Meet The Crew
Our Story
Mighty Food Farm is a certified organic vegetable, strawberry, and bedding plant farm located in Shaftsbury, VT. We began our farm in Pownal, VT in 2006. In 2016 we relocated to a new and permanent home in Shaftsbury. 2026 will mark our 20th season of growing the highest quality produce for our customers to enjoy. Soil is the base of our farm and our passion. Read more about our farming practices below.
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Lisa MacDougall, Owner/Farmer
Lisa graduated from the University of Massachusetts Amherst with a Bachelors of Science in Plant, Soil and Insect Sciences. While in school and after graduation Lisa worked on a variety of organic farms in Amherst, MA, where she gained a lot of experience before Mighty Food. Lisa loves working with the farm crew in the fields, harvesting anything, crop planning, working with soil, and engaging with customers. Lisa loves farming and loves working! When not farming (which is rare), Lisa is an avid runner, and loves hiking, cross-country skiing, yoga, and spending time with her dog Iris. You can sometimes catch a glimpse of Lisa at the farm, but she is usually out in the fields or in a greenhouse. She loves farming and loves being outside.
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Rob
Rob is the farm's Equipment, Tractor, and Maintenance man extraordinaire! 2026 will be Rob's 6th year as full time on the farm. Rob has been helping out here and there from the very beginnings of Mighty Food Farm though! Rob has an interest in conservation and no-till practices, which we are incorporating on the farm. Rob and his wife Karen have two awesome kids and live in a straw bale house that they built themselves! Rob's background is in sculpture, but is really a Jack-of-all-trades, which is so helpful on the farm. Thanks rob for taking care of our soil, buildings, and equipment!
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Mary Ellen
Mary Ellen is the farm’s new CSA Manager for 2026 and beyond! Mary Ellen comes to the farm with a so much experience in apiculture, greenhouse propagation, retail, food processing, and gardening. Mary Ellen lives in Vermont and loves to garden, cook, be outside, and engage with community. Mary Ellen will be running the Friday and Saturday CSA pick ups, delivering wholesale, and be involved in greenhouse/field work and packing. We are thrilled to have Mary Ellen!
From ME: “My horticultural experience has been squired by diving in for 30 years! Let’s grow and share our knowledge, get growing and cooking together for a sustainable and healthy living!”
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Kathleen
Kathleen is an honorary farm team member! She officially retired in 2025, but still pops in to help out with CSA! Kathleen is a team player and always has a positive attitude and caring nature. 2026 will be Kathleen's 7th season on the farm season on the farm. Outside the farm, Kathleen loves the great outdoors including running, hiking, cross country skiing, and gardening. She enjoys being a part of the Mighty Food crew and helping bring organic, fresh veggies to the community. It's a team atmosphere which she enjoys and is accustomed to after coaching cross country and track at the high school and college level for over 20 years. Kathleen brings a lot to the farm team, including diligence with packing orders and quality control in the packing shed and a love of people, which makes her a real asset as CSA manager! The above picture is of Kathleen sorting brussel sprouts in the fall for orders! Thanks Kathleen for your work and compassion.
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Douglas
Douglas has been with Mighty Food for 15 years! he is the Wash and Pack manager in addition to tractor driving and having a wealth of knowledge about growing crops and fixing things! Douglas loves root washing, pounding posts, stream-lining large harvests, and setting up bomb displays at the market. Douglas is a Vermont Native and lives in Bennington with his wife Ashley and two kids, Clara and Timothy. Douglas is a talented gardener, handy-man, and total do-it-yourselfer. Thanks Douglas for your hard work, kindness, and humor!
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Brad, Production Manager
Brad is a Washington State native with an extensive background in horticulture. Brad brings a lot of energy and knowledge of growing vegetables to our team. Brad’s favorite jobs are working in the greenhouses, harvesting, planting on the transplanter, and really tackling any project with robust work ethic and positivity.
Brad lives in North Bennington with his partner Joanna and twin (!) girls. Brad enjoys music, playing guitar, gardening, cooking, and spending time with his family. Brad brings a stellar work ethic, can-do attitude, and lots of knowledge of farming to our team! Thanks Brad for your work!
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Jade
Jade started at the farm in 2024 with a stellar amount of experience under her belt! She hails from Jersey and comes to us with 6 years of large vegetable farm work.
Jade has her degree in holistic nutrition, which she is pursuing a career in. Jade will now be pursuing her dream of a Holistic Nutritionist! Jade will continue to work on the farm in the fields and help with social promotions and community engagement!
Her most recent work is the farm’s “Vegetable eBook”; a detailed encyclopedia of all the vegetables we grow with nutrition information, storage tips, and more!
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Madison
Madison has just returned from a winter spent abroad, working on farms and traveling around New Zealand. She was born and raised in upstate New York, where she graduated with a Bachelor’s of Science degree in Environmental Resources Engineering from the SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry. She is excited for her first season on the farm, and looking forward to learning more about growing organic produce and sharing it with the community. She is looking to take her career in a direction that blends her undergraduate studies with her passion for sustainable agriculture. In her free time, she enjoys hiking, biking, knitting, and jumping into any body of freshwater for a dip on a hot day.
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Katherine Wilson
Katherine is a D.C. native with a passion for nutrition, gardening, and food accessibility. Prior to moving to North Bennington in 2025, she lived in West Hartford, Connecticut, where she ran a food assistance program for public school students, packing and distributing over two hundred bags of food a week. Spending the 2025 growing season at True Love Farm bolstered her love of vegetable farming and augmented her skills in providing quality food to the community.
In North Bennington, Katherine and her wife, Susan, are slowly reclaiming their seven-acre property from invasive plant species and transforming it into a regenerative homestead. Inspired by her favorite board game, Wingspan, she wants her home to be a welcoming environment for all native birds and insects. Katherine enjoys being outside, spreading vegan joy through her home-cooked fare, and spending time with Susan and her two adult children.
Katherine’s primary responsibilities at Mighty Food Farm include packing and washing.
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Alyssa
Alyssa loves to sell you vegetables at the Dorset Farmers' Market! She also supports the farm through communications and marketing. Outside of MFF, Alyssa works as Programs Coordinator for ACT Bennington, where she facilitates school-based leadership clubs, hosts affirming youth programs and gatherings, designs creative community resources, and partners with young people to promote reproductive health, community safety, and LGBTQ+ inclusion. Alyssa finds joy in gardening, cooking, birdwatching, sketchbooking, and cuddling with her elder cat and a good science fiction novel.
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Travis
Travis will be joining us as a farm production team member for his first season in 2026! Travis grew up in Georgia, and when he was a teenager he left Georgia for Minneapolis, MN to pursue his passion for music! After being a stagehand in Minneapolis for a few years, Travis landed in Philadelphia, where he played in several bands and volunteered at a historic local music venue. Travis landed in Vermont after Philly for a few years where he worked at the Equinox golf course. Travis then received a fantastic job opportunity working at a record pressing company in Portland, OR! Fast forward to now, Travis is moving back to Vermont to pursue his interest in organic farming (at Mighty Food!) and be back in the mountains!
When not working, Travis likes hiking, kayaking, campfires, board games, and road trips.
Travis is coming to us with an extensive resume in various industries, a stellar work ethic, and enthusiasm for farming.
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We are Hiring!
This could be you!
Pickin' Peas!! The 2024 Farm Team crushing harvesting tasks!
Pictured above are Jade, Renee, Vivian, Richie, Douglas, and Brad!