Hallie grew up in Poteet, Texas on a small strawberry farm where she began a business called Eunoia Flower Farm, growing cut flowers. She was hired as the Flower Farm Manager for Rockberry Ranch in November of 2023. During her time working at Rockberry Ranch, she managed and oversaw production for 20,000+ cut flowers including Zinnias, Sunflowers, Ranunculus, Statice, Cosmos, Sunflowers, Celosia, etc. Helping provide flowers for hundreds of customers and their families. Hallie is fascinated with how flowers weave peoples’ stories together and how they have shaped her own story. She also has experience in international agriculture production and is continuing to work in sustainability projects among impoverished farmers and their families.
Brian & Amanda Light started Ronin Farm & Restaurant in September 2012. The Farm, located about 15 minutes from the A&M campus and Downtown Bryan, is home to heritage breed chickens, pigs, turkeys, and vegetables. All that is raised on the farm is harvested and served at the Restaurant in Downtown Bryan. The Restaurant opened in May 2018 in the historic Ice House, a 112-year-old building. Original floors and bricks were refurbished, 28 ft suspension tables hung, and an open kitchen with a wood-fired grill are all central to the restaurant’s ambiance. Chef Brian, a graduate of the University of Houston’s Hotel & Restaurant Management program, has a background in cooking and training in French & Japanese techniques, in Houston, Philadelphia, Chicago, and now Bryan/College Station. Amanda graduated from Texas A&M (whoop) with a degree in Women’s & Gender Studies. She worked in customer service and restaurants in varying capacities before opening Ronin with Brian.
Monte Nesbitt has 36.5 years of professional experience in academia, having worked for Texas A&M University, USDA/ARS, Auburn University, and Texas A&M AgriLife Extension. Nesbitt has been with A&M AgriLife Extension since 2009 with responsibilities to develop and deliver educational programming throughout the state of Texas on pecans and other perennial fruit crops like peaches, olives, and blackberries. He also conducts research on fruits and nuts in the areas of water management, propagation, climate resilience and variety performance, and is acting director of the Texas A&M University Pecan Orchard, a 65-acre research, teaching, and Extension pecan orchard.
Monte and his wife, Carol, an Aggie with a Horticulture degree herself (B.S., Class of 1993),have a fruit orchard in Gonzales, Texas, with peaches, figs, pears, jujubes, pomegranates, blackberries, as well as three sons, three cats, and one dog.
Sunset Hill is a real working farm with all of the craziness and fun that is involved. Christmas trees are our primary crop but we also have fruit trees and multiple gardens. Sunset Hill Farm is the result of a dream and joke. Duane has a passion for the land that he grew up on and took an idea his dad planted into his mind and spirit and has created a wonderful place for families to enhance their holiday memories. Our customers are not just customers, they become family. There are now adults coming every year who would come with their parents when they were kids. It is Duane’s hope they you will choose Sunset Hill Farm and become part of the family as well. He said his dad made a joke about growing Christmas trees in Texas when he finished his term serving in the Air Force in WWII. Duane’s dad, Pat, would tell about how his buddies had asked him “What are you going to do now that you are out”. He wittingly replied, “I think I’ll grow Christmas trees in Texas”. Growing Christmas trees was almost unheard of back then because Texas was and still is such a dry, hot state.
Duane joined the Texas Christmas Tree Growers Association of Texas and started learning everything he could. Planting the first of many trees 19 years ago, he has been fortunate to continue business through horrific droughts, pestilence, floods, and even fires. Farming is not for the weak at heart. You must be able to work hard, persevere, adapt, and most importantly pray… Let me say that again Pray!! He has learned to be very dependent upon God because as much as he would like to, he can’t control the weather.
Larry A. Stein, Professor/State Extension Horticulturist began work for the Texas A & M AgriLife Extension Service in 1982. He earned his Ph.D. from Texas A&M University in 1985, attained the rank of professor in 1999, and accepted an additional role in 2012 as associate department head and Extension program leader in horticultural sciences until 2024. As an AgriLife Extension specialist, Dr. Larry Stein is renowned for extraordinary research and outreach to improve crop production, primarily of spinach, pecans, grapes, and citrus, as well as “Texas Superstar®” plants.
He is a founder of the International Spinach Conference. He developed production improvements for the pecan industry, specifically regarding late season irrigation and crop load management, which are nearly universally adopted today. He is credited with five plant variety releases—two new bluebonnet color types, the “Victoria Red” grape, and two satsumas, including the patented “Arctic Frost,” which has given rise to potential expansion of the citrus industry beyond the sub-tropical zone. By teaching producers about new technology and practices, Dr. Stein advances the availability of safe, abundant food for about 30 million consumers in Texas and those beyond. Stein represents the epitome of an Extension educator, who strives to create high-quality, relevant continuing education that encourages lasting and effective change.
