Easy Bee Farm
Our StoryEasy Bee Farm
Our StoryAbout The Farm
Easy Bee Farm
Easy Bee has been growing food and offering CSA shares to the Moab community for nearly two decades. We have worked with NRCS to develop a conservation plan that promotes native pollinators through habitat planting and hedgerows. In addition to our three acre property, we currently lease a half acre down the road to supplement our production needs.
The top priority of the farm is to build healthy soil, using only organic practices. Easy Bee does this with organic amendments, cover cropping, crop rotation, companion planting, and mulching. We use drip irrigation to conserve water. Compost is made on-site from plant matter and food waste, with the occasional addition of chicken manure. Pollinators are key to our farm and we promote them through flower, herb, and perennial plantings.
Easy Bee is comprised of a team of farmers and land stewards who are extremely passionate about growing local, nutrient dense food for our community!
About The Farmers
Rhonda Gotway Clyde
Rhonda has been growing food on her property in Spanish Valley for nearly two decades and in the Moab valley for three. She has worked with numerous individuals, nonprofits, and businesses to develop best growing practices and increase the production of healthy, local food in our community.
Rhonda has fed countless people in Moab from her market gardens, and has slowly expanded to include fruits, berries, an ever-growing list of exquisite vegetable varieties–and most recently, a farmstand and commercial kitchen!
When not in the garden, she enjoys spending time with her husband and her pets in the red rock back country.
Kelli Griffin
Kelli is the Assistant Farm Manager. She and her husband moved to Moab after living in Colorado for two years. She joined the Easy Bee crew in the Summer of 2020 and has loved serving the surrounding community through farm education and fresh produce. Having grown up on a dairy farm in Indiana, Kelli has always been drawn to working outdoors and getting in the dirt to see what nature can do. Her and her husband spend most of their free time homesteading on their few acres of land while enjoying the occasional front porch sittin’.
Thomas Eliason
It’s the Golden Age of market gardening, the Renaissance of small farming! And Thomas has followed the movements and studied their most skilled practitioners for a decade, before finally diving headlong with his intrepid and inspiring wife, Mel.
Like many, he discovered home gardening as a much need therapy, post-adolescence. After earning his BA in Literature (the soft skills of which can be applied to almost anything) he developed a landscape design/build business centered on native plants in his hometown area of the Eastern Shore, Maryland.
He brings business and project management skills, as well as plant production experience and a keen eye for aesthetics to Easy Bee. And he couldn’t be more pleased with the necessary challenges and rewards of farm life. When not in the field, he and Mel enjoy taking their van and cat on adventures into the high desert that they now call home.
Mel Eliason
Mel hails from Maryland. When she was just 8 years old she made her first trip out west and soon realized she was meant to live here. A multitude of life changing events later, such as realizing working for corporate America was soul crushing, she decided to connect with her roots and to become one with the land.
Two decades later, and a year spent living in a van with her husband, Thomas, who built it from an empty carcass into a beautiful tiny home, her dream has come true. They made it out west with their most beloved cat, Tuna, who was a wonderful van-cat but much prefers staying in one place.
Mel enjoys being outside at all times. She would go on a hike everyday if she could, but just being outside with the fresh air, dirt, and veggies, she finds complete happiness. Mel’s real passion and talent is transforming fresh vegetables, fruits, and herbs into edible masterpieces. Her favorite aspect of farm life is having an endless supply of fresh produce and a place to create art in the form of cooking. She is grateful that Easy Bee is allowing her to live out her passion with Thomas and Tuna.
About The Support Staff
Abby Meyer
Abby moved to Moab to work at the Youth Garden Project and fell in love with the Moab community and the exquisite balance of farming in the high desert. At Easy Bee, Abby loves connecting with her fellow farmers while harvesting, finding solace in repetition, and the pre-dawn hours of the summer mornings. Growing food for folks in our small town gives her a sense of purpose and she is excited by experimenting with what fun crops our climate will support.
Tali Hice
Tali is our CSA kitchen master. Her attention to detail is one of the reasons our veggies are always so clean. When Tali is not at the farm she is busy hanging out with her fang, feather and fur critters, volunteering around town and cleaning homes or being a “dirt therapist” as she likes to say. Tali has the best jokes and of course provided the googly eyes for all of our human-like vegetables.
Inder Coppola
Inder is delighted to be a little part of the team at Easy Bee. She enjoys being able to connect to her chosen homeland in this way—becoming more and more a part of it through the plants she helps tend and who nourish her family and community. Inder spends most of her time being a newish mom, and she and her little one Robin spend much time exploring the beauty of the farm. Inder is also a writer, and one of the ways she is in reciprocity to her community of beings is through offering “wanders” to deepen into relationship with oneself and the land. You can explore her project by visiting weavingourwanders.blogspot.com
Lisa Fuellemann
Lisa worked four years as a worker share member, and is now a frequent customer. Her previous farm experience, her love for and ability to create delicious farm fresh dishes, her artistic eye and her positivity have made her an incredible addition to the farm. Originally from Switzerland, Lisa brings that Swiss charm and efficiency to Easy Bee Farm. She also brings the best laughter.
Jess Oldham
Jess had her first garden in her parents’ backyard in high school and has been growing food ever since. The more Jess learned about our issues as a planet, the more she saw the need for stronger communities where food is produced locally and with the greater environment in mind.She is also the founder and owner of Farm Yard, designed to encourage others to grow food in their yards and work with fruit trees. When not digging in the dirt, Jess is exploring the canyon country with her husband and son, climbing rocks, cooking delicious meals with friends and planning the next road trip.
LBJ aka Mr. Kitty
Mr. Kitty was attracted to the garden as a kitten in 2013. He adopted Easy Bee Farm as his home because of its abundance of nutrient dense bunny meat and other rodents. He works hard and sleeps hard. As supervisor of pest management, he is exceeding all expectations.
Alf Alfa
Resident rabbit and his clones are addicted to the organically grown vegetables of Easy Bee Farm. He used to share just fine with us, but he and his growing number of offspring (all named Alf) have recently become a little greedy. Now he lives outside the rabbit fence in the grass and looks longingly at our salad greens.
Sally Satterfield
Meet Sally, our fun-loving addition to the Easy Bee Farm crew. She’s lived in Moab for 30 plus years and enjoys exploring the red rocks of Moab as well as gardening in her free time. She works diligently in the kitchen to bring you beautiful clean produce. She’s also a master cultivator and helps keep our garden space looking pristine.
Tatsy Guild
Tatsy is Easy Bee Farm’s main herb dryer or person who dries the herbs! Tatsy accumulated most of her herb-drying skills as a homesteader in Montana. At that time, she learned that the more that we can provide directly for ourselves, the higher quality of life we have; so she learned a lot of skills. Now she’s happy to be able to pass some of this on to you (to add a little bit to YOUR quality of life).
Meagan Coy
Meagan moved to Utah in 2013 to work on a farm outside of Capital Reef National Park. She fell in love with the area and landed in Moab after her first season there. She has been helping out at Easy Bee Farm since 2016 and loves the garden, the ladies that make it happen and being able to help provide food to members of the community. Meagan is also a massage therapist and yoga teacher and runs her own business, M.C.’s Healing Arts, in Moab. For enjoyment she likes to pretend she’s a novice in the kitchen, hike, stand-up paddle board and play the ukulele.
Emily Klarer
Emily Klarer worked with Rhonda and Jess at the Youth Garden Project in 2010 and has been a friend of the farm since its beginning. She has worked in various capacities with the farm and is currently the farm photographer (or as we like to call her, our “Farmographer”). Emily’s eye for detail has not only helped at the farm, but also makes her an incredibly talented photographer and story teller. She owns a successful photography business photographing couples in love. She is also a part owner of a new gym in town.
Chi
Chi the garden dog is an important member of the Easy Bee Farm team. He is a member of the Techichi, a 6,000 year old Aztec breed of Chihuahua, and he exemplifies his roots. He oversees both the entertainment and public relations departments. Chi is the face of the farm, so you’ll be seeing many photos.