Join Our CSA

Community Supported Agriculture is a partnership between farmers and their customers. You receive the freshest organic produce weekly, helping the farm to pre-plan the growing season.

Find Out More

Find Us at these Farmer’s Markets

Find our fresh vegetables at farmers markets throughout the growing season.
Find Out More

Newsletter Signup

Signup today to receive our newsletter and stay in-the-know about all farm happenings.

Visit our Instagram Page

Board, Committees & Staff

Massaro Community Farm, Inc.

Massaro Community Farm, Inc. is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization.

Board of Directors

Co-President: Sandra T. Stein

Co-President: Suzanne Werth

Vice-President: Anne Boucher

Secretary: Mary Gorham

Treasurer: Al Tyma

Jim Calkins

Tom Handler

Willa Ridinger

Theresa Thomason

Bob Tucker

Dylan Vitale

Jason Morrill

Committees

The farm has two sets of committees - one to attend to the governance of the organization and a second to engage volunteers. Each committee has its own meeting schedule. If you are interested in getting involved, please contact the farm office at (203) 736-8618 or email us at [email protected]. Thank you.

Governance

Development Committee [Chair, Sandy Stein]
Seeks to cultivate key relationships with members, donors and businesses, and to devise fundraising to enable and enhance the mission of the farm.

Facilities Committee [Chair, Bob Tucker]
Responsible for maintaining, upgrading and expanding the physical infrastructure of the farm.

Governance Committee [Chair, Anne Boucher]
Oversees legal compliance of the organization and vets and nominates suitable candidates to serve on the board.

CSA & Produce Marketing Committee [Chair, Steve Munno]
Evaluates the CSA offerings and supports the farm manager.

Finance Committee [Chair, Tom Handler]

The finance committee oversees financial reporting of the organization, and makes recommendations to the board for management of the organization's funds.

Education Committee [Chair, Mary Gorham]
Advises on creating and providing program opportunities for people of all ages.

Executive Director/Farm Director, Steve Munno

Farmer Steve is originally from Long Island and is a graduate of Wesleyan University in Middletown, CT. After graduation in 2001, Steve’s work in field science and wilderness skills education took him to California, where he lived for five years. During this time, Steve began to hone his skills in agriculture. Always a food lover and long time supporter of local farms, Steve found his work in the wilderness continually pointed toward the importance of healthy food and its connection to healthy communities and healthy land. Inspired to be more involved with food and farming, he volunteered with a local farmer for two years before enrolling in the UC Santa Cruz Apprenticeship in Ecological Horticulture. Upon completion of this Apprenticeship, Steve stayed on for second year at UC Santa Cruz serving as a teacher and assistant manager in a 2+ acre market garden growing a tremendous variety of vegetables, flowers, fruit and perennials. He then returned to the east coast to work for The Food Project in Lincoln, MA. Steve managed the greenhouse on this 30-acre farm and helped provide for a 400-member CSA, supply food to farm stands in Boston, donate produce to hunger relief organizations and offer educational opportunities to youth and community organizations in the greater Boston area. At the end of 2009, Steve came to Massaro Farm to revive the land and bring the fields at Massaro Farm back into production.

Office and Event Manager, Lindsay Browning

Lindsay Browning joined the farm in August of 2019 and quickly settled into our farm family. Lindsay is a lifelong resident of Naugatuck Valley and brings to the farm her energy and enthusiasm from a background in fundraising, marketing, and public relations. When not at the farm, she enjoys spending time with her husband and two children. She is thrilled to be aboard to raise funds to support the farm and create fun events for the community to enjoy.

Farm Manager-MC (Mary Claire) Whelan

MC Whelan (she/her) has been on the Massaro farm crew since 2019 and took on the Farm Manager role in 2024. She's thrilled to be leading an incredible team of farmers to produce high quality, sustainable food for our community.

MC has been working on farms since she was a teenager, and studied global peasant farmers' movements while getting her undergrad degree at Yale. She is passionate about farmer-led organizing and believes that farmers can be a big part of the solution to critical issues like climate change and racial injustice. Before taking on the role of Farm Manager, MC was the Coordinator of the New CT Farmer Alliance for more than three years. While Coordinator, she worked with other farmers to successfully advocate for state funding for climate-smart agricultural practices and worked to distribute this funding to underserved farmers around the state. She also travelled all around Connecitcut distributing covid relief money to farm workers, which reinforced her admiration for the strength, resilience, and skill of CT's farmworkers.

MC is very grateful for her farmer community and loves working at a job where she is always learning new things. When she's not farming, you can find her making tomato sandwiches and playing Magic the Gathering with her wife.

Greenhouse & CSA Manager, Alyssa DesRosier

Alyssa DesRosier, originally from Hamden, always knew she wanted to work with plants, but struggled to figure out exactly what career she wanted to pursue. After receiving a degree in Horticulture, she started working in landscaping, garden centers, and nurseries. Nothing quite clicked until she attended the CT NOFA 2013 Winter Conference and heard a presentation with Farmer Steve about CSAs and organic farming. Five months later, she was hired to the farm crew here at Massaro, and has been working on the farm ever since as the Assistant Farm Manager. As of 2023 she has taken over CSA administration and will happily answer any questions you have!

When off the farm, Alyssa spends much of her time quilting, crafting, and reading. She now lives in Fairfield with her husband Jeff, a band teacher and musician in the traditional Irish band The Jolly Beggars.

Kayla Cook, Crew Manager

Kayla Cook started volunteering at Massaro in June 2017 and joined the staff that August to finish out the season. She has been part of the crew since then and as of 2023 she is the Crew Leader. Kayla graduated from SUNY Fredonia as a singer with a degree in music and has been fortunate to grow her musical career with various singing jobs around the state. After Kayla graduated, she became interested in wanting to learn more about organic food and so she began her farming career. Kayla has loved her time at Massaro learning about farming and life alongside an intelligent, caring, and hard-working crew. She currently resides in Hamden, CT with her wonderful husband David and their two cats and rabbit.

Market Manager, Summer Youth Crew Manager, & Donations Coordinator, Alanna Gilbert

Originally from Western Connecticut, Alanna has bopped between Burlington, where she attended the University of Vermont, France, where she studied History and taught English, and New Haven, where she used to sell gluten-free cookies and serve off a food truck; and where she currently consumes Original Tomato pizzas and picnics in Wooster Square Park. She moved back to Connecticut to pursue service with AmeriCorps, which allowed her to see her home state from an exciting new point of view. After helping implement a school garden grant through the nonprofit Health 360, she served as an AmeriCorps VISTA at the Connecticut Food Bank, coordinating produce donations from local farmers and helping volunteers glean extra produce from farm partners including Massaro.

After years of floating somewhere around food access, gardening, education, and food service, Alanna is excited to learn more about farming, to explore its place in our food system and community, and to work alongside a curious and compelled team. She doesn’t quite know where she is going, but she is delighted to spend this season (her first!) at Massaro.

Summer Youth Crew Lead Manager & Market Staff- Cass Darrow

Meet our staff member, Cass. They graduated from Yale University with a degree in Ethnicity, Race, and Migration. They are currently attending school part time to become a midwife.

Cass is best friends with fellow farm staffer, MC, who introduced them to the farm. Their favorite parts of working at Massaro is the people and growing delicious food! They also shared that they enjoy dreaming with the crew on how to make the whole world sustainable and provide everyone access to quality food that doesn't hurt the earth.

Prior to joining the Massaro Farm Crew they worked at Simple Gift Farms in Amherst, MA. In their free time they enjoy rollerskating and rollerblading.

Youth Program Coordinator/Farm-based Educator, Joi Prud'homme

Joi, a resident of Woodbridge and a long-time supporter of Massaro Community Farm as a volunteer and CSA Member, joined our staff as a Farm-based Educator in 2023 to help with youth programs. Recently, she has taken on the role as Youth Program Coordinator and is excited to expand our educational offerings on the farm which include Field Trips, Homeschool, After School and Summer Camp Programs.

Originally from the Coast of Maine, Joi has always been a nature and animal lover. She is thrilled to share her passion and knowledge with people of all ages throughout the beautiful 57 acres of Massaro Community Farm. In 2023, she completed UCONN’s Master Gardener program and is now tending the farm’s Native Perennial/Pollinator and Learning Gardens with Master Gardener volunteers. When Joi is not at the Farm, she is volunteering her time in New Haven County as a 4-H Leader, serving on the Woodbridge Conservation Commission and spending time with her husband, daughter, and their house full of animals!

Farm-based Educator, Farm Staff, & Community Garden Liaison, Rose Hatt

Rose grew up in West Haven and received a degree in Linguistics and Psychology at UConn. Since graduating, she searched for a career where she could make a difference in her community. She joined Massaro in 2022 for a 10-month Public Allies apprenticeship, where she focused on increasing engagement in the Grow Your Own community gardens across the Lower Naugatuck Valley.

Once her service term finished, Rose was hired as a farm-based educator and crew member. She works on the farm’s field trips, after-school, homeschool programs, and is a counselor during summer camp. She lives in Ansonia and spends her free time knitting and crocheting.

Summer Camp Coordinator, Josey Brannon

Meet Josey Brannon, a passionate educator with a knack for nurturing young minds across multiple platforms. For nine months of the year, Josey is deeply immersed in the world of education, serving as a dedicated science teacher for 4th to 8th graders, as well as kindergarteners. But when the summer sun beckons, Josey takes on a new role as the camp coordinator for Masssaro Community Farm, where her love for farming and education converge in an enriching experience for campers.

Rooted in the picturesque White Hills of Shelton, Josey's connection to farming runs deep. With her own small farm specializing in heritage apples and chickens, she effortlessly blends her agricultural expertise with her passion for teaching. Josey's academic background in history and science serves as the cornerstone for her holistic approach to education, evident in her innovative camp curriculum.

At Masssaro Community Farm, Josey's vision is clear: to cultivate a dynamic learning environment that sparks creativity and fosters hands-on exploration. Through themed weeks such as life on a colonial farm, indigenous culture, and weather/climate studies, Josey ensures that campers not only have fun but also gain valuable insights that resonate beyond the summer months.

Driven by her overarching goal to empower young learners, Josey strives to instill a love for learning that transcends the boundaries of the classroom. With her blend of expertise, enthusiasm, and dedication, Josey Brannon is shaping the minds of tomorrow, one summer camp at a time.