Our Team
Seedleaf is a community gardening organization that provides horticultural training and supports the practice of gardening and small scale farming in the urban spaces of Lexington, KY.
Seedleaf values the ongoing connection of people to land, the incubation of healthy community interdependence, and cultivation of growers. We believe that this leads to the development of a robust local food economy and a just & equitable system of stewardship over land.
Our team is guided by our mission of nourishing communities through growing and sharing food.
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Christine Smith (she/her), Executive Director
Christine Smith is the Executive Director of Seedleaf. Trained academically as a geographer, she has been with Seedleaf since 2017. Her gardening experience is rooted in the sub-tropics of Florida where she grew up and her grandmother’s Kingston garden and menagerie filled with ginep, breadfruit, pomegranates, scotch bonnet peppers, fish, pigeons, chickens and stray dogs. She is most proud of her title as ‘Ambassador of Flowers’.
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Megan Pillsbury (she/her), Farm Manager
Megan Pillsbury is the Farm Manager of Seedleaf and has been a part of the team since 2022. Hailing from Dayton Ohio, Megan moved to Kentucky in 2015 after finishing her undergrad in PR & Marketing from Baldwin Wallace University. Over the last several years, she has spent much of her time in pursuit of her passions - both on the mat and in the garden. When not around the farm, Megan enjoys reading and relaxing in her hammock, yoga, and pottering around with natural dyes.
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Em J Parsley (they/him), Assistant Farm Manager
Em J is the farm and market assistant at Seedleaf and joined the team in 2024. They have their MFA in Creative Writing, and are passionate about the intersection of art, agriculture, and ecology. When not on the farm, he can be found writing, reading, or learning new folk tradition skills, such as spoon carving, spinning, or Appalachian flatfooting.
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Mr. Athanase (he/him), Farm Technician
Mr. Athanase, originally from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, brings a lifetime of experience as grower in his role as farm tech at the Seedleaf Community Farm. Mr. Athanase oversees day to day farm maintenance and routine harvesting.
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Mariella 'Mar' Cardenas (they/them)
garden@seedleaf.org
Mar Mendoza Cárdenas is the Garden Manager of Seedleaf. They were trained in horticulture at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden. Mar loves building community in every space that they encounter, and believes gardens should be spaces where both food and joy grow.
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Sarah Newman (she/her)
Sarah Newman is in her second chapter at Seedleaf as Office and Community Specialist, after first joining the team in 2013. Along with experience and a B.S. in Plant and Soil Science, Sarah brings a passion for equitable food systems and community building. In her spare time, she enjoys spending time with her family, listening to good music, hiking, and sharing a good belly laugh with others.
