Forrest Pritchard is a full-time organic farmer who holds degrees from the College of William & Mary. His farm, Smith Meadows, was one of the first “grass-finished,” free-range endeavors in the country, and has sold at leading farmers’ markets in Washington, D.C. for more than fifteen years.

Pritchard is the author of the New York Times-bestselling book Gaining Ground: A Story of Farmers’ Markets, Local Food and Saving the Family Farm, picked as a top read by The Washington Post, Publishers Weekly, and NPR’s The Splendid Table.

The primary blogger for the Facebook page “I Support Farmers’ Markets,” the largest online farmers’ market fan page, he is also a popular public speaker, having given addresses at RAND, Texas Organic Farmers Association, and Weston A. Price International, among others. Pritchard lives with his family on Smith Meadows in Berryville, Virginia.

Ellen Polishuk is a first-generation sustainable vegetable farmer, holding a degree in Horticulture from Virginia Tech. A self-described “compost queen,” Ellen grew up in the suburbs of Washington DC in the 60s and 70s. She was born loving plants, collecting houseplant “pets” by age seven, and renting a garden plot at age ten. By age sixteen, a summer farming job marked the beginning of her agricultural career. Ellen worked for several years in the vegetable seed business in California.

In 1992, with five farm seasons under her belt, she was hired by Potomac Vegetable Farms to manage their satellite farm in Virginia, fifty miles west of DC. After twenty-five years at Potomac Vegetable Farms, where she was a co-owner, she now consults and teaches full-time, specializing in sustainable agriculture, vegetable growing practices, and increasing farm profitability. Ellen and Forrest are longtime colleagues at Arlington Farmers Market.