Sebastian Naskaris

It started with cheese. When he was in college, Sebastian Naskaris got a gig working for master cheese maker Nunzio Marcelli, a sheep farmer and master cheese maker who helped start a cooperative movement in Italy. While there Sebastian worked as a cheese maker, cook, and farm hand, and discovered the importance of healthy food and the power of a cooperative food system. After he graduated, he got a job at a restaurant in Brooklyn. When some friends approached him about helping to start up an organic vegetable farm, Sebastian connected the farm to the restaurant, thus starting his own farm to table initiative. Prior to joining FoodCorps, Sebastian worked on Flying Pigs Farm in upstate New York, where he raised heritage rare breed pigs and chickens and learned about sustainable farming. Before starting a farm of his own, he wanted to spend a year learning to teach others about the world of agriculture and food.

With FoodCorps, Sebastian splits his time between 12 schools, focusing on five pilot Farm to School projects. He also builds and maintains gardens, educates vulnerable students about better nutrition, and tries to make real and permanent changes in the health of their community. He's happy to report that this year on Nov. 22nd, thanks to weeks of work, Moore County will have its first local produce in its school system!

You can see Sebastian and his garden project in Moore County featured on NBC Nightly News, and read about him in this article on The Pilot and this one in Edible Manhattan. You can also read his account of getting sweet potatoes into the school cafeteria here on The FarmPlate blog.