SHAGBARK SEED & MILL - Key Persons
Brandon had been part of Shagbark since its inception back in 2010. When he left Shagbark in May of 2024, he set out to start consulting with others who want to work towards good food and farming.
Claude has been integral to keeping things organized and ensuring cases are packed and pallets are built every week for the Food Banks and pantry programs we serve throughout Ohio. He fills several other roles at Shagbark, including labeling retail bags and making sure the facility is in ship shape.
A man of many hats around the mill, Dillon keeps the books up to date, answers inquiries, coordinates Shagbark distribution around the region, and more! He's apt to show up enjoying the main stage at the Nelsonville Music Festival. An OU alum who spent several years in Tennessee, he and his wife were elated to return to their roots in Athens in 2018. Dillon enjoys playing music, collecting classic video-games, and spoiling his 3 cats: Rory, Émile, and Tomato Sauce.
Eleanor Reagan worked at Shagbark from 2021 to mid 2024, assisting with bagging and general mill operations.Alongside her work at the mill, Eleanor serves as an AmeriCorps for the Appalachian Staple Foods Collaborative at Rural Action.
Eleanor also taught woodshop at the local Community Makerspace. In her free time, she enjoys pursuing her creative interests, including knitting and quilting. She's also an avid dirt bike rider and loved exploring the beautiful natural landscapes of our region.
She left us to go to graduate school in architecture in June 2024.
Joe runs the production floor, alternating between seed cleaning and milling, and ensuring crop receiving, bagging, and pickups are well coordinated. He's been an organic farmer for more than 20 years at his family farm in Meigs County, where he lives with his partner, Cat and their two children, Amani and Ben. He's also worked as the Assistant Manager for the Athens Farmers Market, and as a member of the production team at Snowville Creamery. His humor is uplifting and irreverent, so there's considerably more laughter at work since he joined the team.
Job Titles:
- Founding Member
- HR & Payroll
Marty is a founding member of the cooperative intentional community where she has lived for over 30 years outside Amesville, Ohio, in Athens County. She has spent much of her life participating in nonviolent direct action for social and economic justice, consulting in cooperative communications in the US and Europe. She is now "retired" from a career of community organizing, having worked with many of the local Athens advocacy, environmental, and community development no, nprofit organizations. Marty helps with hiring and sees that everyone gets paid on time. She asks the best questions at our monthly staff meetings about profits, balance sheets, and all things financial. She likes taking walks, canoeing, knitting, and doing jigsaw puzzles.
As Shagbark's Managing Partner, Michelle is one of four partners, Erin Rennich, Eli Flournoy, and Hylie Voss. She also is the Network Manager of the Appalachian Staple Foods Collaborative, the informal network she founded in 2009 that was integral to launching Shagbark. She's received several awards for connecting local food to justice, the environment, and innovation.
Michelle originally moved to Athens County to teach at a small parent-run school. She was soon was involved in the formation of two intentional communities. She has worked as a paralegal in poverty law, a produce farmer for local grocers, and run a small communications company serving local non profits and community organizers. As an AmeriCorps/VISTA, she developed Rural Action's brand. She raised both her children in rural Athens County.
Michelle was our office manager from 2014-2016. She left to run a great food cart that featured hand made corn tortillas and tamales. When she left that business, she moved on to being the food organizer for the Ohio Paw Paw Festival, a personal chef, and an assistant cook at a local restaurant.
Mike started working with us in late 2023 and has been integral to production, bringing his much needed expertise in carpentry to our production floor. He's helped rebuild the sifter box on our mill, which improved it's output and flour quality immensely.
Nick has been "in" the Shagbark world since 2015. After trying the chips and meeting the team at the Farmers Market, he was instantly drawn in. From being a #1 fan and consumer of all things chips, tortillas and beans - he also assisted at the farmers market booth and other Shagbark events. Since then, Nick has helped to develop and maintain the "Find Our Products" locator map available on the Shagbark site. While he is currently a nomad in his van out exploring the world, Shagbark (and the Athens community) will always be a special place he loves to return to!
Peter and his wife Corrie came to Athens to start a soy foods enterprise in partnership with us, and while exploring the feasibility of making tofu, joined the team as our Production Manager from 2015 until 2018. Peter, an artist and carpenter brought many improvements to Shagbark: milling grain, building stairs and signs, and cooking up a vegan cake for everyone's birthdays! He left us when he and Corrie were led to foster then adopt four siblings. He's been a full time Dad ever since!
Rachel assisted Joe, our Production Manager, in 2023. She moved to Athens in 2015 to attend OU to earn her degree in video production. After four years at Casa Nueva, where our organic black beans, pinto beans and tortilla chips have been served since 2012, Rachel came to Shagbark with a well developed interest in local food.
In her free time, Rachel enjoys riding the Hockhocking Adena Bikeway, playing guitar, and getting into more DIY projects than she thinks she should. On the weekends you can always catch her enjoying the live local music scene in uptown Athens
Zest runs our booth at the Athens Farmers Market. He has also pitched in labeling bags for our Food Bank deliveries, and filled in to deliver to our Athens customers when Tiffany was not available.