Staff and Board

Sachin is passionate about just and sustainable food systems education. He has spent the last 9 years working in different parts of the food system, in India and various parts of the US, including: food rescue, beekeeping, and farm/garden-based education for youth and adults. He is an apprentice alumnus of the UC-Santa Cruz Center for Agroecology. Sachin earned his M.Ed. in Learning and Design from Vanderbilt University, where he conducted applied research for an urban farming education program for Bhutanese and Burmese refugees. He is currently a Master Melittologist in training, contributing to a university-led citizen science survey on native bees in the PNW. In his free time, you can find him drumming, experimenting with paleo cooking, or playing video games.

Kale grew up in Northern Indiana amongst the cornfields and maple trees. While their access to nature growing up was limited to small parks and the line of trees in their neighborhood she considered a mystical forest, Kale grew to love the natural world around them and set out to explore more of her. While Kale was earning their BA in environmental and marine science, she saw the glaring disparities between access to environmental education and the dangers of Western Colonial relations to land. Her goal became to make environmental education more accessible to marginalized communities, so they pivoted their focus and earned their MA in environmental education. Since then, they have led field trips on a nature preserve in Indiana, led marine science camps on an island off the coast of Maine, and worked as a teacher in residence on an educational ranch on the coast of Northern California. It was there that she fell in love with sustainable food systems and connecting to nature through food. They are excited to continue that work at Zenger Farm.

Teiah Henry is a Garden and Outdoors Educator dedicated to helping students of all ages strengthen their relationships with the earth. Their previous work included teaching positions at Annalee and Leapwood Elementary Schools in Los Angeles Unified School District with Garden School Foundation, a non-profit devoted to bringing garden education into public schools, as well as a position as Garden Coordinator at LAUSD’s Wonderland Elementary School, where their responsibilities including empowering students to design their own garden space, leading cooking classes and community garden days, and maintaining a variety of green spaces. Teiah was Garden and Animal Care Specialist at Berkshire Hills Eisenberg Camp for four summers, held Naturalist positions at Mountains Recreation and Conservation Authority, and interned as an Outdoor Leader at Outward Bound Adventures. They have certifications from University of California’s Master Gardener and California Naturalist programs and National Association for Interpretation’s Interpretive Guide program and are a member of the National Association of Interpretation, California Association for Environmental & Outdoor Education, and American Camp Association. In their free time, Teiah enjoys cooking for friends and loved ones, going to arts and community events, and connecting with other educators who seek to create liberatory learning spaces.

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.

Megan grew up in the Portland metro area playing competitive soccer for most of her life. You can still find her on the field, just this time she’s coaching! Outside of a love for the beautiful game, her passions have centered around direct service work, as well as elevating the stories, voices and movements our communities hold via strategic communications and transparent + ethical fundraising. This passion has led her to many roles including crisis support for college students, providing direct service work at a local shelter, as well as non-profit fundraising and development. She is committed to growing community centered fundraising strategies in which wealth is redistributed in ways that can empower our community, and resource moving is executed with an intersectional and equity-focused lens. Zenger Farm provides a space to learn, grow and connect to this work, the land and community. Megan is honored to be a part of this space.

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.

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.

Letha is a 2 spirit, Klamath and Cour d’Alene, mixed indigenous person. They were born and raised in Portland, Oregon.  They have been an activist their whole life, focusing on decolonization, advocating for their people and other marginalized groups, attending marches and organizing school walk outs. Letha spent their childhood exploring the natural areas in Portland and tending to their garden boxes. They have always loved learning, teaching, and connecting with kids. They value teaching from a trauma-informed, anti-bias perspective. At Zenger, they are able to combine their passions. In their free time you can find them crafting or taking care of their garden.