Your friendly neighborhood dirtbags
Alexandra Schmidt
Alexandra Schmidt is a Certified Professional Soil Scientist from Phoenixville, Pennsylvania. Although she is not from a farming family, she fell in love with the intersection between soil science, horticulture, and community after volunteering with a local farm in high school.
Alexandra went on to receive a B.S. in Environmental Science with a minor in Sustainable Agriculture from Delaware Valley University in 2017 and received a M.S. in Crop and Soil Environmental Science from Virginia Tech in 2018.
After graduating, she moved to Harrisonburg, Virginia and realized this was the perfect location to pursue her dream of starting a farm, and is excited to bring her passion and expertise to the Shenandoah Valley!
Bryce Yoder
Bryce Yoder was born and raised right here in Harrisonburg, Virginia. After spending his childhood hiking and camping throughout the Shenandoah Valley, he realized he wanted to play a part in conserving these resources for future generations.
Bryce pursued this passion by graduating with a B.A. in Environmental Sustainability with a minor in Biology from Eastern Mennonite University in 2015. He decided to spend a few years traveling to gain experience in this field and spent several seasons in Missouri, California, and Oregon surveying wildlife and restoring native habitat with the National Park Service, National Forest Service, and other conservation organizations.
Throughout these adventures, Bryce knew he wanted to return to Harrisonburg and bring his conservation skills back to Virginia and fortunately was able to do so in 2020.
Alexandra and Bryce met and fell in love in Harrisonburg and will be married in 2024! In the meantime, they started Dirt First Farm and Nursery to combine their skills and get growing!
