Meet the Fairgate Farm Staff

Pete Novajosky is our friendly Farm Manager who brings a wealth of experience in agriculture along with a devotion to promoting healthy lifestyles to the Stamford community.

A Fairfield County native, since childhood, Pete has been drawn to gardening and in 2007 he began his professional career in agriculture at Gilbertie’s Herb Gardens in Easton, Connecticut.  He was soon managing a large organic greenhouse operation growing hundreds of varieties of herbs, vegetables, and microgreens.  Prior to joining Fairgate Farm, Pete spent three years at Green Up in Stamford where he designed living walls, organic gardens and hydroponic systems, as well as constructing and repairing greenhouses and consulting with clients in Fairfield County and the greater New York Metropolitan area.  He has been the Farm Manager of Fairgate Farm since 2017.

Along with his passion for farming, Pete is also a health and wellness enthusiast, spending more than a decade soaking up any knowledge he can regarding health, nutrition, cooking, and fitness.  Farmer Pete is a firm believer in “food as medicine” and works to integrate all aspects of health and well-being into Fairgate Farm’s mission.

Liz Wimpfheimer is the Assistant Manager at Fairgate Farm. Her background in education and environmentalism shine through her passion of connecting people with nature and the local food system.

Liz attributes her love of plants and all living things to her mother, a master gardener, and her grandfather, who farmed in their home country, Guyana. Born and raised in Norwalk, CT, Liz has always been connected to this community. She attended the University of Connecticut and spent her first year at the Stamford campus before transferring to the main campus in Storrs, CT. During her time at UConn, she was involved in a number of student organizations focused on health, environment, and social justice including serving on the executive board of “EcoHusky”, one of the university’s leading environmental student organizations. In 2020, she graduated with a degree in Public Health and Health Promotion as well as minors in Psychology and Human Rights.

After graduating, she served 2 service terms with FoodCorps, an AmeriCorps program that places service members in elementary schools to encourage kids to try new foods and learn about where their food comes from. As a service member, she took care of school gardens and taught her elementary students a range of topics: what a plant needs to grow, what weeds are edible, the anatomy of an earthworm, and much more. Before joining the Fairgate team, she also worked at Reynolds Farm, a plant nursery in Norwalk, where she learned more about commercial food and flower production. Her experiences helped her to be a well-rounded and equity-focused cultivator, educator, student, environmental steward, and community member.