Christine Pielenz
OwnerChristine hails from Germany. After coming to San Francisco in 1995 she founded the family foundation Potrero Nuevo Fund with her husband, Bill, which supports after-school arts education, school garden programs and sustainable architecture for low-income communities. She always has enjoyed growing her own vegetables; in 2008 she decided she needed more space to grow things and bought Potrero Nuevo Farm.
Bill Laven
Bill taught literature at the secondary level for 8 years and photography from the secondary to post-graduate level for 20 years until he retired from teaching to found the Potrero Nuevo Fund with Christine. He now runs the farm with Christine.
Suzie Trexler
Farm ManagerSuzie found her way to farming as a Boston food critic. She quickly realized that she had no business writing about carrots and kale until she knew where it all came from. The Food Project and Siena Farms soon set her straight before an internship at Spannocchia in Tuscany, Italy, working with heritage breed farm animals. California called her back to the states, where an apprenticeship at UCSC's Farm & Garden convinced Suzie that the soil was the only place she felt sane. The act of farming, for her, is a grounding force that provides connection to everything that matters. Suzie is excited to be in her fourth season at Potrero Nuevo and hopes one day to return East with her husband Jay to farm.
Jay Trexler
Farm ManagerJay joins PNF this season to co-manage with his wife Suzie. The two first farmed together at the UCSC Farm & Garden apprenticeship, where they met in 2008. Since then Jay has been leading wilderness therapy trips with at-risk youth in OR, as well as pitching in at Fifth Crow Farm in Pescadero. When he's not farming with his wife, Jay enjoys woodworking and picking out old time tunes on his claw hammer banjo.
Bear
Farm DogBear joins the farm crew as resident guard dog, hailing all the way from Knoxville, TN. He showed up with the red clay of the South in his paws but has quickly taken to digging in the the dark soils of the coast. We can hardly recall the pure white coat he showed up in. As a Great Pyrenees, he has taken naturally to the farm, and we look forward to putting him to work this summer.
Tracker
Top DogFaster than the speed of light. This greyhound can outrun our John Deere 10 times out of 10. His preference, however, is any sunny soft spot and a farm egg on the side. When he's not napping or hiking in the hills, Tracker teaches rookie dog Bear how to sniff out gopher holes around the fields.
