Ladies and Gents, A Wortz!

The JBG fields span around 184 acres, and we grow hundreds of thousands of pounds of organic produce annually. We’re so proud to operate one of the largest true CSA programs in Texas, with over 2,000 members who have partnered up with us, incorporating our farm’s produce into their weekly meals. There are nearly 100 full time employees who keep things going from seed to sale, yet despite these grandiose numbers and the perceived scale of JBG, there is just one person who sits at the head of all-things customer service: A Wortz!

If you’ve ever emailed the main farm email, given the office a ring, stopped by our mobile home headquarters, complained about a less-than bunch of kale, alerted us about a late delivery, you’ve likely met A, officially our “CSA Coordinator”, and unofficially the motor that keeps it all going. A is the bridge, strong and steadfast, that connects our CSA Customers with our Farm Staff. She’s got a pulse on people’s beet fatigue, and cares deeply about the quality of the service we provide - not just the vegetables, but also the timeliness of deliveries and the functionality of our website. And if that weren’t enough, she also helps Krishna with bi-weekly payroll, coordinates delivery logistics, makes sure the office is running smoothly, and keeps everybody in the loop re birthdays and work anniversaries.

It’s been quite some time since we’ve done an employee spotlight (like this one of Lucas, Tracy, Scott, Lyndsie, and the Delivery Drivers), and we can’t think of a better person to kick things off again. A, thank you for the hawk-like eye you keep over our CSA and CSA Members. The Chronicle recently named us Austin’s best Monthly Subscription Box Service  (yay!! We’re honored!), and there is no doubt that your hard work, creativity, and care are a central ingredient to keeping the CSA so vibrant. Without further ado, an interview with A. (And yes, that’s her whole name! You’re not missing any letters.)

A truly juggles it all! Phones, emails, driver logistics, hr.... empty stacks of CSA boxes. Photo by Scott.

A! Tell me, how’d you get to Austin?

I grew up in Kansas... like rural Kansas in the middle of nowhere. I lived for 18 years in the same house, and when I graduated from high school, I knew I wanted to get out and see more of the world. I ended up moving to Syracuse, New York and attended Syracuse University. And every summer during college, I would live in a different place. Once I graduated, I realized the extreme cold in upstate New York was not for me… so I moved to Austin, Texas. That was in May of 2018… 3 years now!

Austin’s climate sounds like it was a big factor?

Weather is huge for me. I lived in Sacramento for a summer. I lived in Portland for a summer. I’ve spent a lot of time in San Francisco and I lived in LA for a brief period. To me, it just seems like most large cities offer a lot of the same things, and so the deciding factor for me is the weather.

So you found your way to Austin. How did you find JBG?

There for a while I was working in the service industry, and I worked at a few different restaurants and our cooks would usually wear a JBG hat. And I would just see them around town... they were just so iconic, and I’d see a van pop up every now and then. And I couldn’t help but think, like, “wow, this must be such a cool company! The branding is so dope. I don’t really know what they do or who they are… but I’m interested.’ Once I started working at Bento Picnic, they were a regular purveyor of ours, and so we would see the driver every few days. That’s when I got to understand what JBG was. And after I lost my job during the pandemic, this administrative position opened up and I jumped on it.

What other restaurants did you work at besides Bento Picnic?

I was working mostly at Brewer’s Table, which is now closed up. RIP.

Don’t you have a background in film, too?

Yeah, so, prior to the pandemic, I started my own film festival. I don't know how familiar you are with film festivals, but here's a lot of privilege in the system - a lot of privilege in being in film in general, in receiving funding, and being allowed the position of power to direct the film or take over a story.... Yeah, and that sort of idea is carried out through film festivals as well. There are entry fees to exhibit, and it's mostly one demographic - old white men - judging films and dictating who's good and who's not. At the time, I did production design I had friends who were cinematographers, and my partner at the time was a producer, we were all like: we just enjoy making stuff but we don't have money to send it anywhere, get eyes on it, and was just like, why don't we put something together and we'll all just watch it as a group? So that’s why I put together this festival. We held it twice and so there was no entry fee. Anybody who sent me a film it got put in. And there was always free food and free beer and it was just awesome inviting spaces like, no, no threshold no bar no like anything... just come and be as you are. And so the first one was really just off hand, like all of my friends came and then we invited everybody on social media so like extended friends came. But then the second one, got picked up by Austin Design Week which is like a week long festival highlighting, designers, and we were a featured event at that like community thing and so that got us, we increased by, like, I think it was 300% of attendance and like it was just really cool to give my friends the platform to show their films to people who didn't know us.

That’s so cool. I’m curious how you went from film to farm. I know you said you admired the farm’s branding, but have you ever worked on a vegetable farm before?

Well, growing up in rural Kansas, I was a part of FFA and 4H my entire life. Like, I started as a little Cloverbud at six years old...showing my dogs and making arts and crafts. My mom was also a horticulturist. And so for a while, we had a big garden and in our backyard; one year I won reserve grand champion with some tomatoes that I grew. And so I thought that the agriculture background I had would make me a good fit for this position. Contributing to local agriculture is something that I grew up doing, and I feel like I had not lost my way... but just kind of that piece to the side for a while. When looking for jobs and when this popped up, it felt like a great time to start up again.

What do you do at the farm?

The main focus of my job is customer support, and being the main point of contact for our CSA distribution. So, like being the front face to our 2500 plus member network, and helping them, whether it's changing their box size or helping with quality assurance or just navigating our website… I'm the front runner on those types of things.

Does it feel like a lot of pressure to be one person in front of 2,500?

I mean that it's the best kind of pressure, like I love it. At this point, people know who I am. It's so cool to have a rapport with a lot of our customers.

A amid the pallets of CSA boxes. Nothing better to break up the work day than a photoshoot in the pole barn!

I assume that there's some customers that you talk to every week and know well, and others that maybe never need to get in touch?

Totally. Also, anytime someone emails me whether it's like every week or a one off thing, if they have a website or social media and their sign off, like I like to get to know them better through how they like portray themselves online and I think it's really cool to to use that and know who our members are and just like appreciate their work.

How would you describe our CSA membership?

All of our customers are just so caring... not only our farm, but also about sustainability and the environment as a whole, as well as just thinking about their own health and how that contributes to the greater society. Our customers are really really insightful and thoughtful. Aside from that, we also have a lot of creative customers… like a bunch of designers and craftsmen are some of our longtime members and I think that's really cool too.

What’s your favorite part about your job?

I am a low key workaholic, and so my favorite part of the job is that it never stops. I love that there's this big network and I am in charge of taking care of everyone within it… I just enjoy that responsibility and find a lot of joy in the position because of it.

You started this job in the middle of a pandemic, and recently, you helped the farm navigate the aftermath of the ice storm which wiped out the majority of our crops. Talk to me about that!

I feel like things here are always in flux… we’re a farm. The two biggest things that I saw from those experiences were that our members really care about our farm. It’s so great that folks step forward, not only with extending their memberships, but also with donating to our employee wellness fund. Even though we lost a a solid chunk of members through the time where we weren't using our own vegetables, there were so many people who said, like, “I get it, I know what's going on I'm here with you... you can't get rid of us. We love this so much, and we're here to stay.’ That was really cool to experience, just how devoted everyone is. Also, our staff… we all just rode that snowstorm on snowboards. We were just coasting. Like, we’re gonna do it, we’re gonna make it happen. Everyone's just so talented here, and it was a great team effort. I don't know what we would do without Krishna.

I agree about the team - what a strong farm crew we have! Speaking of - talk to me about who you’re working with in your day to day at the farm.

I feel like I talk to everybody who works here at the Hergotz location! work with Andrew, because he's the head CSA packing manager and is directly packing the boxes. So we're talking about quality, we're talking about box contents, we're talking about what members want in their box, what they want out, we're talking about marketing things, like how to get more members.. I'm working with all of our drivers because I do all of their delivery paperwork as well as create the routes, and handle any discrepancies that happen while they're out and about. I work with Mike, our Restaurant Sales Manager, specifically with the drivers as well, to make sure our drivers are fully up to speed on what's going on that day, as well as field calls for the wholesale or emails when they happen to come into my inbox. I work with Tracy and Brisa when I do HR, when we need to hire more people making sure that the barn crew is fully staffed and then once continuing that HR support with the rest of the barn crew, trying to make sure they're happy and their time cards are up to date.

Favorite vegetable of the moment?

I love curly kale. I eat it almost every day, if not twice a day. Olive oil, salt and pepper, and then scrambled eggs in it. Sometimes with fried potatoes, like a breakfast bowl.

What do you do when you're not at JBG?

Well, I recently built a bed in my car. So I’m often camping… or climbing all the time.

Where do you like to climb?

Some climbers would roll their eyes, I’m totally a gym rat and usually climb at Austin Bouldering Project.

Hiker, climber, CSA extraordinaire!

That palace is amazing.

Exactly. Yeah, so if I'm not, if I'm not camping or climbing, I'm usually hanging out with my dog and my partner. Ghost is a malamute and he’s actually at the office today looking cute.

Sweet ghost, enjoying the West Texas views.

Any other closing thoughts before we go?

Well, sometimes I do wish that people would understand what, actually, a CSA is. It’s not like a grocery store haul to your door. It’s based on seasonal farm availability, and what we can grow at our farm. Many of our customers get this, but some don’t and expect us to be just like a grocery store. The biggest takeaway that CSA members can have from this experience is that it’s about supporting the farm and being a shareholder in the farm, and I don't know that that's always clear to our members, you know? And the vegetables are actually better than you can find at a grocery store, but not always what you might expect.

Thanks for all you do, A!