Food | Gardens | Yoga

Dunstan has spent his career in kitchens across the United States and Canada, where he felt a strong urge to connect deeper with what he was cooking. The journey led him to D’Acres in Dorchester, NH where he met Josh, who taught him all about regenerative agricultural practices, ethical animal husbandry, and a real-world perspective on true farm-to-table food systems.

In 2018, Dunstan opened the Nourish food truck at another local farm. During the off-seasons, he was able to travel extensively and found his way to Nepal and India. His experiences in an ashram in northern India and the tea houses of the Himalayas laid the groundwork for his vision of The Hummingbird Center.

Yoga director

Melissa Scagliarini has over 20 years of yoga practice and more than a decade of teaching experience. As the founder and owner of Satya Yoga Studio, Melissa brings extensive experience, formal training, and an in-depth understanding of human physiology to her classes, and her humor and warmth set her classes apart.

Her extensive training comes from leading teachers across various yoga traditions. In 2010, Melissa traveled to India to undertake a month-long Advanced Yoga Training through The Himalayan Institute. In 2017, she further developed her skills when she was certified as an Ayurvedic Yoga Specialist through the same Institute.

Melissa’s travels to India — the geographic heart of yoga — are personal and professional milestones that have taught her invaluable lessons both on the mat and off. They helped her look at herself with a bit more softness and love, and to truly practice letting go of attachments.

Trails | Gardens

Josh Trought spent his childhood in the naivety of the rapidly expanding suburbia of Eastern North Carolina. His academic career brought him to private school in New Hampshire, public high school in NC, and stints at universities in NC and Colorado.

His family connections and studies in environmental conservation inspired him to found D Acres of NH, which focused on land stewardship, sustainability, and local, community-based economies. His participation in La Caravana Arcoiris por la Paz and Bread and Puppet Theatre has enriched his life tremendously.

He enjoys recreating on skis and bikes in the woods of Dorchester, and lazy summer days in the hammock by the swimming hole.

Meditation | Sound Healing

Ellen Broderick is a longtime yoga practitioner and meditator with a Master's in Education, Guidance, and Counseling from Plymouth State University. She spent 16 years as the Education Coordinator at the Austen Riggs Center, a world-class open mental health treatment center and hospital in Stockbridge, MA, where, among other things, she guided and trained staff in Trauma Transforming Yoga Nidra™, a form of Yoga Nidra that she developed.

Ellen was trained in Yoga (200 hours) and Divine Sleep Yoga Nidra (with Jennifer Reiss) at the Kripalu Center for Yoga and Health and holds a Mastery-level certification in the Yoga Healer Certification Program based on Ayurvedic wisdom.

In 2020, Ellen began Inspired Living, a year-long program that helps people foster healthy habits that align with the rhythms of nature. Her podcast, Inspired Living with Ellen Broderick, helps her audience engage with or deepen their meditation practices.

After 40 years away, Ellen returned to central New Hampshire to be near dear friends and surround herself with the wild and wonder-filled nature of these parts. She relishes pre-dawn walks in the woods near her home, and loves reading the mystic poets — which she often includes in her classes.

Ellen is passionate about connecting with her inner voice and knowledge and orienting her life from this perspective.

Food | Gardens

Catherine’s career in animal husbandry fell through after her school, Green Mountain College, was foreclosed and posted on Craigslist. She moved to Dorchester in 2022 with plans to de-suburbanize, after a childhood of marshmallow fluff, Sunday dresses, and climate control.

Her professional goals include caring for rabbits and canning applesauce. Catherine is most at home in the cold waters of the Northeast, among hermit thrush and thistle.

Food | Gardens | Trails

Ann Kinne is a queer, femme botanist and woodworker. In 2013, they completed the UNH Cooperative Extension Master Gardener Program. In 2019 they started using ethically sourced materials to craft jewelry, kitchenware, and furniture. Since coming to the farm in August of 2023, they continue to further their crafts in the on-site workshops, gardens, and fields of the Hummingbird Center.

Front of the house manager

After several years of working on a regenerative farm on Martha's Vineyard, volunteering on farms in Italy, New Zealand, and Australia, and attending the Immersion Program at the Wilderness Awareness School, Kat realized that her reciprocal relationship with Nature would be utterly incomplete without an emphasis on creative expression and multimedia artistry. She enjoys block printing, painting, sewing, writing, various movement practices, improvisational music-making, and the art of inner work and self-discovery.

Kat has facilitated Ecstatic Dance in three countries and recently recorded her first EP featuring (experimental) Hungarian folk songs. With certifications in Yoga, Permaculture, and Reiki and ongoing studies in Astrology, Herbalism, Reflexology, and Personal Finances, Kat is a lifelong student and enthusiast of the mysteries of life.

Her favorite topics of discussion include the nature of reality, aliens, and good advice given by trees.

Farm manager

Tim, or "chill bill", graduated with a Computer Science degree and spent over a decade in the cubicled-halls of a corporate, government nuclear power company in Tennessee hustling code and apps. Wanting a more outdoors experience, Tim set out and completed a thru-hike of the Appalachian Trail and the rest is history.

Tim has since traveled the country finding work on farms, in Zen monasteries, and in restaurants with an eye on the intersection of food, spirituality, and community. From New Mexico, Hawaii, Georgia, California, Montana, and now New Hampshire, the adventure continues!