spend a great deal of time operating tractors.  I laugh a lot, usually at my own brain.   I try to remember to play more, despite my initial appearance, it keeps me younger.  The technology that brings me up the most is called bluetooth.

Cat dad, professional dreamer, aspiring doer, originally from SW Minnesota.

Samson is returning to Crossroads for a 2nd season, this time as an apprentice with Wisconsin Organic Farm Manager apprenticeship program. Samson is passionate about soil regeneration and his senior rat terrier. When not farming, he enjoys hiking, biking, and sewing. He named himself after the gorilla from the Milwaukee Zoo.

Forrest grew up in rural southwest Wisconsin. He graduated from Antioch College in 2015 with a fine arts degree. Since graduating college he has lived in Hawaii, Iowa and Nevada, before settling down in the Driftless Area. Forrest has spent the better part of the last decade as a cook, organizer, and food systems advocate. Most recently, he worked with the Wisconsin Farmers Union on the Wisconsin Local Food Purchase Assistance Program, a federally funded hunger relief initiative supporting Wisconsin’s small farms. Forrest is thrilled to join the Crossroads Community Farm team for the 2025 growing season.

I love growing healthy and beautiful food for our community! This is my fifth season as a farmer, with past farming experiences at Lovefood Farm (another awesome local organic farm), my own small operation Sunshine Salad Farm out at the Farley Center, and various WWOOF/volunteer experiences. I’m excited to learn about new crops I haven’t grown before, and to be a part of Crossroads’ mission to provide food for our community that supports the health of both people and planet!

Hails from Somerset, WI. Descendant of dairy farmers. Studied physics at Carthage College when it was still a liberal arts school. Did not utilize his physics degree for very long. Loves literature, music, cinema, shooting hoops, making things, pacing, and gelatin dessert, among other things. Excited to begin a new chapter and grateful to be at Crossroads Community Farm!

Mercedes has been farming since 2017 and been at Crossroads in some capacity since 2019. She complains a lot about farming but is actually obsessed with it and always asks to come back each summer. Her favorite farm story is when she delivered a live laying hen instead of a whole frozen chicken to a customer during her first summer farming in Virginia.