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Meet Our Team

Profile: Brightspirit Hendrix - P.e.a.c.h. President

Brightspirit Hendrix is the founder and president of P.e.a.c.h. Community Farm. Brightspirit’s fascination with science led her to study biology at Texas Woman’s University. She was a Certified Organic Farmer for nearly a decade and has made her front yard in Spokane an edible landscape. Brightspirit loves her kids and has raised them on a diet of organic, locally produced food. An avid cyclist, you’ll often find her on the Centennial Trail to Coeur d’Alene. She is involved in mentoring youth living in disadvantaged situations reminiscent of her own background. Brightspirit is also engaged in public policy in fighting for food justice for those who do not have the capacity to fight for themselves. She is currently passionately studying business at Eastern Washington University in order to use sound business principles in p.e.a.c.h’s work to create a just, ethically upright local food system.

Profile: Director of Farming Programs - Chrys Ostrander

Chrys Ostrander, an organic farmer for over two decades and a respected sustainable agriculture activist, is the Director of Farming Programs for p.e.a.c.h. and lead farmer in residence at p.e.a.c.h. Community Farm. He has over 30 years involvement in the organic food movement-- in production, marketing, distribution and management. Twenty of those years were spent living, farming and organizing at Tolstoy Farm, the oldest (established 1963), still-surviving, non-religious intentional community in the US, located near Davenport WA, 35 miles West of Spokane. His interests and expertise include micro-farming, organic gardening, seed saving, raising dairy goats, sustainable homesteading, permaculture, parenting, activism, computer skills (i.e. web design, web-based activism, digital graphics), intentional community, photography, herbology, cooking and music.

Profile: AmeriCorps VISTA Volunteer Whitney Jacques

Picture of WhitneyWhitney Jacques is an AmeriCorps VISTA (Volunteer in Service to America) working as volunteer coordinator for p.e.a.c.h. Whitney also assists in grant writing and other organizational work for the farm. She studied at Washington State University and was a volunteer intern on the p.e.a.c.h. farm while working on her Organic Agriculture Certificate from WSU. Whitney is originally from Alaska, but has made her home in Spokane for the last six years.

 

Whitney is pictured here planting onions starts with some young volunteers.

Profile: Joe Destaffaney - Assistant Farm Manager

Joe Destaffaney is Assistant Manager at the P.e.a.c.h. Community Farm. He has been an organic farmer and has raised cattle and dairy goats. He has worked as a mechanic and electrician and has experience with solar, hydro and wind power systems.  In the early 2000's he was a member of the Thin Air Steering Committee and helped bring KYRS Community Radio to Spokane. He enjoys Barter Faires, camping, astronomy and wandering the nooks and crannies of the World Wide Web. Originally from Delaware, he has spent the last 25 years living in the Pacific Northwest.