Prairie Hale (she/her)
Operations and Finance Director
Prairie grew up in northeast Oregon, developing a connection to the land while her family gleaned, gardened, and hunted for food. After getting her BA in peace studies and ecology she worked on farms and organized local food systems around the country. Prairie joined Zenger Farm in 2008 as an AmeriCorps member, later becoming Community Engagement Manager. She completed a Graduate Certificate in Public Health Promotion in 2016. Passionate about participatory education and community organizing, she worked with neighborhood families to build connections to the farm and opportunities to share food & knowledge cross-culturally. Prairie became Operations Manager in 2020. She enjoys supporting her team and promoting connections between people, communities, and land.
Nick Brodnicki (he/him)
Interim Executive Director
Access and opportunity are at the heart of Nick’s work. The former Executive Director of the American Heart Association in Oregon & SW Washington and Chief Operating Officer for the Portland Rose Festival Foundation, Nick’s career took flight over two decades ago, starting as a consultant, coach and events lead for mission-driven work. When he’s not busy making things happen at work, you’ll find him running through the forests of the Pacific Northwest, snuggling with his cats, or exploring neighborhood street fairs with his partner.
Kristie Winberg (she/her)
Food Production Program Manager
Kristie grew up in a variety of different places until landing at Lewis & Clark College in 2006. After 17 years in Portland, she can now confidently say this is where she is from. Kristie began her farming journey with the very apprenticeship that she now helps lead. Kristie was inspired to go into sustainable agriculture while studying the intersection of food and social justice at PSU. When Kristie is not farming she can be found playing with her two sweet pups or doing projects in her new home just down the road from Zenger Farm.
Kelly Randolph (she/her)
CSA Partnerships for Health Program Manager
Kelly was born and raised in San Francisco, half a mile from the perennially foggy beach. She was brought up to love food, beginning to cook and tend a garden with her mother at a young age, and to respect the wisdom of nature, through healing with plant medicine and traversing outdoor adventures. Her personal passion for holistic health has led her to study different modalities, including folk medicine, nutrition and public health education. She spent 15 years in the restaurant industry, where she navigated the wide world of artful food and beverage, always aligning most with local provisions grown and raised with care. She moved to Portland in 2013, joined the Zenger farm crew as an intern in 2020, and came on as Program Assistant to CSA Partnerships for Health in 2021. Her greatest loves are cooking, birdwatching, weightlifting, butchery, the ocean, farm stands, and Pit Bulls.
Sara Falconer (she/her)
Farm Program Coordinator: Harvest Lead
Bio coming soon.
Danni Preston (she/they)
CSA Partnerships for Health Program Coordinator
Danni, a Portland local, finds inspiration in her family’s heritage from Temple, Oklahoma, where self-sufficiency and farming were fundamental. Her goal is to revitalize this legacy, providing sustenance to her community while honoring her ancestors’ strength. Outside of agriculture, she enjoys hiking, making music, and attending live performances, valuing moments of creativity and bonding with loved ones. Danni is dedicated to redefining safety for Black and Brown communities through self-sufficiency and autonomous systems, recognizing that land access and stewardship are central to all liberation efforts.
Lukas Maurer (he/him)
Farm Program Coordinator: Crew Lead
Luke’s path to Zenger Farm starts in the kitchen of his childhood home in Bloomington, IL, where he began to experiment and learn to sate his curiosity and considerable appetite. As a repeat student at the University of Oregon’s Urban Farm, he was sparked by the combination of experiential learning in growing food, coupled with critical inquiry into food systems and more-than-human ecology. After a few years working in Spain as a teacher, he moved to Portland to pursue a graduate degree in PSU’s Leadership for Sustainability Education program, drawn by the promise of learning how to create the sort of experiences in learning gardens that had helped him along his path. Through years of thinking about and practicing urban agriculture, he honed in on year-round food cultivation, soil ecology, seed stewardship, as ways to work at the speed of Life. He has heroes in Masanobu Fukuoka, Carol Deppe, Steve Solomon, the team at Wild Garden Seed Co., and Adaptive Seeds. When he’s not geeking out about rare culinary cultivars of food plants, he’s probably fishing, play-fighting with his cats, or cooking up some of the food he spends all his time trying to find/grow/pick/forage/glean.
Jae Seung Hancock (they/them)
Volunteer & Operations Coordinator
Jae was born in Seoul, South Korea, but grew up in a suburb of the Twin Cities. After graduating with a B.A. in Dance and Arts Management from the University of Wisconsin – Stevens Point, Jae made the journey to Portland to pursue dance, theater, and visual arts. Once in Portland, they immersed themselves in different racial justice and community-based organizations and decided to change careers and pursue food justice and community organizing. They are deeply committed to food, trans, and gender justice. When Jae isn’t working, you can find them baking, dancing, hiking, or painting.
Michael Hall (he/him)
Farm Program Coordinator: Field Work Lead
In 2018 I was a farm apprentice here at Zenger farm and hired back on in 2019 as an on-call farmer at Zenger Farm. In 2019 my partner and I started our own market farm called Two Hills Farm and ran 20 CSA shares and 2 farmers markets. I love growing food and sharing food with my community. When I am not growing food I am at the dog park with my partner, baby, and dog or skiing, or surfing, or backpacking, or anything that keeps me moving outside.
Board of Directors
Alison Wandschneider (she/her), Chair
Alison grew up in Minnesota with community organizer and journalist parents making building relationships and telling stories to further justice and our communities a foundational value. She worked for many years working in the Portland area and Central America nonprofits, supporting community economic development and racial justice. Currently, as the Director of Sales and Client Success at Idealist Consulting, a nonprofit focused technology consulting firm, Alison continues to support nonprofits across the world to increase their impact through technology. As a member of the Zenger Board, Alison will bring together this diverse set of experiences, skills, and connections to support the Zenger Community and food justice in the greater Portland area. Outside of work and volunteering, she is a mom, part time gardener, and lover of eating local and seasonal food.
Kenny Asher (he/him), Board Member
Kenny is a longtime community builder, having spent more than 20 years practicing community development in the Portland metro region. A passionate community advocate and agrarian-idealist, he has overseen numerous projects and programs in local government that help create complete communities. Educated as an architect and journalist, he has continually sought new ways to help make communities in place. For the past seven years he has authored a blog that contemplates the life and work of Kentucky writer and farmer Wendell Berry; he has also maintained a lifelong Zen buddhist meditation practice. Kenny received a Bachelors in Science from the University of Florida and a Masters in Architecture from the University of Oregon. He lives in SE Portland with his wife Katie, where they ride bikes, cook, garden and spend time with their four sons.
Joshua Basofin, Board Member
Joshua is an environmental professional. His work has focused on wildlife conservation, sustainable business practices, and climate advocacy. He currently works on clean energy policy in Oregon. Joshua volunteered on small farms during college in Wisconsin and has been passionate about local food systems ever since. He brings a climate lens to the Board and is committed to food access, equity, and justice. Joshua is excited to elevate Zenger Farm’s profile in Portland and forge new partnerships for the organization. In his free time, Joshua enjoys gardening, cooking, hiking, kayaking, and raising a rambunctious chocolate labrador named Bear.
Taylor Harding, Board Member
Taylor is a born and raised Oregonian and currently works as a public affairs specialist for the Oregon Department of Agriculture. For nearly a decade, Taylor has worked at the intersection of digital communications, government, campaigns, fundraising, and marketing. She is passionate about fostering equity and social justice within our food systems, sustainability, and regenerative agriculture. Taylor holds a Bachelor of Arts in government from Georgetown University and lives in North Portland with her partner and their dog, Johnny, and she enjoys cooking, gardening, and cheering for the Boston Red Sox.