THE RTB TEAM
Desa Van Laarhoven
Executive Director & Co-Founder
After years of helping to create RTB on a part-time level, Desa followed her bliss and joined RTB full-time on January 1, 2015. Prior to that, she served as the executive director of the Marion Institute, a local non-profit organization, for eight years. Desa’s work at the Marion Institute involved overseeing approximately 20 projects and programs worldwide, all root-cause solutions based, with a focus on sustainability and social justice. It was an incredible experience and she gleaned so many skills, ideas and loved ones along the way.
Desa went to Stonehill College, where she received a BS in Biology, with a minor in Environmental Studies. After college and before her work at the Marion Institute, Desa spent time volunteering for the AmeriCorps National Civilian Community Corps (NCCC*), where she was awarded The Total Commitment award from the southeast campus, and the California Conservation Corps, where she lived and worked deep in the forest for many months! Desa firmly believes in the work she does, and her passion was recognized in 2009 when she was awarded Massachusetts “SouthCoast Woman of the Year“, alongside the late Senator Edward Kennedy who was awarded “SouthCoast Man of the Year”. She is a 2010 graduate of the Leadership SouthCoast program, whose mission is to engage, educate, and empower diverse individuals to become active community leaders.
When Desa is not tending to her RTB “mother hen duties”, she can be found mothering her curious, flower-loving and insightful 4-year old daughter. Desa feels so blessed that she is able to live and work in such a supportive community, one that brings the phrase “It takes a village” to light on a daily basis, and she wishes everyone could be as fortunate.
Shaun Van Laarhoven
Executive Chef & Kitchen Director
In 2009, Shaun started volunteering at Round the Bend Farm. His renaissance skills quickly made him an invaluable member of the RTB team. Shaun is now the Executive Chef & Kitchen Director at RTB. He is constantly creating new and unique recipes to incorporate the farm surplus, and crafting delicious and nutritious farm-based meals for the farm team.
Shaun is passionate about equitable access to nutritious & delicious food for all; culturally competent medical care & housing for all; connecting to and working with underserved marginalized communities and our youth; and so many other things… but most importantly: the well-being of overall HUMANITY!! A natural leader, Shaun graduated from the Leadership SouthCoast Program in 2016, is a graduate of the YWCA Southeastern MA Board Leadership Program, and is a former board member of the New Bedford non-profit, Youth Opportunities Unlimited (Y.O.U.). He has been at the farm since 2009, and as of December 2024, he now lives and works at RTB.
Benoit Azagoh-Kouadio
Garden Manager
Benoit is happy to rejoin the RTB team after his stint of being the Resident Foodie over the 2012 season. He graduated from Boston College in 2010 with a B.A. in psychology, focusing on neuroscience, psychopharmacology and holistic clinical practice. A passion for the culinary arts, ecological interdependence and a drive to live in the most direct and sustainable way turned his attention deeply to agriculture and is why he joined the RTB team. Since that time, he has traveled near and far exploring roles, skills and issues in reclaiming and restoring agricultural life — spending time living in the Mediterranean, as well as developing livestock and cheesemaking skills in Vermont’s Northeast Kingdom. He joins RTB again in a capacity to meet the community’s expanding culinary needs and to work towards preserving the bounty of harvest which comes from the land. In addition to his work in the kitchen, Benoit occupies a mutual aid communal work-share through neighboring biodynamic production farm, Brix Bounty. In exchange for his fieldwork at Brix, the RTB community gleans surplus vegetables for preservation, cutting gaps of lost value through crop spoilage and ensuring bountiful nutrition throughout the winter. Benoit also volunteers time at nearby allied farm Eva’s Garden, and is delighted to help bridge relationships across the larger southcoast agricultural community.
Anna Byron
Education Assistant
Growing up in upstate New York & Rhode Island sparked Anna’s passion for nature, from hiking the Adirondacks to tide pooling in the Narragansett Bay.
Beginning in high school, Anna was committed to learning and making a difference in public education. From fourteen years old they found themselves volunteering at zoos and aquariums across New England in education and husbandry. Getting their first job in the field with the Audubon Society of Rhode Island (ASRI) in 2022 in conservation, Anna led nature-based summer camps and public education.
Anna learned about RTB on a farm tour in March of 2024, kindling their passion for restorative community. One year later, Anna was hired as RTB’s Education Assistant, combining their passions for accessible education and place-based ecology as a way to support their local communities. After taking a leave of absence from university, the farm provides not only employment, but a place to ground and focus on the body and mind.
In their free time, you can find Anna birdwatching by the coast, playing a round of disc golf, or relaxing in their hammock with some music.
Maxx Fidalgo
Executive Assistant & Event Coordinator
Maxx was born and raised in New Bedford, MA but didn’t stay long. He attended college in Washington State where he received his bachelor’s degree in psychology from Whitman College. During his collegiate career, he also studied in Wales and Scotland, researching Welsh waterways, and studying German and Russian to complement his fluent Portuguese. He has continued to travel across North America whenever he has spare time. In 2019, with AmeriCorps, Maxx worked as an outreach member in a national nonprofit organization for recovery and treatment of substance use disorders. In 2020, he began running a national, regional outreach team for the organization. He discovered that he loves nonprofit work and wanted to stay in this sector, but closer to home and in less of a national spotlight. Community has always been important to Maxx, and he has volunteered in his various communities for all of his adolescent and adult life. He has always been environmentally conscious and loves being involved in other ways to bring that same level of consciousness to the public. Round the Bend Farm was the obvious choice to bring those aspects together. In his spare time, Maxx is a (published) writer of speculative fiction, an (inactive) thespian, (decently) plays guitar, and (usually) sings.
Alaina Gosheff
Assistant Farmer
Growing up in Fort Wayne, IN, Alaina’s favorite place to be was outside, whether it be in her family’s garden, riding her bike, climbing a tree, or reading a book on the porch. She pursued a degree in Agronomy with a double major in Spanish at Purdue University so that she could make a career out of her love for the outdoors and desire to build sustainable food systems. While at Purdue, Alaina was introduced to the social sciences and realized she wanted to learn more about how stakeholders make decisions about their land. This led her to the University of Hohenheim in Stuttgart, Germany, where she completed her MSc in Agricultural Sciences and Rural Development. During her thesis research interviewing farmers, she lived on a regenerative farm in Southern Spain. Alaina is excited to continue living and working on a regenerative farm at RTB, as the organization lies at the intersection of so many of her interests and values!
Madigan Kay
Manifest Love Farmer & Distribution Manager
Elizabeth Murphy
Human Resources & Bookkeeper
Elizabeth Murphy is deeply rooted in the Massachusetts SouthCoast community, as she was raised in Dartmouth and returned to raise her own family here as well. With extensive nonprofit management and community development experience, Elizabeth was drawn to RTB because she is inspired by the organization’s focus on leadership centered on hope and abundance.
As the child of public school educators, Elizabeth was raised to interpret every experience as an opportunity for teaching and learning. She eventually studied Government and Education at Dartmouth College (NH), graduating in 2002. When Elizabeth and her husband returned to the area, she worked as an independent college advisor for 15 years. She has served in many volunteer capacities, often with a focus on local public education, immigration justice, and climate justice. This work included developing the New Bedford Immigrant Support Network, an immigrant accompaniment effort first centered on transportation, and later pivoted to COVID relief efforts, delivering food and personal supplies to hundreds of local families facing illness, unemployment, and food insecurity.
Elizabeth eventually sold her college advising practice to pursue social justice work full time, and in 2023 earned a Masters of Divinity from Meadville Lombard, a Unitarian Universalist theological school. During her studies she learned that administrative skills are a special type of community ministry, and she is eager to bring her unique skill set to RTB. She continues to seek opportunities to build more resilient communities, and to make that process fun. She is energized by connecting disconnected people, and believes that we can heal the world by sharing more food and more conversation. Elizabeth loves a creatively themed party, swims in the ocean all year, and can create a ritual for anything. She recently became a Justice of the Peace, and serves as a celebrant for weddings and memorial services. Elizabeth’s two children, Connor and Natalie, are both attending college out of state. She and her husband Keith live in their recently emptied nest in South Dartmouth.
Margaret Ryan
Assistant Farmer
As a lifelong nature enthusiast and sustainability advocate, Margaret is excited to join RTB’s “Farm Squad”. Margaret graduated this May from Boston College with a BS in Biology and Minors in Studio Art and Irish Studies. Her favorite pastimes at school were running the Plant Club, maintaining the campus greenhouse, volunteering in the campus garden, and going for long walks in nature. Her passion for conserving the environment, living sustainably, and spending time outdoors led Margaret to work on several farms over past summers, including North Plain Farm in Great Barrington, MA, and Crow River Farm in her hometown of East Longmeadow, MA. Margaret loves being active and exploring the natural wonders around her. When she’s not outdoors, she enjoys practicing Irish, playing her instruments, and creating. She loves to create eco-friendly arts and crafts in her spare time, particularly fantastical creatures and wild animals needle-felted from natural wool. As a member of RTB, Margaret is excited to help create impactful, positive change in the environment and community.
Tyler See
Resident Builder & Goatbusters Agripreneur
While Tyler’s relationship with RTB extends back to 2010, he settled back at the farm as resident builder in October 2015. A native New Englander, he learned to travel at an early age, spending his junior year of high school in France. A graduate of Georgetown University in 2005, he promptly left the U.S. again for rural Costa Rica, where he first developed his passion and skills in building and woodworking, ultimately spearheading the design and construction of a community library. After many travels across the Americas, Tyler spent three years at a Quaker semester school in California, where he taught Spanish, maintained facilities and further navigated the intricacies of communal living. Back at RTB, he dove right in and became an integral part of creating the new Learning Center. Since then he has headed up maintenance and repairs, and in 2020 he obtained his General Contractor license and now manages the construction of new buildings on the farm. In 2019 Tyler also became an agripreneur when he joined forces with teammate Hannah in creating Goatbusters. He and Hannah were married on the farm in 2022 and are the proud parents of Sebastian & Llewellyn.
Monie Seto
Manifest Love Farmer & Distribution Assistant
Monie (they/them) is a mutual aid farmer of trans and neurodivergent experience, reconnecting with their peasant farmer lineage. They believe food is a human right, and farmed at other mutual aid projects such as Iridescent Earth Collective and East Brook Community Farm, in the so-called Catskills Mountains on Haudenosaunee lands. In their free time, they like to goof off outside, get a little spooky (but not too much), and pretend to be a cowboy.
Sophie Trudel
Sous Chef
Sophie’s love affair with food started when she was working at an artisanal ice cream shop located in Montreal’s largest farmers market while studying international law and international politics. Though her initial plan was to work in the human rights and environmental justice field, she was happiest when scooping ice cream, processing fresh ingredients and witnessing how delicious food can bring people together. Being in a setting where food producers and growers dedicated their life to making better food inspired her to enroll in Montreal’s renowned Institut du Tourisme et d’Hotellerie du Quebec’s baking program. Her career brought her to work in restaurants and bakeries all over Canada and the United States where she held various positions. Concerned about food waste, food sourcing and sustainability in the industry, Sophie decided to pursue a certificate in Sustainable Agriculture and Food Systems in 2020 at Tufts University.
After a three year hiatus being a stay at home parent, Sophie is thrilled to be back in the kitchen at RTB, and feels privileged to be part of a team that shares her values. When not behind the stove, you can find her exploring South Massachusetts’ parks and beaches with her mini and their two dogs, or searching for the best ice cream spots with her husband. To this day, Montreal’s Marche Jean-Talon is her happy place.
Hannah Wylie
Online Education and Market(ing) Manager
Hannah joined the RTB team as an apprentice in May 2016, in hopes of gaining a varied experience at the farm. Before farm life, Hannah graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in filmmaking from Montclair State University in 2010. She left the city life in New Jersey, where she was working as a producer in a marketing P/R company, to find a more fulfilling and rewarding career in farming. She brought her knowledge of marketing to the farm, and has been managing our online education on Facebook, what about adding creating videos and all of the promos you do as well as our website. After working with Geoff and his livestock business for 2 years, Hannah fell in love with caring for goats and decided to create an agribusiness with her partner Tyler. “Goatbusters” uses their herd of goats to manage land in a sustainable way. Hannah & Tyler also milk the goats and make delicious cheeses. Hannah also finds passion in working with people, managing our meat CSA program in addition to our Open Farm Days.
Peter Zine
Education Manager
Peter grew up exploring the woods and waterways of southeastern Massachusetts and feels inextricably connected to this region. His lifelong interest in the natural sciences led him to a graduate program in Ecological Teaching and Learning, which catalyzed his commitment to place-based learning and living.
After twelve rewarding years teaching at a local independent school, Peter, his wife, and their two children sought new challenges and adventures. They traveled, started homeschooling, and doubled down on applying principles of permaculture to their landscape – where they raise chickens, goats, honey bees, and an old farm dog; grow a variety of annual and perennial fruits, vegetables and herbs; and make their own ferments, teas, tinctures and salves.
Aware of and interested in RTB since its inception, Peter followed the evolution of the farm over the years and started working here part-time in 2021, assisting Tyler with various construction projects and firewood processing. Now, as RTB’s Education Manager, he can often be found planning and leading farm field trips and other educational programming, though he is just as likely to be taking care of various groundskeeping tasks. He has enjoyed the balance of physical and intellectual work, and loves being able to spend so much time outdoors as part of this amazing landscape. RTB brings many of Peter’s passions and interests together and does so within the context of a thoughtful community that he is grateful to be part of.
Consultant
Josh Louro
Restorative Deconstruction & Farming Specialist
A member of the extended team since 2019, Josh began his journey deconstructing and reclaiming an old dairy barn and farmhouse on RTB East. For Josh, joining the RTB team aligned with his calling to work with natural systems and communities toward regenerating relationships with ourselves, each other, and the world around. A Dartmouth native, Josh’s experiences across the US and abroad shifted his consciousness toward the significance of community living, holistic health, and ecology. With an insatiable desire to learn and immerse himself into growth opportunities, he has experience as an emergency medical technician, a holistic health coach, permaculturist, and entrepreneur. Josh’s work towards the RTB mission continues to make use of his varied skills and diversify as the development of regenerating place continues. When he’s not spearfishing, honing wilderness skills, surfing, volunteering, building with driftwood, or adventuring with his son Bodhi, you’ll find Josh at RTB. There you’ll find him repurposing structures, growing nourishing veggies for our Manifest Love program, planting, designing, and developing a diversified orchard, rotating chickens around the pasture, planting berries at twilight, and inoculating logs for mushrooms! In Josh’s words, “life is to be enjoyed while the pursuit and actualization of regeneration continues!”
Nilsa Garcia-Rey
Agripreneur
Nilsa came to RTB in 2015 as a work-share volunteer assisting Ashley Brister with produce farming. Nilsa completed the Sustainable Agriculture program at Bristol Community College and was looking for hands-on experience. A lifelong artist and gardener, she brings experience from a diversified career that includes perennial garden designer and gardener, art entrepreneur, gallery owner and arts administrator. For 9 years, she served as executive director of Gallery X, a non-profit arts cooperative in New Bedford, MA. Prior to that, she was the coordinator of an after-school city beautification program through the YMCA in Fall River, responsible for painting murals and planting gardens with teens and preteens throughout the city. Currently, she serves on the board of Helfand Farm Community Gardens. Nilsa joins the RTB team with plans to revive the farm’s herb and perennial garden using permaculture principles. She continues to make and show her art, and has recently been making hand-built stoneware fermenting crocks.
Geoff Kinder
Co-Founder & Agripreneur
After graduating from the University of Wisconsin, Geoff entered AmeriCorps NCCC where he felt an awakening to the interconnectedness of life. Having already developed his skill as a stoneworker, Geoff became interested in farming and its ability to reconnect communities and became a volunteer at RTB in 2008. Under the mentorship of former RTB farmer, Antone Vieira, Geoff quickly learned the necessary skills to farm the land. An entrepreneur at heart he created many small agribusiness along the way include a vegetable production business and a livestock business. Geoff has created an LLC called Paradox Acres where he owns grass-fed cows and pasture-raised pigs which are strategically used to maintain and improve the land by maintaining pasture, eating grubs, and providing manure – thus increasing the overall health of both the animals and the land. Practicing the techniques of low-impact farming, sustainable living, and whole-systems thinking, Geoff’s leadership and intuitive connection to the land and his animals inspires all who come to the farm.
Rachel Medeiros
Edupreneur
Rachel is one of the Co-Directors of Elements Nature Program. She holds a degree in Early Childhood / Special Education from Rhode Island College. Rachel has a teaching background in both Early Childhood and Elementary Education, as well as six years of childcare experience with children from six months to ten years old. Rachel is also a Certified Lactation Counselor, and worked directly with mothers and infants, with the Fall WIC Program from 2013-2018. She spent several months teaching art to 6-12 year olds with Encompass Community for Independent Learners. Rachel is currently homeschooling her elementary-aged daughter.
Cristy O’Brien
Edupreneur
Cristy is one of the Co-Directors of Elements Nature Program. She has a Masters degree in Special Education from Endicott College, and an undergraduate degree in Elementary Education and English from Bridgewater State College (featured alumna article) . Cristy has been teaching professionally in various settings with diverse cultural backgrounds for 13 years. She has taught within the Brockton, Freetown/Lakeville and New Bedford school districts. Cristy was lead teacher of a program designed for children ages 10-14 with social/emotional disabilities, ADHD, specific learning disabilities and/or behavioral issues. She has also guided nature lessons at Little Peeps Montessori Naturskola in Little Compton, RI. Cristy is currently homeschooling her elementary-aged daughter and son.
Elizabeth Perry
Agripreneur
Elizabeth Perry came to RTB as an agripreneur in 2023. She is an Aquinnah Wampanoag artist who has focused both on wampum and on reviving non-toxic Native dyes on yarns and porcupine quills. In her quest to achieve the same quality as the fine old examples of Northeastern art scattered in collections here and in Europe, it became apparent that the species distribution is not the same due to a variety of factors. Tribal Land Stewardship shaped the forests and meadows here for a very long time, and it’s good to see organic farms on the rise especially where care is taken to reintroduce diversity. Elizabeth is planting a few different species of milkweed plants at her RTB plot to specifically support her textile arts practice. The stems provide fine fibers for hand spinning that take natural sustainable dyes well in a slightly different palette than chemical dyes. She enjoys combining milkweed with wampum jewelry, and also uses the milkweed for distinctive soft-fiber twined basketry and sashes.
Joshua Swaye
Agripreneur
Joshua started volunteering at Round the Bend Farm in 2021, after earning a B.S. in Biology (with a research focus in comparative immunology) at nearby UMASS Dartmouth and spending several years at Helfand Farm Community Gardens (where he currently serves as a Board of Director). Joshua began as an apprentice to Geoff Kinder of Paradox Acres, learning all aspects of farming including animal husbandry, fencing, land management, compost production, hay making, and vegetable cultivation. He now serves as a herdsman of cattle, pigs, and occasionally goats.In his time at RTB, Joshua has worked with Geoff in implementing intensive rotational cattle grazing systems at both RTB and other local farms. With an eye towards land preservation and conservation Joshua works to raise livestock with the land instead of on it. His primary goal is to keep the land and animals healthy and working together, while producing the healthiest meat possible.
Recently, Joshua became one of our agripreneurs, focusing primarily on raising pigs and keeping a mixed flock of poultry for egg and meat production. In the future, he plans to breed and raise purebred Gloucestershire Old Spots, with an eye towards integrating the pigs into land management as well as compost and food production.
Board Members and Supporters
Ellen and Duncan McFarland
Ellen and Duncan McFarland have ardently supported the acquisition of RTB and our ongoing educational and farming activities. Ellen is a former teacher who cares passionately about education and opportunities for disadvantaged children, the environment, and the protection of animals and their habitat. Duncan serves on a variety of boards such as RARE, Inc., New Profit, Inc. and Panthera. The McFarland’s foundation, the Bromley Charitable Trust, has provided millions of dollars in grants to environmental and educational causes. We are inspired by their belief in us and all they do to provide a better world both now and in the future.
Nancy Dempze
Nicole Kopaczewski
Nicole fell in love with RTB on her first visit in 2022. She shares a deep connection with the RTB mission, driving her involvement to help support.
Nicole’s extensive leadership experience spans from small business ownership to senior global leadership. An entrepreneur at heart, Nicole formally became a small business owner first in 2004. Since then, she has had the opportunity to work closely with hundreds of business owners from a variety of organizations to help strengthen, grow, and expand their business. Today she offers consulting services for business owners and non-profits ranging from improving operational efficiency, to channel and partner strategy development.
Nicole believes in the power of community and charity, carrying a deep understanding of the lasting impact it can have on one’s life. As a mother, she is determined to leave a legacy and improve her community for the next generation. Nicole serves on the Board of Directors for Junior Achievement Southern Massachusetts, as well as being a supporter of other local non-profits. When not serving her community, you can find Nicole with her son at the beach, hiking on trails, or visiting local farms.
Glenn Oliveira
Glenn Oliveira has been an event and community organizer for more than fifteen years. He is currently the Executive Director for the Carney Family Charitable Foundation in New Bedford, MA. Using his marketing, programming and project leadership skills, Glenn maximizes efficiencies and impact for organizations looking to create deep change in the community. Glenn served as the Education Director and Statewide Education Event Organizer for the Northeast Organic Farming Association/Massachusetts Chapter. He is a graduate of Leadership South Coast and lived on the farm in the early days, volunteering his time to the work and vision of RTB. Glenn married his better half, Lindsay, at RTB, and they currently live in New Bedford with their two daughters.
Bernadette Souza
A New Bedford native and lifelong city resident, Bernadette is deeply committed to her community, especially its youth. She is a longtime youth advocate and has significant experience in youth programming by virtue of her long tenure at the Boys & Girls Club of Greater New Bedford. She is the Executive Director for Youth Opportunities Unlimited and has been for the past 13 years.
What motivates her the most about being involved in her community is her love for this beautiful city of New Bedford and the SouthCoast area. There are so many resources available and she feels that it is her job to connect the right families, youth, and people to these unique resources. Growing up, she was very fortunate to have the right mentors and many moms who kept her on that narrow road and now she feels it’s her turn to “pay it forward”. She loves people and helping people. It completes her and gives her a warm feeling in her heart knowing that she has the opportunity daily to make positive changes in this city.
Bernadette is one of Our Sisters’ School’s founding Trustees and has served on their Board of Trustees for eight years. She is now serving on the school’s Advisory Board. She is 2nd Vice Chair of the New Bedford Whaling Museum Board and serves on the Executive Committee and is Co- Chair of the Museum Learning Committee. She is a member of the Board of Corporators for BayCoast Bank, a Board Member for One SouthCoast Chamber, and a member of the Greater NB Youth Alliance. She is a Celebrant and Greeter at Dignity Memorial/Waring Sullivan Funeral homes. Bernadette attended Rhode Island College and attended Assumption College/ Worcester Diocese, where she received a Certification in Youth Ministries and is a graduate of the Class of 2013 Leadership SouthCoast. With enormous energy and a deep seeded passion for youth development, Bernadette is a powerful asset to this community and its youth and their families.
Community
- Massachusetts Unsung Heroine of 2018 – Senator Montigny
- Graduate of the Class of 2013 Leadership SouthCoast (a rigorous leadership training development program)
- YWCA of Southeastern Massachusetts. “Women of Distinction” award
- “Grand Marshall” for Cape Verdean Recognition Parade
- Community Service and Partnership Recognition –UMass Dartmouth
- Martha Briggs Educational Club, Inc. “Women of Vision” award
- NAACP New Bedford Branch “Community Service” award
- University of Massachusetts Dartmouth “Professor Gloria Waite African American” award
- Elks” Distinguished Citizenship” award
