Welcome Carlos and Lorena!

We are thrilled to share the great news that Carlos Aguilera and Lorena Mendoza will be the next farmers at West Haven Farm! Jen and John will be around this fall (and beyond) providing support through the transition. West Haven Farm CSA will restart in 2020, and you will continue to find West Haven’s high-quality certified organic fruit and vegetables at the Ithaca Farmers’ Market.

Carlos and Lorena have years of experience farming across this region and close ties to the local agriculture community, and they value the systems that John and Jen have established at West Haven. We could not imagine a better future for West Haven Farm! Knowing that such dedicated and capable farmers will be taking over tips the scales toward “sweet” as we make this bittersweet transition in our lives.

Here’s a little bit more about Carlos and Lorena, who will be farming with their children Diego (11), Benji (3), and Nico (2): They grew up in central Mexico in a community of about 300-400 families surrounded by peaceful nature, eating what the land produced. Carlos first visited a supermarket when he got to the US at age 16. After they came to the US, they ate conventional food for a bunch of years, until Carlos became a licensed spray technician in the state of New York for his work. While he began to study for the license they realized the terrible consequences of pesticides and started to value more what they had back in Mexico as kids.

“We know that it is not only the chemicals that make food taste good or bad, we think that food tastes best when the recipe includes things like equality, diversity, justice, and happiness in the plate.”—C&L