About Real Time Farms

Real Time Farms is a crowd-sourced online food guide. We provide you one location where you can learn about where your food comes from, whether staying in or eating out, so you can trust the food you eat.

As crazy as it sounds, our vision is to collectively document the whole food system. We are powered by the people!

Eat Food? farming leaves icon Help Grow the Guide!

Run a Restaurant or Eatery? eatery icon Share Your Menu's Story!

We love feedback! feedback@realtimefarms.com or online.

Meet the Team

Karl Rosaen, Co-Founder
Karl grew up in Ann Arbor, received his B.S. and M.S. in Computer Engineering from the University of Michigan, then joined Google in Mountain View where he worked on AdWords and was part of the team that launched the first Google Android phone in 2009. He worked at Google for 4 1/2 years before deciding to move back to Ann Arbor to start a company of his own. With his passion for health and good cooking, he launched Real Time Farms in Spring 2010 to help people understand where their food comes from.
Food Loves: Pulled pork cooked slow and low.
Why did you start Real Time Farms?
I wanted to create a dynamic, exciting, and information-rich way to connect consumers to fresh sources of food, and to make it easier to learn where there food is coming from. I believe that when people know more about where their food comes from, they are led naturally towards choices that are healthiest for themselves and the environment.

Cara Rosaen, Co-Founder, Director of Vegetable Outreach
Cara grew up in Ann Arbor, where she caught the entrepreneurial bug as an elementary student, running a kids camp, Kids Korner, during the summers with her best friend out of the her parent's garage. She received her B.A. in Holistic and Atomistic Approaches to Health from the University of Michigan. She went to graduate school for a few years in Marital and Family Therapy at Santa Clara University to be a psychotherapist, but quickly found her heart resided elsewhere. After working to build a wellness center start-up in Palo Alto, Cara started two companies of her own: an online used book selling business, and a nationwide jewelry business, Sweet Plum Vintage. Settled back in her hometown, she is ecstatic to be working with people she loves on something she hopes will change the way people eat. Cara currently serves on the Marketing Committee for the Michigan Farmers Market Association (MIFMA) and on the Education and Outreach Committee for Food System Economic Partnership (FSEP).
Food Loves: Brussel sprouts, plums right off the tree, all things chocolate. If you're skeptical about brussel sprouts, try roasting them yumm...
Why did you want to work with Real Time Farms?
I want people to have the tools and access to information on the food they consume. It's a right of everyone's and a whole lot of fun, when you get to know the stories behind the food you eat!

Lindsay-Jean Hard, Gastronomic Guru - Blog & Operations
Lindsay-Jean is a devoted Michigander, despite detesting cold weather and snow. She hails from Grand Rapids, but considers Ann Arbor home, especially after earning both her BA (Organizational Studies) and her MA (Urban Planning) from the University of Michigan. She loves to travel, but after spending two fantastic years in Japan, she's happy to be back in the States, where she has an easier time being an enthusiastic vegetarian. When she's not working on Real Time Farms you might find her whipping up a dish in the kitchen, scouring recipes for future inspiration, jogging with her husband and their adorable pooch, or getting lost in a good book. Lindsay-Jean currently serves on the Ann Arbor Public Market Advisory Commission.
Food Loves: Homemade pizza, and it makes an appearance in her kitchen once a week in never-ending variations, but she thinks you can't go wrong with Smitten Kitchen's Grilled Eggplant and Green Olive Pizza
Why did you want to work with Real Time Farms?
I am passionate about healthy food and think walking through farmers markets and grocery stores is a great leisure activity. I believe in the need for a better food system in our country, and think that connecting people to local sources of tasty fruits and veggies is the perfect way to start making a change.

Gaurav C. Bhatnagar, Design & Engineering
Gaurav grew up in Okemos, Michigan, spent a number of years after high school studying and working in Ann Arbor and currently resides in Seattle, Washington. He received his B.S. in Computer Engineering and an M.S. in Human Computer Interaction & Social Computing from the University of Michigan. While in Ann Arbor, Gaurav primarily worked on web design and development with the University of Michigan Library for the Sakai open-source learning management system. Gaurav took a break from work with the University of Michigan to start a mobile social networking company, Troubadour Mobile, along with two buddies from grad school. The startup was a great learning experience in entrepreneurship and Gaurav is very excited to be a part of Real Time Farms in these early stages!
Food Loves: Quinoa. Being a vegetarian, quinoa is a great source of protein, is easy to cook and tastes great with everything - it's a superfood!
Why did you want to work with Real Time Farms?
I believe Real Time Farms does a great job of bringing people and food closer together. With a greater appreciation for food and all that goes into growing and consuming it, I trust we can all have tastier meals, healthier lives and a healthier planet! I'm honored to be working on a project that is capable of realizing these amazing goals.

Corinna Borden, Captain of Comestibles - Outreach
Drawing on a varied background from studying medieval literature at Cambridge - to advancing local horticulture at the Polly Hill Arboretum on Martha's Vineyard - to managing the baking school of the Zingerman's Bakehouse and subsequently the Westside Farmers' Market in Ann Arbor, Corinna Borden revels in food as the universal umbrella of existence. Her experiences as a young cancer survivor and of living and working in six countries on four different continents while traveling to numerous others give Corinna a global and spiritual perspective on food, health, and society that informs her novel I Dreamt of Sausage, her food blogging for annarbor.com , and her work with Real Time Farms. Corinna is a graduate of Stanford University and the University of Cambridge, England.
Food Loves: Spinach harvested in February out of a hoop house (when the sugar is high in the leaves), claytonia, beets, kale chips, dried apples, bean thread noodles, anything eaten with chopsticks, popcorn, and garlic!
Why did you want to work with Real Time Farms?
Consumers are entitled to know what we are eating: where it came from, how it was grown, how far it traveled. Without food transparency our right to make responsible choices is taken from us. I met Karl and Cara when I was managing the Westside Farmers Market in early 2010 and I fell in love with Real Time Farms - because it ROCKS.

Lindsay Partridge, Kernel Colonel - Food Warrior Program
Lindsay is from Chicago and is a recent graduate from the University of Michigan where she studied Political Science and Program in the Environment. She spends a lot of time thinking about food-- loves cooking for herself and friends, has done some work on a few different farms and gardens, and works as a waitress at the Jolly Pumpkin in Ann Arbor. When she isn't thinking about food, Lindsay enjoys traveling, the outdoors, snowboarding, and live music.
Food Loves: Gotta start every day with a cheesy vegetable egg scramble... Maybe some spicy yellow coconut curry for dinner?
Why did you want to work with Real Time Farms?
I think that supporting the growth of local food systems is one of the best ways we can strengthen our communities, reduce our negative impact on the environment, and ensure that what we are putting in to our bodies (which are temples, don't you know?) is as fresh and healthy as possible. Real Time Farms makes it easy and exciting to be connected with the food we're eating and the farmer that grew it.

Abigail Tovell, Graphic & Web Design
Abby grew up in New York and after getting her Masters in Communications Design from Pratt Institute she spent many years working in web development agencies before moving to London for 10 years and starting her own design studio, T Square Design. She has worked with with a wide range of clients, from start ups and local groups to larger clients such as the United Nations and GE. She teaches Visual Aesthetics for an online Masters in Communication program at Quinnipiac University and her work has appeared in best-of industry magazines and books. She now lives in the Berkshires of Western Mass where there are less people but more cows and a growing locavore movement.
Food Loves: a nice crusty bagel with cream cheese, a slice of tomato and lox (you can take the girl out of New York...)
Why did you want to work with Real Time Farms?
It's just such a great concept and immediately got my mind racing on how to engage the user and create an atmosphere that felt unique to Real Time Farms.

Nick Fassler, Business Intern
Nick is a Brooklyn-born, Jersey boy who spent two years exploring the farmer's markets of Oakland, California before moving to Ann Arbor. He got his undergraduate degree at Rutgers University, and is currently attending the MBA/MS program at the University of Michigan's Erb Institute for Global Sustainable Enterprise. Nick has been a consultant to tiny start-ups, huge nonprofits, and an even huger company on sustainability, marketing strategy and business development. When he had a life before graduate school, Nick dabbled in bicycle maintenance, screen printing, skateboarding and bread baking.
Food Loves: Another pizza fanatic on the team! I've been obsessing over Peter Reinhart's book American Pie: My Search for the Perfect Pizza, which is part pizza expedition journal and part pizza cookbook. I love making pizza at home, and have traveled many hundreds of miles for a great pie. My guilty pleasure is warm Krispy Kreme doughnuts, so I'm glad to hear they recently began sourcing cage-free eggs.
Why did you want to work with Real Time Farms?
Besides being a foodie and farmers' market devotee, I've been extremely impressed by the progress Real Time Farms has made in the last year developing such a rich and usable platform to bring transparency to our food system. With such a talented and passionate team, I immediately knew I wanted to get involved.