Surrounded by row upon row of peppers, tomatoes, cucumbers, arugula and more on her half-acre backyard farm in Dracut, Massachusetts, Emily Makrez 鈥�07, 鈥�09 can barely get through a sentence when talking about her past career as a sales operations manager.
鈥淚 was doing soul-crushing work for an identity security company, managing a sales team 鈥� There鈥檚 a bird chasing a bird! 鈥� doing project management stuff,鈥� she says while giving a tour of her thriving plot of land, which she started in 2019 and cheekily named 鈥淔-Word Farm鈥� because of her love for farming, fermenting and foraging.
Makrez was working on a master鈥檚 degree in community social psychology at UMass Lowell when she read an article about factory farming.
鈥淭hat鈥檚 when I really started to consider the impact that big agriculture makes on the environment,鈥� says the Lowell native, who went on to earn a second master鈥檚 degree in dietetics and clinical nutritional services from Bastyr University in Kenmore, Washington.
There, she took a class on organic gardening and learned about sheet mulching 鈥� a way to develop healthy soil (and kill weeds) by laying wet cardboard on the ground and letting it decompose beneath compost and wood chips. She started reading all that she could about organic farming.
鈥淚 started this farm because it was my way of doing what I could. Maybe I can鈥檛 affect the big factory farms, but I can take care of the soil that I鈥檓 currently on,鈥� she says. 鈥淭he more that people do for themselves on the local level, the better off we all are.鈥�
Besides supplying fresh produce to a local restaurant, Makrez sells craft vinegars at farmer鈥檚 markets. She also helped start a community kitchen at a nearby church, where she uses koji 鈥� 鈥渢he Edward Scissorhands of food molds鈥� 鈥� to make a fermented Asian marinade, shio koji, that is gaining popularity in the U.S.
Makrez teaches classes on fermentation and constantly shares tips about things such as mushroom foraging on . She was also invited by the Office of Sustainability to teach students how to make vinegar from fruit scraps.
鈥淚t鈥檚 cool to see young people who are so interested in sustainability. They鈥檙e the future of this planet, and we obviously need that,鈥� says Makrez, who is thinking of 鈥渕oving more toward education and recipe consultation.鈥澛�
鈥淏eing in nature is my happy place,鈥� she says as she pulls a handful of wine cap mushrooms from the soil. 鈥淚 love being outside and caring for nature 鈥� and really making that a career.鈥�