About
Mission
To empower people to connect to food and their community by revitalizing urban spaces and building a resilient food culture.
Vision
We envision a strong network of communities centered around the cultivation of fresh, healthy food.
Our Staff
Adele Pincock, Executive Director
Bio coming soon!
Contact: adele@gulb.org
Jessica Collette, Back-Farms Program Director (she/her)
Jessica has been interested in working at the junction of sustainable farming and food justice since spending a few years living in a rural midwestern community that was both a haven for organic farms and a food insecure region. She has worked in various settings, from a food pantry in northern Wisconsin to a homestead in mid-coast Maine to an educational garden in Moab, but her path eventually led her to Salt Lake City to work with the Green Urban Lunch Box. She has spent time working with most of GULB’s programs, but really found her place within Back-Farms. If you find yourself in one of Jess’ gardens, she’ll probably try and convince you that the most exciting garden delicacies are radish seed pods, okra, and nasturtium leaves.
Contact: backfarms@gulb.org & info@gulb.org
Soni Scheig, Community Farm Manager & Small Farm Initiative Program Director (they/them)
Soni’s interest in the food system began in college in Southwest Colorado while working with their school to offer more local, sustainable, fair trade, and humane foods in the cafeterias. Soni’s areas of interest in the food system involve almost all aspects of it—growing food, cooking, waste management, and so on. They believe that the connection food brings to people in a community is extremely important. To learn more about the food system, they pursued an internship on an urban farm in St. Paul, MN which sparked a huge passion for connecting with community by growing food. Years later, Soni is the farm manager of GULB, teaching the next generation of farmers, running the CSA, and connecting community to our local food.
Contact: sfi@gulb.org
Alysha Carmien, FruitShare Program Director (she/her)
Alysha has been pursuing her passion in horticulture for nearly two decades across the Rocky Mountain west. She has found her niche in homegrown revolution by participating in various community resiliency projects focused in agriculture. She emphasizes the importance of social justice movements that reconnect people to the land and share knowledge across all walks of life. Over the years, Alysha helped establish and expand local food networks between student bodies, private businesses and underprivileged demographics within communities. Her passion projects include herbalism, mushroom foraging, wild medicinal and wild edibles. While on her many adventures, you can find Alysha exploring canyons, rafting rivers, hiking mountains, climbing trees and getting her hands dirty in the gardens!
Contact: pickfruit@gulb.org
Peter Whelan, AmeriCorps Harvest Leader (he/him)
Peter grew up and went to college in Massachusetts, where the first class he took was on hunger in the global economy. Since then he’s been interested in what drives access to healthy food, and how regenerative agriculture can sequester carbon emissions. After college he worked as a mechanical engineer and a solar panel installer, and moved to Salt Lake this past summer. While not working with the Fruitshare program, Peter is trying to learn computer programming. He hopes to use software to address climate change, or at the very least, afford more avocados. In his free time Peter enjoys climbing on whatever’s in front of him, wandering and biking around aimlessly, going in caves, and cooking. He should not be left unsupervised around caffeine.
Contact: harvester@gulb.org
Haley Kline, Back-Farms Garden Leader (she/her)
Haley grew up in the White Mountains of New Hampshire, where a love for nature was ingrained at a young age. Her passion for farming, food, community, and health developed during her years in college at Plymouth State University. She’s worked and volunteered at multiple farms, where she learned about everything it takes to run a farm – from working in the fields to running the farmstand. These experiences sparked her passion for local food systems. She wants to continue learning about food justice, permaculture, and urban farming and is so excited to be a part of the Green Urban Lunchbox team.
Haley has lived in Salt Lake City for about 2 years, where she has enjoyed exploring the many landscapes of Utah. She currently works part-time with Salt Lake’s unhoused population. Outside of work Haley’s passions are yoga, music, herbalism, camping, hiking, community, and, of course, gardening!
Nigel Marabello, Back-Farms Garden Leader (he/him)
Nigel gained completely new perspective on his life after reading Walden by Henry David Thoreau in 2014. He learned from Thoreau that by living simply and intimately with one’s Self and nature, one can have a rich and fulfilling life. Inspired by Thoreau, Nigel tried his own hand at gardening and began his first garden in 2015 on a plot borrowed from his neighbor. In 2016, he ripped out his own front and back lawns and grew abundant vegetable gardens full of his favorite vegetables, like eggplants and bell peppers. In 2017 he began volunteering at various community and public gardens in Salt Lake City, and expanded his gardening experience into the wonderful realm of Permaculture.
Nigel believes that all the fruits, vegetables, and abundance he grows stem from his most important garden: his Inner Garden, which he cultivates every moment of his life. He sends much love to all, and invites supportive and loving folk to join him on his inner and outer gardening adventures 🙂
Our Board
Beth Clifford, Chair
Employee Experience, Adobe
Kate Wheeler, Secretary
Farm to School Specialist, Utah State Board of Education
Shawn Kintaudi, Treasurer
Audit Manager, Eide Bailly LLP
Matt Mulligan
Assistant Professor, Division of General Internal Medicine University of Utah School of Medicine
Katie McKeon
Owner, Salt City Kitchen
Britt Jursik
Owner, Challah Back Dough
Marie Cornwall
Professor Emerita, Sociology, Back-Farms Senior, FruitShare tree owner
Natalie Kane
Program Manager, EATS Park City
Mary Lewis
Platform Analytics Lead, BanQu