Meet the Crew
Sara G Patterson
Owner, farmer, chef, advocate, public speaker, dreamer, and doer.
I love life and mine has been an adventure full of twists and turns. I grew up in the San Fernando Valley, a suburb of Los Angeles, and was infatuated with the family garden, the few chicks we had, and anything to do with being outside. Moving to rural Southern Utah at the age of 10 would change my life forever. I started collecting livestock and growing and selling produce. I officially started Red Acre Farm, a CSA with 4 shareholders at 14, and founded Red Acre Center with my Mom at the age of 20. Here we are today and I embrace farming, cooking, advocating for the local food movement, sharing my journey, and building community with more passion than ever.
Symbria Patterson
Co-owner of the farm. Sara's mom and sometimes the crew's too.
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I wear many hats around here. Watching Sara's tenacity with Lynn, my late husband, we saw the possibilities and helped her to start building the farm. As her experience grew, so did her vision, we started another adventure, while continuing the first, and founded Red Acre Center in the midst of farming. I have never worked a day in my life. I always find myself engaged in a cause and loving what I do! The mother of four and grandmother of eight, I love to, take long walks, read, farm, eat good food, and be anxiously engaged in a good cause.
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TK Kern
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For the first 25 years of my life, I was deeply entrenched in nerd culture, immersing myself in video games and computer tinkering. I started making money building websites in high school, and after spending a decade glued to a keyboard and screen, my health suffered from a sedentary lifestyle and poor diet. Feeling the need for change and drawn by environmental concerns, I embarked on a journey into cooking from scratch, prioritizing locally sourced produce. You meet some interesting folks at farmers markets, and Sara and Symbria are a interesting indeed - they are largely to blame for discovering my passion for healing the land through small-scale organic agriculture. Volunteering led to a full-blown farming career, where I now spend my days orchestrating our vegetable production, maintaining our organic certification, slicing bread, writing grants, mentoring future farmers, tinkering on our web platforms, and whatever else needs to be done. While a far cry from my digital past, the fulfillment found in real-life farming adventures surpasses any of my former virtual achievements.
Long story short I dropped out of college, bought a dog, and moved onto the farm \_(*^*)_/. More importantly I am the most hilarious, absurdly talent, extremely beautiful, and according to Sara “the most adorable person ever” (I forced her to say that). With the burden of being the best ever, I still find time to hang out with my bestie POTUS (my dog). We hike, walk, and play with rocks. He is also amazing because he has the honor of being the only dog allowed on the farm (due to his diplomatic immunity). I’m grateful for the opportunity to learn farm life and I’ll see where that takes me in the future. Just know it is going to be dope.
I am a recent SUU graduate with a degree in Biology and have always had a fascination with anything that is alive. Only a year after I moved to Cedar City for school I volunteered for the first time at the farm harvesting potatoes and beets and was soon adopted into the kitchen and subsequently Sara's crew. Growing flowers is something that connects me to my mom, who always keeps our yard flourishing with flowers; she got it from her mom, who did likewise. I love the amazing diversity of flowers and am excited to add my own pop to this program. When I’m not working on flowers I’m baking up a storm with Sara in the kitchen, snoozing with Shakespeare on the couch, getting into some kind of trouble with my twin sister Isabelle and her dog Potus, or looking for self-enlightenment.
"Volunteers aren't paid, not because they are worthless but because they are priceless."
Through the years we have had Woofers, interns, and hundreds of volunteers.
There are those who come alone, some in groups, and some as entire families. Some are here for only an hour but stay in our hearts forever. There are the few we count on showing up at the same time and day every week for years, there are those who just show up randomly, and there are those who leave and later return. We also have what we call angels. Just when we think we will not be ready for an event, or we need to cover crops before a freeze, or just when there is an impossible task, someone will show up and literally save us.
The farm and all it does and offers to this community would not be possible without volunteers. We know that and we love and appreciate them and every minute of time that they have ever given.
Shakespeare
Boss lady, Mouser, and lap warmer