Founder’s Reflection & Next Chapter

By Rubie Simonsen

First Mother Farms has been one of the greatest teachers of my life. What began as a personal search for healing and belonging through land became a living classroom in leadership, systems-building, and community care. Each partnership, program, and challenge shaped not only the project, but my understanding of what responsible stewardship truly means.

I learned how to build from the ground up and just as importantly, how to recognize when a chapter is complete. Guiding First Mother Farms through growth and into its transition phase clarified my commitment to long-term impact and the kind of leadership I now choose to practice: rooted, relational, and durable.

As I enter the next chapter of my work, I am bringing forward everything this project has taught me into organizations and collaborations dedicated to regenerative agriculture, food sovereignty, Indigenous rights, and community-centered systems change. My focus now is on contributing this experience in spaces where programs can deepen, partnerships can strengthen, and collective vision can take lasting form.

First Mother Farms will always live in the relationships it nurtured, the land it tended, and the people who carried its work forward. I step into what comes next with gratitude, clarity, and a steady commitment to build what endures.

About the Founder

Rubie Simonsen is a program and strategy leader working at the intersection of regenerative agriculture, food systems, Indigenous sovereignty, and community-centered systems change.

Her work centers on building and stewarding programs, partnerships, and learning ecosystems that integrate land-based practice, cultural knowledge, and long-term organizational strategy. Over the past eight years, she has designed and led initiatives spanning regenerative farming, apprenticeship and youth development, philanthropic engagement, coalition building, and movement infrastructure.

Rubie is the founder of First Mother Farms. Her leadership is guided by relational practice and systems thinking, with an ongoing focus on strengthening programs, partnerships, and long-term impact across changing landscapes.