Our Team

Ty Brooks, Farm Director (he/him) ty.brooks@uga.edu is a Double Dawg with a bachelor’s in Wildlife Biology and master’s in Agricultural and Environmental Education. He is an experienced farmer who is passionate about organic growing practices. Ty loves spending time outside with his wife Anna Belle, their 2 daughters and their chiweenie Luna.

April McCoy, Farm Manager (she/her) april.mccoy@uga.edu graduated from UGA with a degree in ecology and a minor in studio art. She is interested in making sustainable agriculture accessible to more diverse communities.

Allie Johnston, Volunteer Coordinator graduated from UGA in 2023 with a degree in Horticulture. She likes working at UGArden because she gets to be a part of something bigger than just growing food. She finds it fulfilling to know that what we grow feeds people across Athens and teaches others about the value of our practices. She also loves tractors! Allie is a huge fan of the Dawgs and enjoys drives out to the Iron Horse statue.

Erin Ideker, Communications Intern (she/her) is a 2nd year Landscape Architecture student. She likes working at UGArden because she gets to be outside every day learning something new. She also loves seeing all the animals that live at UGArden, especially the bunnies! In her free time Erin enjoys printmaking, sketching, and crafts of any kind. She can be reached at ugarden@uga.edu for press inquiries.

Stella Carrasco, Herb Student Worker (she/her) is a 3rd year Horticulture major. She wanted to be involved at UGArden because she took the Herbs, Spices, and Medicinal Plants course in the Spring and loved learning about all kinds of different herbs, their medicinal properties, and how to prepare them. A fun fact about Stella is that in her free time she likes to foster cats from the Humane Society.

Autumn Girardin, Compost Intern (she/her) is a Horticulture and Agribusiness major graduating in 2025. She wanted to work at UGArden because it helped her fall in love with organic farming, and she felt welcomed by the friendly community. Autumn is a loose-leaf tea enthusiast with over 32 varieties in her collection. She drinks a cup every single day!

Kendal Grattan (she/her) is a second-year B.S. Ecology major. Kendal likes interning at UGArden because she gets to work outside and learn something different everyday. A fun fact about Kendal is that she has competed nationally and internationally in sprint kayaking!

Simran Singh (she/her) is a 4th year Management Information Systems major. She wanted to do the UGArden internship because she has always wanted to learn more about organic farming and she loves being outdoors, in gardens and in nature. She values UGArden’s mission and its impact on the local community and wanted to be a part of that effort. She was also interested in how sustainability and business coincide (being that she is a business major), and she felt that learning and applying more sustainable principles in the corporate/business world would be incredibly beneficial. A fun fact about Simran is that she loves spending time out on the water, taking spontaneous day trips, and trying to jump fences to pet cows (just kidding, she hasn’t done that although she really wants to).

Donald Fowler, Resident Builder (he/him) is from Cordelle, GA. He is a retired contractor. Donald is our resident tiny house finisher, shelf builder and general handy-man.

Dr. Peter Hartel, Mushroom Guru (he/him) is a retired UGA soil microbiology professor who has a passion for organics, especially chickens and mushrooms. He has constructed a very efficient shiitake mushroom growing area at UGArden as a demonstration. Peter teaches classes in mushroom production (shiitake and oyster mushrooms) to students and volunteer.

Bert Richards, Master Composter (he/him)is a Master Gardener Extension Volunteer and helps at the UGA Trial Gardens, State Botanical Garden of Georgia, and UGA Horticulture Farm. He recently completed the Master Composter course and currently oversees composting at UGArden. He retired from Georgia State University as Lecturer in Accounting in 2013.