Timothy Goodwin, the executive director of the Community Farm of Simsbury, sent out this press release on Thursday:

The Community Farm of Simsbury and Gifts of Love (Avon) have hired a new garden manager, Margaret Saska. The unique collaboration enables both organizations to benefit as CFS grows and harvests bountiful amounts of certified organic produce for donation to local food security organizations, of which Gifts of Love is a primary recipient. CFS also donates produce to Simsbury Social Services, Billings Forge Community Works (Hartford), Foodshare, and the Hartford Food System. In 2011 CFS accounted for more than 12,500 pounds of certified organic produce grown and donated to families in need throughout the Hartford region.

Saska has worked as a CFS Incubator Farmer (farmer training program) over the past two years and is the reason CFS events have been adorned with wonderful flower arrangements. She has kept a beautifully manicured 1-acre plot in the incubator farmer fields and has owned and operated her own business, First Bloom Farm, LLC, since 2009. She has also worked as a vegetable grower at Winvian Farm in Morris, Conn. Her experience also includes teaching classes at the 4-H Education Center at Auer Farm and Manchester Community College in subjects from intro to biology to seasonal agriculture and environmental sustainability. 

She comes to CFS with an master's in plant science from the University of Connecticut and has worked as a research support specialist in plant science at Cornell. She is also fluent in Spanish, which is very exciting as she will be teaching during farm trips with several Spanish speaking students from CFS partner, Hartford Pubic Schools. 

"We are very excited to have Maggie joining our team at CFS. Her wealth of relevant experience coupled with her industrious and enthusiastic spirit will surely enable CFS to continue to expand our educational programs and provide certified organic produce to feed families in need," said Goodwin.