Kristen Brehm, 35, of Great Barrington passed away November 18th, 2019, on the island of Kauai, Hawaii. The son of Karen Brehm and the late Robert Brehm, Kristen was born in Abingdon, Virginia on April 12, 1984 and moved to the Berkshires with his family as a toddler. He was educated at the Great Barrington Rudolph Steiner School from kindergarten through eighth grade. He is survived by his mother, Karen, and his sister, Kacy Warner.
Kristen had a passion for agriculture and worked for Ted Dobson, at Equinox Farm in Sheffield, Mass. for fifteen seasons before traveling to Kauai, known as “the garden island,” where he most recently worked at Hula Daze Farm near Kilauea, growing tropical fruit with David Whatmore.
The following tribute to Kristen was submitted by Ted Dobson of Equinox Farm in Sheffield:
Kristen Brehm, an unsung hero, began working for me at Equinox Farm at the age of 15, after graduating from the Great Barrington Rudolph Steiner School. Kristen, a k a “The Captain,” had immense horticultural talent. His instincts for all things botanical were impeccable. He was my number one harvester of salad greens throughout his 15-year tenure at Equinox—in 15 minutes, he could cut 10 pounds of lettuce by hand—40 pounds an hour. Led by Kristen and due to his singular efforts, the crew of six harvested up to 300 pounds of salad a day for washing, processing and delivering. We all had immense respect for his abilities. He was a clutch player!
There was no one I worked with for over 30 years who had a better innate skill set than Kristen, or more observational thoughtfulness and willingness to get the job done. He made the silent mesclun connection to hundreds of thousands of people’s plates from the Berkshires to Boston, and no one ever knew.
I’ll miss him terribly. Like so many people who leave us, his unalterable sense of beauty and unheralded silent power remains. The remembrance of Kristen is just a fresh, local bite of lettuce away.
