Meet Daytrip Farm Collective
Alejandrina (they/them)
Soil Regeneration Researcher + Sustainability Coordinator + Farm Hand
Alejandrina, Known as Ale, is an immigrant from Mexico with a background in environmental science and a deep-rooted passion for farming that honors the wild, resilient rhythms of the earth. Their work reflects a love for native plants, birds, mushrooms, insects, amphibians, and the beautifully tangled systems that hold it all together. Ale is especially interested in climate change and how small-scale farming can be part of the solution. Off the farm, their time is filled with managing a cafe, wildlife surveying, art-making, chess matches, and the joyful chaos of parenting two dogs, Pepper and Zucchini. Ale also collects VHS tapes, firmly believes any floor can be a dance floor, and is rarely seen indoors on a sunny day—often mistaken for a sunbathing lizard. They prioritize curiosity, care, and joy in every part of their work and life. This farm is both a living practice and a love letter to the ecosystems Ale works to protect.
Etsegenet (she/her)
Operations and Development Specialist + Farm Hand
Etsegenet was born in Ethiopia and moved to Portland at age 11, where she’s cultivated deep roots in both land and community. Her connection to the natural world began early—tending gardens with her family and caring for a home full of animals including goats, sheep, chickens, cats, dogs, and even a giant monkey. This upbringing, combined with her background in Environmental Science and Engineering, grounds her commitment to earthwork that is both ancestral and future-focused. Etse’s journey in food sovereignty has been shaped by working alongside Black, immigrant, and refugee farmers in Portland—spaces where she saw what becomes possible when land is held in community. She believes access to land is essential for healing, belonging, and generational survival, especially for BIPOC youth like her nieces, Ruth and Naomi, who deserve to see themselves reflected in natural spaces. Outside the farm, Etse finds joy in painting, reading at the park, playing tennis, and doing nothing in the sun. She lives with her dog Bojack and two cats, Cookie and Beauty—and holds onto a belief that tending to land is also a way of tending to self, memory, and collective future.
Haile (they/them)
Farm Manager / Crop Planning / Harvest Management / IPM / Propagation Management / Farm hand / Equipment Operator
Haile is a queer caregiver who’s lived in Portland their whole life. They have endless gratitude for the opportunity to steward land, continue to learn from this land and the original caregivers of it, and build alongside many others in continuing the generational work of growing food sovereignty. They feel at home when they are amongst ferns, cuddling cats, floating in the river, dancing, and singing with the young people they care for. They love to nerd out about love and are committed to the practice of being responsible for what they can in building a world where power, resources, and care are radically and equitably redistributed, and where all our needs are met.
Jacob (he/they/she)
Development Specialist / Business Liaison / Post Harvest Management
Jacob found a passion for Organic Farming as they pursued a connection to their Indigenous Ancestry. As a descendant of Alaskan Natives, they hope to honor the indigenous people of this land through sustainable farming and land stewardship. Jacob enjoys their off-farm work connecting with Portlands vibrant food community in hopes of creating a sustainable connection for local small farms. They believe in fostering robust market development strategies to ensure the long-term viability of small-scale agriculture, and are actively engaged in building a thriving local food system that benefits both growers and consumers.
Jayden (they/them)
Social Media + Marketer Manager / Creative Director / Accountant / Farm Hand
Jayden is a queer and trans multidisciplinary artist, and has spent the last decade as a freelance photographer, graphic designer, and videographer, primarily for musicians and other creatives around the world. They bring deep storytelling experience into their relationship with land, weaving together creativity and cultivation as tools for healing, resistance, and transformation. Raised in rural Oregon among trees, wildflowers, and their mom’s big garden, Jayden formed an early bond with slowness, presence, and the magic of the natural world. Reconnecting with farming in their mid-twenties became a form of reclamation, an embodied rejection of grind culture and a return to food sovereignty, community care, and collective interdependence. Jayden is passionate, opinionated, tender-hearted, and fueled by fire (v 4 leo placements of me). They cry at everything (happy or sad!!).
They love the physicality of farming because it calls them back into their body, the earth, and the present moment. To Jayden, farming is resistance, its land reclamation, food sovereignty, and a way to feed communities with love and care while dismantling the systems that hoard power and resources.
Outside the farm, you’ll find Jayden dancing, listening to music, swimming, lounging on rocks, making art, sitting in the dirt, getting sidetracked, and munching on something delicious.