Did you know that almost every produce farm in Jefferson County either has a person named Rachel working there currently, or has in the past year or so? There are so many Rachels in our farming corner of the world, which if you know some of these Rachels, you know this is a very lucky thing indeed!

Our Rachel, here at Red Dog Farm, is a gem of a human and I am so lucky to know her and get to sing her praises. Rachel Covault started working at Red Dog Farm in 2019, just a month and a half before my daughter was born. She was a savior from the beginning! Our previous office manager was all trained up and prepped to cover me during my maternity leave, when the opportunity of a lifetime arose for her and she had to take it. The last thing any expectant mother/farmer/business owner wants is for a key employee to give notice weeks before their baby is due, but we do what we must! Luckily Rachel was just then looking for a new farm and we are so, so grateful we had an opening and that she joined us here!

Rachel previously worked at Nash’s Organic Produce in Sequim as their packshed/office manager, so she was a shoo-in for experience and context. She quickly learned her role, and then proceeded to surpass it daily as she has found key niches that were previously unfilled here at the farm. Some tasks she has stepped into include tech wizard, excel master, graphics/artwork designer, grant manager, handwriting analyzer, just to name a few! In addition to running our office, bookkeeping, managing crew schedules and calendar, ordering supplies, and so, so, so much more. Rachel is the behind-the-scenes extraordinaire that helps to make us and our produce look so good. Without Rachel, we would not be able to run programs like the sliding scale and monthly CSA, extensive donations, group lunch, foodbank coordination, and so many more meaningful ways we like to contribute to our community. It would not be feasible for us to manage these programs without a dedicated staff person as the organizer for all the good intentions.

If you have met Rachel, you know that one of her most striking attributes is how calm and collected she is. In the face of loud packshed music, a stressed-out farmer with big ideas (me), breakroom chatter, technological challenges, interminable phone calls with customer service reps, miscommunications from managers, etc., Rachel holds it all together and helps bring down the energy to a civilized calm hum that soothes everyone.

While there may be a lot of Rachels out there, I am so incredibly grateful that we have our Rachel, the very best Rachel there is, here at Red Dog Farm.

~Karyn