
Hawthorne Valley Association is thrilled to announce the addition of two stellar biodynamic farming entrepreneurs to its Board of Trustees: Maggie Keith and Chris Tebbutt. Keith is a fourth generation steward of Foxhollow Farm in Crestwood Kentucky where she raises grassfed beef, and Tebbutt stewards Filigreen Farm in Mendocino County, California.
“I have admired Maggie and Chris for many years and consider Foxhollow and Filigreen to be beacons of biodynamic agriculture, ecological stewardship, and social innovation. Spending time at these remarkable places enlivens the soul and speaks volumes to the care, competency, and generosity of spirit that Maggie and Chris embody,” said Hawthorne Valley Executive Director Martin Ping. “I am immensely grateful that they have agreed to offer their wisdom, creativity, and practical knowledge in service to Hawthorne Valley’s mission and I am honored to be working with such inspired leaders.”
Maggie Keith is a fourth-generation steward of Foxhollow Farm, a Biodynamic® Farm Community in Crestwood, Kentucky. In 2007, Maggie used her business degree and love of food and the outdoors to convert her family’s 1300-acre farm from a conventional three-crop rotation operation to a biodynamic farm raising grassfed beef. Since 2008, Maggie has been selling and marketing 100% grassfed beef. In 2017, she grew the business, launching Foxhollow Delivery, a subscription delivery service bringing Foxhollow Farm’s grassfed beef, chicken, and lamb to homes throughout the continental US. For the past 15 years, she and her mom have worked together with the head herdsman of Foxhollow to grow their herd from 30 to 500 beef cattle. They have also built a community of fellow entrepreneurial biodynamic farmers and holistic healers who work and live on Foxhollow Farm.
Along with managing the business operations of the farm, Maggie is passionate about growing, harvesting, and cooking food. She grows a variety of heirloom vegetables and cut flowers. Maggie is a co-host of the television show, The Farmer and The Foodie and serves on the boards of Dare to Care Food Bank and The Berry Center. Her goals are to grow more farmers, advocate for grassfed beef and biodynamic farming, and encourage everyone to take the time to enjoy a meal around the table with friends and family. Maggie lives on Foxhollow Farm with her three young children and husband, Benton Keith.
“I am enthused to connect with and learn from another Biodynamic Farm Community by serving on the board for Hawthorne Valley,” Keith says. “I look forward to bringing a farmers' voice to the table and sharing knowledge about healing our soil for future generations.”
Chris Tebbutt is a farmer, gardener, and landscape designer. Raised in East Africa, Australia, and New Zealand, Chris came to the US in the late '70s to study biodynamics with Alan Chadwick at the Round Valley Garden Project. There he met his partner, Stephanie Kotin. They went on to study botanical horticulture in the UK, both in private gardens and at the Royal Botanic Garden, Edinburgh. Returning to California to live in the Redwood ecosystem, Chris became a forestry activist in the '80s and '90s, working to improve silvicultural standards and played an integral part in Redwood Coast Watersheds Alliance vs. the State of California and the campaign for sustainable forestry practices. A life-long love of trees led to further work with the International Dendrological Research Institute, studying rare conifer habitat around the world. Co-founder of Land & Place, a design/build landscape company, Chris returned to farming when his children were born, with the creation of Filigreen Farm in Mendocino County, California, home to diverse orchards, vineyards, and gardens. He is dedicated to the study of water as a means to enliven and understand biodynamics.
“As a longtime Waldorf parent and biodynamic farmer in Northern California, it is an honor to be considered for the Board of Trustees of Hawthorne Valley,” Tebbutt says. “I love the concept that Hawthorne Valley is an association—a uniting for a common purpose. Perhaps, with my experiences living on the West Coast for the past forty years, I can humbly bring a Pacific perspective to our common dilemmas, which are being highlighted by the fact that we are all riding bareback into a changed climate.”
Chris and Maggie join a stellar Board which includes: Co-Chairs Alfa Demmellash, Chief Executive Officer and Co-Founder, Rising Tide Capital, and Matt Stinchcomb, Co-founder, Partners for Climate Action of the Hudson Valley and founder of The Good Work Institute; Treasurer Kim Bucci, entrepreneur and owner and operator of Rivertown Lodge in Hudson and soon-to-be Camptown Hotel in Leeds; Aaron Dessner, Grammy Award-winning musician, Danielle Do, Chief Corporate & Securities Counsel at Synchrony Financial; Herbert Dreiseitl, landscape architect, urban designer, water artist, interdisciplinary planner; and Alex Sierck, civil rights lawyer and psychoanalyst. For complete Board member bios, please click here.