Meet the Farmer
Fiery Ginger Farm
Hope Sippola & Shayne Zurilgen
Established In: 2015
Location: West Sacramento, CA
Acreage: 2
What they sell: Mixed vegetables
When they began working with KTA: 2015
Advising focus: Market access & expansion
Support our ongoing advising work with Fiery Ginger by giving to KTA.
At their core, Hope Sippola and Shayne Zurilgen are teachers; Hope’s roots lie in working at a kids garden program, and Shayne was a middle school science teacher who also tended the school garden. Initially, neither of them envisioned that farming would be their future. But as they deepened further into the food access space through the Center for Land-Based Learning’s Farm Academy, they began to jointly envision a farm business that would allow them to grow produce while educating their community.
Fiery Ginger Farm started in 2015 as an asset to the community, providing food, knowledge, understanding, transparency, and belonging. One of the core tenents Hope and Shayne employ in their business is a commitment to regenerative agriculture practices, hoping that they can enhance the soil they work on while producing nutrient-dense vegetables.
Also important to Hope and Shayne is selling their produce to schools and feeding children in their community; however, they knew that getting their food into school lunches initially would have its challenges. As they formed and deepened values-aligned relationships, scaled up their production on their small piece of land, and learned the ins and outs of the wholesale sector to schools, they started moving the majority of what they grew into local schools. As a continuation of this work, and as a response to the supply chain challenges schools in the Sacramento region were facing, Hope and Shayne started Spork Food Hub in 2021. Fiery Ginger Farm now sells most of its produce to Spork Food Hub, which has allowed Hope and Shayne to greatly expand the type and quantity of produce they are able to sell to schools alongside 30 other farms in the area. Now, their produce supplies over a dozen school districts, universities, restaurants, food security programs, hospitals, and other institutions. For Hope and Shayne, Spork Food Hub continues to represent a way to grow Fiery Ginger Farm’s impact in the community through partnership.
Read more about the values that guide Hope and Shayne in KTA’s blog post, “Grounded Values in a Shifting Economy.”
Where to Find
Spork Food Hub Farm Stand, Wed 3-6pm
Spork Food Hub online ordering
Davis Farmers Market, Sat 8am-1pm
Advising Snapshot: 2023
With the recent growth of both their farm and food hub, Hope and Shayne, with support from Farm Business Advisor Carine Hines, are working on the necessary investments to set their businesses up for long-term success. As Hope and Shayne look towards expanding both their farm and their collaboration with schools, their current focus with Carine is on cash flow budgeting for both businesses. Carine assisted Hope and Shayne in setting up these projections while also providing a third-party perspective for their business partnership. For their farm, this work will support in building the foundation for its financial viability and realization of its goals. While for Spork, cash flow projections will help Hope and Shayne predict and manage their business’ rapid growth. Additionally, Carine, Hope, and Shayne are working on market access strategies and Spork Food Hub employee support and management.
