Meet The Team
Founder
Stephany Lawhon
Steph has a heart for people and a mind for programming. She is a MSDE licensed teacher with a background in early childhood and special education with over eight years experience working in the Baltimore County Public school system. She has spent the last ten years creating programming and five years in management at a partner farm. She is the Program director at Prigel Family Farm, facilitating and running all camps, clubs and anything else agriculture education related.
Founder
Jennifer Peace
Jen is passionate about real food transparency and creating a market where farm food is accessible and honest. She has over fifteen years experience in every corner of the food industry. She has managed marketing and event planning for the past ten years at a partner farm and is excited to bring that expertise to grow Wonderfarm.
Founder & Executive Director
Mandy Castillo
As a 5th generation family farmer, Mandy is passionate about helping local farms stay alive and thriving. As a small business owner of one of our partner farms, Mandy strives to create experiences to feed her community. She is currently serving as the co-chair of the Baltimore County Agricultural Advisory Board and as a board member of the Long Green Valley Land Trust where she is making connections with local Maryland farms and learning to make small farming sustainable. She has over 20 years of experience in the food and events industry. She is on a mission to connect people to farms through food.
Board Member
Liana Michener
Liana brings a wide variety of experiences to the (Board) table. As a Title I school teacher and founding teacher of a Baltimore City public charter school she knows firsthand the transformative power of education and communication at any age. As an avid gardener, forager, and homesteader, Liana has been blessed to learn from a wide variety of experts in their respective fields including Jon Darby and Wilson Alvarez, of Horn Farm Center in York, PA, where she was chosen for and completed an Regenerative Farming Internship in 2019.
She has been the founder and owner of Italiana Travel Design for over 10 years, designing unique, custom travel experiences for clients of diverse backgrounds and interests by connecting them to the rich agricultural, viticultural, and culinary history of Italy. This global hospitality and agritourism experience has given her a very unique insight into the urgency of the mission of Wonderfarm. Now as a mother she is raising the future along with her crops and is thrilled to do all she can possibly do to quite literally save the family farm.
Board Member & Farm Advisor
Bobby Prigel
Bobby is the 4th generation to own and operate Prigel Family Farm. His lifetime of farming experience and drive is what has gotten his farm to the next generation. He has worked hard to stay ahead of the game and plan for the future in an ever changing market and world. Bobby has served on many agriculture boards, is a member of the Maryland Farm Bureau and is friend to many in the Maryland farm community.
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A message from Ann Childs (Board member) ,
I loved every moment of growing up on our farm, from feeding cows and calves to harvest season for the animals and for ourselves. Much time over the summer was spent freezing corn, canning tomatoes and green beans, making ketchup and jelly etc. Everything was put away for the winter and stored in our basement. Yes we had to go to the grocery store but much of what we ate we went to the basement to get what we needed for dinner. These are great memories for me and I am still putting away food for the winter.
Now, a lot of children and even adults think our food comes from a store. They don't think about the hard work it takes to get the food to the store. This is why Wonderfarm is important to me, I want people to know where their food really comes from and the importance of farming to all of us.
Advisor & Farm Partner
Jonathan Albright
Owner and operator at Albright farms, a century farm that has diversified into many facets of agriculture. JT has a lifetime of hands-on farming experience. He serves faithfully on many agricultural boards like the Baltimore Country Farm Bureau, The Baltimore Country Agricultural Advisory Board and Young Farms Advisory Board
Non-profit and Agricultrual Education Advisor
George Mayo
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