Dani has known they wanted a job outdoors longer than they have known anything else. While they were in college, their interests in food, cooking, and social justice came together at the nexus of agriculture. They became a little bit obsessed with farming and started to explore by working as a farm camp counselor for two seasons, through books like The World is Not for Sale and The Omnivore’s Dilemma, and by working at the Dickinson College Farm while in school. 

After graduating from Dickinson College with an International Studies major and English minor in 2012, Dani continued to work at the farm as an apprentice which cemented their desire to continue farming. In 2013, they went to work at Northland Sheep Dairy in the finger lakes region of NY and were inspired by the elegant simplicity of horse-powered, grass-based agriculture. The farm worked as an integrated system with sheep at its center, efficiently turning grass into the most ideal milk for cheesemaking. That season, they ran a 13 member CSA using only draft horses for traction and soaked in the excitement, healing, and inter-species connection of working with sensitive and attuned horses and mules. 

After years of driving draft horses and working on diversified CSAs, that original excitement and inspiration remained and Dani returned to sheep dairy at Vermont Shepherd where they worked and lived from 2018 to 2021. There, they managed the creamery and developed new products and processes, learned from neighbors at Parish Hill Creamery, Wild Shepherd, and Upinngil Farm, and assisted in guiding the business through the first year of the pandemic.  

In 2022, after years of searching for land, they and two collaborators took a big leap of faith and moved their search from Southern to Central Vermont where they quickly happened upon the former home of Mary Ella Cheese, a farm that was a sheep dairy and creamery back around 2000. Eva and Dani moved to the land in June of 2023 and started to make home and build the farm business. 

Dani is a co-op nerd and is also a worker-owner of Farm Generations Co-operative which built the e-commerce and CSA management software, GrownBy. Dani’s big ambition for Shepherd Moon Farm is for it to become a worker co-operative, support a local/regional dairy economy, provide a safe space for queer and trans farmers to thrive, and be co-owned by a small group of farming and cheesemaking collaborators!

Eva grew up on a homestead farm in south western Ohio. There they grew a deep appreciation for living and being in relationship with the land. Eva is a community organizer and facilitator by training and has been involved with a wide range of organizing efforts throughout time ranging from environmental justice to queer and trans liberation work. 

In between organizing Eva has loved farming as a form of moving her body and connecting with the land. First gaining experience on several CSA vegetable farms and now gaining skill and confidence with sheep and other livestock as well. 

For much of Eva’s life they have desired to build between their organizing work and land based work. Drawing inspiration from places like the Highlander Center for Education, the Wayside Center for Popular Education, the Watershed Center and many other land-based social justice centers. 

Ru Emmons is a bodyworker and somatics practitioner from Pittsburgh, PA. They are a white, queer, trans, Jewish, anti-capitalist, owning-class person. Ru dreams of a world where we can all prioritize healing. They believe deeply that we all hold the tools that we need to heal ourselves and build a more balanced and connected world. They found their way to massage therapy through social justice and environmental work, as they realized that focusing inward is just as important as focusing on what is affecting us out in the world. Ru believes that healing work includes healing the land, and that farming, therefore, is a part of healing work. Currently, Ru is in a clinical mental health counseling masters program and just got their Somatic Experiencing Practitioner certification. They see people for bodywork and somatic work in Pittsburgh, and you can read more about their work here.

Ru grew up in Pittsburgh. They attended college in the Los Angeles area, where they studied environmental analysis and the toll that environmental destruction can take on our bodies. They also began exploring the power of theater and dance to envision and manifest a more hopeful future. They returned to Pittsburgh in 2014 and started building community through performance and organizing work. Dance, song, and connection and creation all feel like part of their approach to healing. Ru also manifests joy by backpacking, biking, and rock-climbing as much as they can.

Ru met Eva and Dani in Pittsburgh during their time there through anti-zionist Jewish organizing community. They love them dearly and are happy to be able to support this farm project from afar, and they love come to visit and see it grow and change over time!