Darin Laity
President
Darin Laity works in the space industry as a systems engineer at Vandenberg AFB. He also serves as the Superintendent of Operations at the 148th Space Operations Squadron. He formerly owned and operated a private farm and is the farm advisor for Firstfruits Farm SLO.
Darin is a cofounder of Firstfruits Farm SLO.
Faith Carlson
Vice President
Faith Carlson is a registered ASW with the Board of Behavioral Sciences. She has served seniors and the homeless population in San Luis Obispo County for eight years. Faith provides management and community program development experience.
Faith has been involved at the farm since 2013.
Paul Shackleford
Executive Director
Paul is no stranger to the farm, having become a core member of the Farm Operations Team over the 2019 and 2020 growing seasons.
We are super excited to announce that Paul will be taking an even larger role at the farm in 2021.
Dinora Escalera Delgado
Secretary
Dinora is a Leasing Agent at Valencia Student Housing. She is taking pre-nursing courses at Cuesta College with plans to continue on to their Registered Nursing program. Dinora is a SLO native and just a delightful human being!
She has been involved with Firstfruits Farm SLO since 2020.
Marti Kessler
Farm Liaison
Marti Kessler is a retired San Luis Obispo teacher. Marti is passionate about gardening and caring for people. She has experience serving in different community organizations and is certified in produce safety.
Marti is a cofounder of Firstfruits Farm SLO.
Kyle Madel
Treasurer
Kyle is a Financial Analyst at Curation Foods. Kyle is passionate about food justice and finance which makes him a perfect fit for our team.
Kyle has been involved at the farm since 2020.
Jen Smith
Communications
Jen Smith is the Senior Business Intelligence Strategist for The Parable Group in San Luis Obispo City. She provides experience with digital media, digital design, & communication management.
She has been involved at the farm since 2017.
Did you know that during the 2020 Harvest Season we ran over 104 service events and that every event is run by volunteer leaders like you? For 2021, we want to triple the number of volunteer leaders on our roster. If you have come out to the farm, love what we do, you are 18 or older, and available to lead up to three times a month next Harvest season, sign-up here!
Training begins in March 2021!
Team Work
Saturdays
If your extended family, company, club, civic organization, or church would like to do some team building, we would love to set y'all up with a farm care event.
Contact us!
Saturdays | 9 am - 11 am
October 31 - November 21st
Restoration season projects for large groups are limited so get on the list early so you don't miss out!
Join the Board of Directors
Firstfruits Farm SLO is growing and we need leaders excited to shape this faith-based non-profit into an even more effective organization.
We are looking for a Treasurer who’s able to work closely with our fundraising team.
If you want to learn more about the position and time commitment, let us know!
Farm Operations
Do you stay up late into the night researching techniques to grow a perfectly flavored snap pea? Do you know the best cycle for crop rotation to restore nitrogen to the soil? Do you love words like amendments and brassicas?
Join the Farm Operations team and share your knowledge! This group of dirt loving folks work together to plan what we grow, where we grow it, & how we grow it.
Grant Hunting & Writing
Firstfruits Farm SLO has so many good ideas but we need funding to implement them.
We are looking for volunteers with experience in searching out and writing grants to join our executive director and president in the hunt!
If you’re like, “grants? Easy peasy. I grant hunt in my sleep.”
2021 Delivery
Program
Ok team, we will have a veggie van next season and that means we get to be more creative with our delivery program. We’re thinking…wait for it…mobile farmer’s markets!!!
If this excites you and you're committed to getting our food out of the field into the hands of our neighbors, sign-up here!
Brainstorming for the 2021 Delivery Program will begin in January.
Restoration
Projects
Harvests need large groups to process the produce, but Restoration Season projects typically call for small groups of 3-5 people and can be weather dependent.
If you would like to be on the list of volunteers we contact for small group Restoration Season events, we would love to see you out at the farm.
Join our Social Media Team
If you love taking pictures or videos of the farm and are interested in gaining some brand management experience, be one of our social media volunteers! If you are a YouTube content creator expert, we definitely need you!
Social media volunteers will be trained by our communications director in and will have our brand book to the work.
Training begins in February.
Community Partnerships
Are you a member of a church with a food pantry? Are you part of a service organization that works with the food insecure? Are you a 4-H club officer looking for an ag project for youth without access to land to farm?
We are open to building new partnerships in 2021 with established organizations to get our food our of the field and into the hands of people in our county experience food insecurity.