Board of Directors
Anne Boucher (President)
Bob Tucker (Vice President)
Jason Morrill (Secretary)
Sandy Stein (Treasurer)
Heather Fogarty Derken
Doug Coffin
Rebekah Fraser
Mary Gorham
Tom Handler
Karen Kravetz
Theresa Thomason
Dylan Vitale
Suzanne Werth
Massaro Community Farm Staff
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 a 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 and continues to lead the farm today.
MC (Mary Claire) Whelan
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.
Lindsay Browning
Lindsay is one of the friendly faces behind many of the farm’s favorite moments. Since joining the team in 2019, she’s been leading the planning and execution of the farm’s events- dreaming them up and then teaming up with a great crew to bring them to life, from seasonal celebrations to hands-on workshops (and making sure they actually happen without a hitch).
When she’s not planning the next great gathering, Lindsay is keeping the office running, spearheading fundraising efforts, and connecting with the community to help the farm grow and thrive. If you’ve attended an event, signed up for a program, or had a question answered, chances are Lindsay had a hand in it (and probably a clipboard nearby).
A lifelong Naugatuck Valley resident, Lindsay loves being part of a place that brings people together. Outside of the farm, she’s a busy mom of two who’s usually juggling schedules, family time, and the everyday chaos of life- with a good sense of humor to keep it all going. When she does get a quiet moment, it’s most often spent with her husband and kids, soaking up time together and enjoying the little things.
Kayleigh Mihalko
Kayleigh joins Massaro Community Farm with over a decade of experience in marketing, digital strategy, and community engagement. A graduate of Southern Connecticut State University with a degree in Business Administration, Kayleigh has spent her career uplifting local small businesses and nonprofits. In 2025, she took on the role of Executive Director for The Electronic Valley (OurValleyCT), continuing a long-standing tradition of connecting neighbors and preserving local history.
A lifelong resident of the Naugatuck Valley, Kayleigh is deeply committed to regional service. She is a graduate of Leadership Greater Valley (Class of 2013), was selected as a 40 Under 40 through Fairfield Business Journal (2016), is a Greater Valley Chamber of Commerce Ambassador, and has served on numerous boards, including the Seymour Historical Society and the Derby Neck Library.
At Massaro, she blends her administrative expertise with a passion for storytelling to support the farm’s development and outreach efforts. When she isn't at the farm, Kayleigh is likely teaching needle felting workshops, exploring the Valley’s hidden gems, or spending time with her family in Ansonia.
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.
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.
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
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.
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.
Mackenzie Callanan
Mackenzie Callanan is a farmer, youth educator, and community herbalist from Monroe, Connecticut. She studied Environmental Studies, Sustainability, and Health & Society—an interdisciplinary program connecting public health and anthropology—at the University of Vermont. One course in particular, The Science of Complementary and Alternative Medicine, inspired her to pursue a deeper understanding of integrative health practices.
Mackenzie is currently continuing her studies in herbalism, advancing into clinical training after earning her Community Herbalist certification. She hopes to weave the wisdom of plant magic and medicine into all that she does.
Having farmed on a variety of Connecticut farms since high school, Mackenzie brings firsthand experience of the interconnectedness of people, land, food, and medicine. She believes strongly in the power of early connection to the natural world and has seen how meaningful those relationships can be for young people. Her mission is to share these connections equitably with youth in her community, fostering curiosity, confidence, and a lifelong appreciation for the land.
She began this work with high school students as a Youth Crew Leader at Massaro Community Farm, where she found deep inspiration during her first season leading the program. She looks forward to continuing this work, helping young people build lasting relationships with the land, their food, and the living world around them.
Fin Hirschoff
Fin Hirschoff, a Bethany native, joined the Massaro crew in October of 2024. From a young age, he helped out with the family’s kitchen garden, weeding, digging up potatoes, picking berries and tomatoes, and selecting greens for the night’s salad: an early education in what is and is not a weed, and how to tell when something is ripe. He graduated from Hampshire College in 2006, with a BA in Film and Video Arts, and settled into a career in video post-production. Over the years, he grew weary of long hours with just a computer for company, and was thrilled to be brought on at the farm. When he isn’t farming, he works as an English and ESOL tutor for students in middle school and above, and enjoys cooking (especially with Massaro produce), playing and listening to music, writing, and visual arts.
Jessica Cipriano
Jessica Cipriano is a native of Bridgewater Connecticut & spent her formative years in North Carolina where she earned her BFA in contemporary dance. After dancing professionally in NYC for seven years with Dusan Tynek Dance Theatre, she now calls West Haven home with her husband and two kiddos.
She began her career in agriculture working in youth education in the Bronx, for multiple positions at GrowNYC, and in the fields at Queens County Farm. She joined the crew at Massaro Farm in 2019 and enjoyed co-leading the youth crew during the growing seasons. She has passions for nearly everything she encounters, including, but not limited to dance, music, education, food, farming, animals, birth, the enneagram and spirituality. She is also the crew member most likely to leave something behind (or on top of her car) after a long farm day.
