The Team

Mike

Mike is livestock czar, legal specialist, and business-guy-in-chief. Having accidentally passed the Massachusetts bar and learned the dark art of spreadsheets in an earlier life, Mike now steers the business, legal, and financial side of the farm.

His love of animals (and growing enthusiasm for building things that must survive weather, mud, and livestock opinions) means he also oversees the farm’s animals and their housing. You’re likely to find him wrestling with Penny and Wally by the chicken coop, sketching out the next building project, or trying to convince Shea to stretch a quick music break into a full jam session of ’70s Dylan covers.

Shea

Shea is gardener-in-chief, creative director, and resident plant whisperer. Riddle Brook Farm grew from her love of plants and her desire to build a life rooted in land, seasonality, and meaningful work outside the confines of traditional wage labor.

You’ll usually find her in the fields tending flowers, planning future growing seasons, or deep in the creative side of the farm — from variety selection to spending hours in the garage making bouquets and arrangements. She’s an avid keeper of houseplants, a reader of young-adult fantasy novels, and a lifelong lover of mid-2000s indie folk.

She and Mike purchased the land that became Riddle Brook Farm in 2018 and are now raising their young family alongside the farm, growing both year by year.

Rumi

Rumi was Mike and Shea’s first non-human companion, born in 2015. Although he grew up making trouble and hunting rats in the East Rock neighborhood of New Haven, he has adapted quite well to hunting mice and bunnies in his new, much larger yard. If there’s one thing Rumi knows, it’s that he’s the boss, and we’d be nowhere without him. He has never been afraid in his entire life, except for once when he was swarmed by angry hornets. He still regularly spars with Penny, who is now 4x his size, and will be more than glad to dig up a rock and bark at it until you play fetch with him.

Penny

Penny, a Great Pyrenees, is the farm’s stalwart protector. The first member of the farm team to grow up entirely on the farm, she came to us as a 15-lb floppy fur-ball in June 2020, eager to be friends with any creature of any species. Since then, she’s grown up to be a sweet, rambunctious, and reliable guardian. She lives with the hens, whom she treats with endless patience and respect, and with Ryan, our guard goose, who has become her best friend (other than Wally of course). Penny has the strength to regularly face down coyotes in the night, and the gentleness to cuddle daily with a goose without hurting her. We couldn’t dream of a better farm dog or guardian.

Luna

Luna was Mike and Shea’s second addition, joining the family as a pup in January 2017. She is the gentlest creature in the known universe, sleeping at least 20 hours a day, and never making a fuss or complaint. Once a day, however, she goes berserk play-fightingand demonstrates that she is still the quickest and most agile of all the dogs on the farm. For reasons we still cannot understand, she thinks Rumi is a good role model, and always trusts his judgement. Luna has never once been a bad girl, and is regarded by many that know her as the perfect little dog.

Wally

Born in February 2022, Wally is the newest addition to the farm team. While he was originally meant only to be a companion for Penny, Wally has surprised everyone by befriending every single member of the farm through sheer sweetness and good boy-ishness. Even Luna, who was always too afraid to play with giant Penny, learned quickly that Wally is the gentlest big boy to ever be born. The two of them make up the farm’s Weenie Committee and play exuberantly while Penny and Rumi get down to real business. The world’s silliest pup, Wally likes sleeping all day and barking all night, as well as moving his special sticks around the yard. He is Penny’s absolute best friend and we know for certain the farm wasn’t complete until the day we brought him home.