Casey Kimmel

Culinary Gardener

Born in the East Bay and educated at UCLA, Casey has built a career blending food, farming, and education. He lived in Yokohama teaching English in the public school system and spent summers on a farm in Kyushu, experiences that shaped his connection to seasonality and hands-on agriculture. After returning to the U.S., he attended culinary school, worked as a commis at the legendary Mandarin Oriental, and as a chef in San Francisco. A COVID-19 garden project shifted his focus from kitchens to growing, leading to farm management and farm-to-table teaching roles in Sonoma, and later a position as culinary gardener at Cultivar. Outside of work, he enjoys keeping chickens, experimenting with fermentation, spending time with his family, and the occasional round of Mario Kart.