Meet Our Guests

Russ Willenbring

Russ Willenbring is the owner of Produce Acres in Cold Spring, Minnesota. His seventy-five-acre farm relies on the nutritional value and quality of his products, not simply on the quantity.

Elaine Trigiani

Elaine is from Mississippi in the USA, worked as an art historian at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC, and has been living in Italy for 20 years learning about Italian foods and culinary traditions from her relatives, artisan producers, farmers and chefs. She has an MA in art history, is certified as a taster of olive oil by the Regione Toscana and of wine by ONAV, the Organizzazione Nazionale Assaggiatori di Vino. She has written two guidebooks to Sicily, teaches cooking lessons, leads guided tastings, designs and leads culinary travel programs and she produces Olio della Donna super high quality extra virgin olive oil.

Josiah Christensen

owner of Pleasant Valley Mushroom

I was born and raised in Minnesota, spending most of my life in Becker. I come from a family of educators, with about half of my siblings going into education as well. While I respect that path, my interests led me in a different direction, biology. From a young age I was an avid outdoorsman, spending as much time as possible hunting, fishing, and camping. Some of my favorite childhood memories are waiting for Saturday mornings so I could go fishing with my dad from public piers and docks. That early connection with nature sparked a deeper fascination with biology and eventually led me toward agriculture. What I find most compelling is the practical side of biology, seeing how living systems can be applied in real, productive ways. Although I didn’t grow up on a farm, that curiosity led me into the world of indoor agriculture. I became particularly interested in aquaponics and studied it in college. After graduating, I went on to work at Superior Fresh, one of the world’s leading aquaponic farms. During my time there, I gained firsthand experience with the scale, complexity, and resource intensity involved in large-scale indoor agriculture. While living in Wisconsin, I also began foraging for wild mushrooms in the Driftless Area. That experience sparked a fascination with fungi that quickly grew into a passion. I started cultivating mushrooms myself, and the more I learned, the more interested I became. After several years at Superior Fresh, I decided it was time to shift my focus from plants to fungi full-time. I moved back to my hometown of Becker, Minnesota, and in 2020 I started Pleasant Valley Mushrooms, named after Becker’s original name. Since then, the farm has grown steadily—from a small 10×20 greenhouse to an 1,800-square-foot warehouse, and most recently into a 3,100-square-foot facility. What started as a personal fascination with fungi has grown into a full-time farm dedicated to producing high-quality gourmet mushrooms.

Ashley Nathe

Executive Director

Executive director of the Minneapolis Farmers Market Mother of 2 Farming is in my blood

Mary Lower

Digital Marketer/Publicist

Mary honed her PR skills in Chicago and New York before landing in the Twin Cities area. Always with a camera in her hands (or in recent years a Samsung phone) she enjoys storytelling in her own unique way - sometimes through interviews and sometimes through photos that illustrate blog posts or other digital marketing platforms. She joined with her husband in 2015 to produce a blog called "Hacking Salt" that modified dishes and restaurant menus to remove the high level of sodium many are accustomed to in their daily diet. Her husband Chris was awaiting a heart transplant and found he had a knack for hacking the salt out of meals. Chris passed in 2017 and Mary keeps him his legacy alive via the recipe photos and by moderating the Facebook private group. Her goal is to spend more time on blog content in the coming year.

Maddie Jensen

Manager / Buyer of inventory

I've worked with Eversharp since it opened in 2007, joining full-time after I graduated from college. My favorite part of the job is working with customers and helping them find the right tool. Second favorite? Testing out all of our new products.