Our People

As a cooperative, we are defined by our people. Our goal is to have all the people who work with us be worker-members of the cooperative, allowing all of us to gain the full benefits of cooperative membership. Although most of our people initially join us to fulfill a particular role, over time everyone is encouraged to broaden their skills and wear many hats.

---

MACHELLE & NARENDRA VARMA – FOUNDERS
Machelle, Narendra and their two kids moved to Portland in 2010 to bring this project to fruition. The proximity of excellent farmland to Portland’s urban core offers a promising foundation for the breadth and depth of the experiment. Alongside a commitment to Permaculture principles and ethics, Narendra brings financial expertise and capital to the project.

EUGENIO RAMIREZ  – ​ FARMER + PERENNIALS
Eugenio was the first employee on the farm. He has more than 15 years of experience working in vineyards. Eugenio has a great deal of experience with irrigation systems and is a master of devising innovative solutions to complex problems using whatever materials and tools that happen to be on hand. Eugenio and Anatolio (below) are in charge of the single largest crop on the farm - berries!

KAREN FLOWERS – FARMER + FLOWERS
Karen has a background as a family physician, and is working to combine her medical expertise with farming. She came to Our Table in 2012 after spending a year in the Beginning Urban Farm Apprenticeship program run by OSU Extension and Multnomah County. Karen is in charge of all our greenhouse and nursery operations, our flowers and our bees.

NICK PFEIL – FARMER
Nick grew up in Santa Fe, New Mexico and left the desert southwest for the mountains of Montana where he studied anthropology and archaeology at the University of Montana in Missoula. After graduating, Nick moved to Seattle and studied food systems which led to an interest in small-scale farming and local food production. Nick has worked at several small organic farms around the Pacific Northwest, including one of the oldest CSA farms in Washington and student farms at schools in Oregon. Nick helps with vegetable production at Our Table and can usually be found harvesting, washing, and packing vegetables for our CSA members, restaurants, and wholesale accounts.