Hi there Buffalo!
What happens when a gardener and an environmental engineer get together and have a kid? Me, that’s what!
I grew up recycling, helping my mom in the garden and listening to my dad talk about groundwater contamination. At our home in Boston, my mom had a four-foot-by-four-foot patch of soil from which she coaxed a rainbow of flowers, and when we moved from Boston to southwestern Pennsylvania she breathed a sigh of relief and put in a veggie garden. My mom fed us a lot of vegetables. As a wee child I wasn’t too keen on vegetarian lasagna, but as a teen going on young adult, I realized veggies have amazing flavors and benefits. I was converted as soon as I tasted my first juicy, sweet, sun-ripened tomato from our garden in PA.
I’m hooked on veggies. Some of my favorites are beets, sugar snap peas, and sweet potatoes. If you can’t tell, I have a bit of a sweet tooth and I think one of the best drinks in the world is a smoothie made with spinach, frozen banana, almond milk and cocoa powder. I dare you to try it.
I went to Houghton College and graduated in May. As a student, I helped lead Houghton’s environmental club to greater permanence and presence on campus. We generated the idea for our class senior gift which was an apple orchard planted on campus.
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| In New Zealand I hiked to the top of Mt. Fyffe in Kaikoura. |
Senior year I spent a semester at the Creation Care Study Program in New Zealand where I fully realized how vital urban farms are to countering global warming and increasing food security. Small, local farms bring nutritious foods to their communities making it easier to eat healthy. I believe that healthy eating should not only be affordable for rich people, but for anyone.
I never thought I would live in Buffalo but when a friend of mine told me about a position she had with MAP it sounded like something I would enjoy and really care about. My position at MAP is the Farm-to-Table Coordinator which means that on Fridays I’m queen of the kitchen as I work with our youth to prepare a meal featuring ingredients from the Youth Garden and MAP’s Mobile Market. Thankfully, I love to cook. As the summer program kicks off am excited to work with youth and hope to get some of them to fall in love with veggies too.
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