Welcome to the Team!

Here at Mass. Farm to School Project we are thrilled to welcome Lisa Damon to our staff. As the new Farm to Cafeteria Coordinator Lisa works with farmers, food service operators, food distributors, and farm to school advocates in central and western Mass. to assist in local food procurement efforts.

Lisa grew up on a farm in the Hudson Valley and spent her free time milking cows, selling pumpkins, and picking beans. After successfully transitioning to an urban life in Boston, while attending Boston University for degrees in Environmental Policy, Lisa decided to return to agriculture by earning an M.S. in Agriculture and Nutrition Policy from the Tufts’ Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy. Before joining the Mass. Farm to School Project Lisa worked for the Mass. Department of Agricultural Resources for five years where she coordinated the Department’s nutrition programs, the Federal-State Marketing Improvement Program (FSMIP), and various other marketing initiatives within the Division of Agricultural Markets.

Lisa joins us as Emily French moves on to embrace her work as a clinical herbalist and medicinal herb farmer full time.  Her practice, called Sweetgrass Herbals, is located on her family’s farm, Sagatabscot Orchards in Sterling.  She’s also taking over management of the apple orchard and transitioning it to organic. You can find Emily for wellness consultations, classes and workshops on the farm (where she is also growing 280 varieties of medicinal herbs), or selling her line of tinctures, tea blends, lotions and salves at the Worcester or Roslindale farmers markets.

If you’ve worked with Emily in the past please send her your best wishes and welcome Lisa to our team. She can be reached at lisa@massfarmtoschool.org or at 413-253-3844.  Lisa is looking forward to meeting you at the office, on the farm or in a cafeteria soon!