Current Board of Directors
Robert Deutsch
Acting Chair Person, 2020-Present
Robert Deutsch is a construction and project management professional with over 45 years of experience in the U.S. and internationally. Based in Mendocino since 1978, he has managed historic building restorations, installed mobile homes, built custom homes, and owned a building maintenance company since 2001. He currently serves as Facilities Manager for the Presbyterian Church of Mendocino.
His overseas career began with the Peace Corps in Togo (1984–86) and spans more than 35 years, focusing on community development and infrastructure projects across Asia and Africa, often in post-disaster and post-conflict settings. Robert’s technical expertise includes disaster-resilient housing, water and sanitation, and solid waste management. He has worked with major international donors and is multilingual, with extensive experience living and working in Asia and Africa.
Robert has served on nonprofit boards and has chaired the MFCLT board since 2023. After many years overseas, he and his wife Hai returned to the Deutsch family property in Mendocino, where they live with their cat, Alan.
Sojourna Lee
Secretary, 2015-Present
Sojourna Lee (known as Sojo) moved frequently as a child of a Navy aviator before her family settled in Colorado. Later, she traveled widely and lived for several years in Asia and Europe. She embraced physical challenges through mountaineering, marathoning, biking, skiing, and trekking with her pack llamas and goats. Her care for others led her to volunteer with many community programs, including the Child Abuse Prevention Program (CAPP) and the Sexual Assault Service Organization (SASO).
Sojo raised her two children in Durango, Colorado, where she worked as an RN at Mercy Regional Medical Center. She co-founded the TLC Team (Touch, Love, and Compassion), which grew into the hospital’s Integrative Care Services program. This work helped decrease pain, anxiety, and despair for inpatients through non-pharmacological interventions across all units. The team was also trained in Nonviolent Communication (NVC) and helped bring it into the hospital to foster a culture of compassion and harmony. Sojo offered NVC trainings both to hospital staff and the wider community.
In 2012, she moved to the Mendocino Coast to be near family during the birth of her second grandchild and has remained a grateful resident ever since. She supported her family, developed a wellness coaching practice, and continues to provide advance directive and end-of-life guidance for individuals and classes. She also facilitated NVC trainings and practice groups.
In 2014, Sojo was invited to Meadow Farm, where she became a permanent resident and later Secretary of the Board. After the sudden passing of founder Joanna Becker in 2016, she helped complete the nonprofit status and carry the vision forward. Over the past 11 years, she has co-created infrastructure, policies, educational offerings, biointensive gardening practices, and disaster preparedness programs for neighbors and visitors. She has also hauled large propane bottles, shoveled manure, and pulled countless weeds!
Favorite quote: “All that we do now must be done in a sacred manner and in celebration.” Hopi Prophecy
John Risk
Treasurer, 2023-Present
My interest in MFCLT began in the summer and fall of 2020, when my daughter and son-in-law, Joy and Conner, were living on the farm. At that time, MFCLT was bustling with individuals eager to learn organic farming. I had also begun my own efforts to grow organically on my quarter-acre yard in Petaluma. I met Jeff and Joan Stanford, Matt Drewno, and other gardeners at the Stanford Inn, and closely observed the methods the staff used to protect and nourish the Inn’s biointensive organic farm.
I retired in 2020 after 30 years in municipal utility user tax and franchise fee auditing, as well as telecommunications regulatory enforcement. My work involved regular interaction with City Council members, County Supervisors, Administrative Officers, City Managers, Finance Directors, and attorneys across a wide range of municipal codes, licensing, and permitting matters. My company served more than 100 California municipalities, including Fort Bragg, Willits, Ukiah, and Mendocino County.
I have served as a board member and officer for several nonprofits in both the telecommunications and healthcare sectors, working with attorneys on bylaw development and establishing tax and accounting systems. In 2019, I participated in an eight-session Cool Block program with 15 neighbors in Petaluma, where we explored climate crisis issues, resiliency, sustainability, and community organizing. I am also licensed by the FCC as a Ham Radio Technician and participate weekly with an ad hoc, 30-member community emergency radio response team.
Above all, I share MFCLT’s values of living in harmony with one another, the environment, our neighbors, and the wider community. I meditate daily and approach each day with gratitude and surrender. I value the practice of Nonviolent Communication and other methods of dialogue and conflict resolution. I also dedicate time to service as a way of giving love through action.
Rebecca Aum
Sociocratic Mentor, 2024-Present
Rebecca has been interested in intentional community since the 1960s and has lived in several, ranging from a college campus to a city and a permaculture retreat center in Mexico. She values, above all, the spiritual aspects of community living and caring for the planet.
After enjoying eight years in a remote forest near Branscomb, California, she remains close to nature and all its marvelous aspects, working and playing with others to care for our beloved planet.
Her favorite healing practices are dancing and music. She has worked as a massage therapist and breathworker since the 1980s, practicing in several countries including Mexico, Costa Rica, England, and France. She also speaks Spanish.
To her, Meadow Farm is both a fine example and a great opportunity to learn innovative practices such as vegan diet, Compassionate Communication (Nonviolent Communication), and Sociocracy. Working with others to grow and share food is one of her passions.