Our Farmers
Arthur J. Culbert, Ph.D.
Dr. Arthur Culbert is the founding Chairman of the Board of STL Village and serves as Urban Farmer in Residence at New City School in the Central West End in St. Louis Missouri. He is a trustee at the Saint Louis College of Pharmacy and holds faculty appointments at the Saint Louis School College for Public Health and Social Justice and at the University of Missouri School for the Health Professions
Dr. Culbert was the founding President and Chief Executive Officer of Health Literacy Missouri, our nation’s leader and the world’s largest non-profit community organization dedicated entirely to health literacy. During this time, Dr. Culbert served as a member of the Institute of Medicine’s Roundtable on Health Literacy and among other awards was designated Health Care Hero by the Saint Louis Business Journal.
Prior to his arrival in St. Louis, Dr. Culbert served for 31 years as a faculty member and a dean at the Boston University Schools of Medicine and Public Health. He achieved prominence in the areas of minority medical education, student affairs, and undergraduate public health education among others. In this capacity, Dr. Culbert taught undergraduate and graduate students, published and presented more than 100 papers at professional meetings on subjects ranging from medical students responsibilities for treating patients with AIDS, which he presented at the World’s Aid Conference, to the relocation of baseball stadiums, which he presented at the annual baseball conference at the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown New York.
Dr. Culbert resides in St. Louis with his wife and two step-daughters were he maintains an urban farm producing organic produce for two local food pantries.
Nancy Culbert, M.A.
Nancy Culbert has for the past 16 years been the Director of Student Services at the College for Public Health and Social Justice at Saint Louis University. In this capacity she has been recognized nationally and locally for her work with students. Nancy has received many awards including most recently being designated as one of five woman of the year at Saint Louis University in 2015. The farm provides the opportunity for Nancy to connect with her mom who recently passed but who loved to work in the garden. Pulling weeds and constantly cleaning the soil are some of the farm chores Nancy most likes to do in the garden. She loves the opportunity to meet individualsand helps create the wonderful community down on the farm
Lee Cagle
Lee Cagle, (Farm Co-manager, She/Her) is an amateur gardener, chicken wrangler, and resident of the Central West end. She has been an admirer of The Farm since her family moved to the neighborhood in 2012.
Years later, her daughter Aiko’s 4th grade curriculum on citizenship at New City School included participation in activities at the farm. It was then that Lee first met Arthur and learned of the Farm’s mission to eliminate hunger and foster fellowship within our neighborhood. The Farm is not only a beautiful oasis in the city, it provides a vital resource for many families in our community.
Lee volunteered to be the new farm manager when she learned that Arthur and Nancy were planning to move to Florida and the Farm’s future was uncertain. Despite not feeling quite prepared for the task, she knew the farm’s mission was far to important to come to an end. She then asked a fellow New City mom and avid gardener to be her partner and continue the good work of the farm. Lucky for Lee, Julia said yes and now they are the local “Arthur and Nancy.”
Julia Woodard
For Farm co-manager and Central West End resident Julia Woodard, the opportunity to work with the Central West End Farm presented the perfect combination of things she cares about deeply: food insecurity, community building, intergenerational social justice work, education, and organic gardening. She is grateful for Arthur and Nancy’s vision and commitment to our neighbors experiencing hunger and she is honored to further their mission with the help of her husband and children, the New City 4th grade classes, and an incredible family of dedicated community partners and volunteers.