SGN board of directors

Laurel Anderson
PRESIDENT  
Laurel Anderson is a founding member of the School Garden Network. She worked as the garden teacher for 14 years at Salmon Creek School where she loved to cook up the harvest with students and look for interesting insects!
She currently is the coordinator of SGN’s Schoolyard Habitat Program- providing professional development opportunities and helping schools design and use habitat projects as an extension of the classroom.
Laurel is also passionate about  seedsaving  and is very active with the Community Seed Exchange.
Scotty Brown
Raised in West Sonoma County and deeply rooted in the community, Scotty attended Oak Grove elementary, Willowside Jr. High and El Molino High School growing up.
A father of four, Scotty holds a certification in the Human Services field while serving on numerous boards in Sonoma County and beyond.
His hope is to better be in service for the kids and land of our area and feels that joining the School Garden Network can help do that.
Paula Downing
SECRETARY
Paula Downing is an old hippie whose life was formed and transformed by the lessons she learned in San Francisco in the late 1960’s/early 1970’s:   
Service through work – see the higher soul in everyone you meet - find strength in each other – work together to create the world we envision.   
She has managed Farmers Markets in Sonoma County for 25+ years – mostly Sebastopol and Santa Rosa Original.   She has been a board member of Slow Food Russian River for a dozen years. She has been a paralegal on and off since 1988.
She has 4 children and 4 grandchildren.  She has taught high school in Jackson, Michigan, and is currently the garden assistant at Steele Lane School in Santa Rosa.   
She believes that souls are coming to the planet earth now with the intrinsic knowledge of the dire conditions we find ourselves in.    Her work at Steele Lane confirms this belief and gives her the opportunity to encourage and support these young beings who must take on the work of fixing this mess.
She is hopeful that her experience with children, along with her philosophy of life, will add something valuable to the School Garden Network.
Natalie Goble
TREASURER
Natalie Goble is Chef/Owner of Handline restaurant and partner of Fern Bar both in Sebastopol. She has worked closely with local farmers and growers throughout her career running the restaurants and started a farm dedicated to growing produce for the businesses on the land where she was raised in west county. She is passionate about local food systems, and sustainability in the industry.  ​
Katherine Grace
Katherine Grace is a horticulturist, gardener, and educator who finds inspiration in native plants and traditional cultures, including her own family roots in the eastern Mediterranean. She holds a BA in English and Environmental Studies from Colby College, and a MA in Sustainable Communities with a focus on ecological literacy from Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff, where she served as an Instructor in the Environmental Humanities, designing a course on Humans and Nature. Katherine has trained teachers in place-based education on the Colorado Plateau of the high desert Southwest for the Bioregional Outdoor Education Project, worked with native plant conservation and education as the Horticulturist for The Arboretum at Flagstaff, and developed language curriculum for youth nature guides in Honduras’ Pico Bonito National Park.
From 2000-2002, Katherine served as an extension agent for the Moroccan Department of Agriculture and Rural Community Development as a Peace Corp Volunteer in a Tamazight community in the High Atlas Mountains. More recently, she taught sustainable agriculture and garden cooking as the Garden Coordinator at Salmon Creek School in Occidental. Katherine now happily teaches, gardens, and lives with her partner Blake in Santa Cruz County.
Tina Poles
TREASURER
Tina Poles has been teaching  at Sonoma Country Day School since 2007 and is also the director of the sustainability and environmental science program. She currently the lower school science teacher and also runs the school garden.
Before SCDS, Tina was the Director of School Gardens at Occidental Arts and Ecology Center. In that capacity, she was able to visit hundreds of school gardens around the state, and see best practices in a wide range of schools. Tina has a permiculture design certificate and completed a four year Waldorf teacher training program. As a 2010 fellow at the Leadership Institute for Ecology and Economy, Tina spent the year studying local food systems, energy and waste management, water uses, business practices, transportation and social justice. She was a 2017 fellow at the Center for Climate Protection Center.
Tina has a number of publications about School Gardens, including a Handful of Seeds.
Tina lives  in a co-housing community in Cotati. She was a founding member, working on the development, design, legal, and marketing aspects of the project.
Carmen Snyder
Carmen Snyder is the Executive Director of Sonoma County Farm Trails, a nonprofit started by farmers in 1973 to bring awareness to the importance of local food, to promote agritourism, and to facilitate direct sales.  Inspired by Sonoma County’s thriving, diverse agricultural community, Carmen is passionate about supporting local farmers and working to preserve farms forever. She oversees Farm Trails operations and events, from budgets to band selection, and is most interested in cultivating community, bridging gaps, building resilience, and fulfilling Farm Trails' mission to instill an appreciation of ag as the vital part of our lifestyle. Carmen sits on the advisory board of Colorado State University’s Western US Agritourism Project.  She also serves as a member of the Sonoma County Food System Alliance, a county-based coalition of stakeholders and leaders working to improve our food system through community engagement and collective action. ​

SGN staff

Laurel Anderson
SCHOOLYARD HABITAT 
PROJECT MANAGER
Laurel Anderson is a founding member of the School Garden Network. She worked as the garden teacher for 14 years at Salmon Creek School where she loved to cook up the harvest with students and look for interesting insects!
She currently is the coordinator of SGN’s Schoolyard Habitat Program- providing professional development opportunities and helping schools design and use habitat projects as an extension of the classroom.
Laurel is also passionate about  seedsaving  and is very active with the Community Seed Exchange.
Sue Davis
DIRECTOR
 Sue has 15 years of experience working with non-profits and community organizations that focus on sustainable agriculture and education. She is dedicated to the mission and vision of the School Garden Network and has spent many years previously serving on its Board of Directors and developing and evaluating its programs.   She has a background in farming and nutrition and is a founding and active member of the Bohemian Farmers' Collective as well as an independent contractor for small businesses.  She holds a M.A. in Leadership and Humanities and a certification in Holistic Nutrition Education.  Sue is raising 2 young girls and enjoys the journey of motherhood while weaving together family, farming and personal interest for a dynamic and meaningful experience.
Anne Loarie
PROGRAM DIRECTOR
Anne's path in garden education has wound through studies at the University of Oregon, service in Peace Corps Panama as a Permaculture volunteer, time teaching in San Francisco Unified, and non-profit educational work. With her passion for gardening, cooking, the natural world, and social justice, empowering educators to take their students outside to learn has become a personal mission. 

Anne is also the Garden and Wellness Educator at Alexander Valley School where she integrates science curriculum with organic gardening practices and food literacy education. 

She envisions an education system that integrates whole child concepts through authentic, inquiry led, project-based learning so that our youth have the skills and opportunities to self-actualize in an increasingly hectic and yet isolating society.
Kaelyn Ramsden
PROGRAM MANAGER
RESILIENT SCHOOL GARDENS  
Kaelyn is an educator, writer and gardener whose work for the last decade has been dedicated to deepening relationships between people and their place through outdoor education and farming. 

Her commitment to building just and regenerative food systems took root at UC Santa Cruz where she earned her BA in Environmental Justice and Political Science. Since 2011, Kaelyn has directed environmental youth programs within the non profit sector; run school garden programs in both public and charter schools; and led workshops for teachers, administrators and school garden coordinators on growing and sustaining their school garden programs.
Lynn Wheeler
COMMUNICATIONS
DIRECTOR
A native of Pueblo, Colorado, Lynn landed in California by way of long hot summers in the Panhandle of Texas on her grandparent’s farm.  Lessons learn there paved the way for her life as an environmentalist, a mother, a winemaker, and a business owner.
Earning a B.S. in Botany from UC Davis, Lynn managed the CSA at the student organic farm, went on to cataloged the flora of Rocky Mountain National Park, and was the program director at Eco-Farm for several years before moving to Sonoma County to start a family and a winery.  17 harvests, 2 girls, Tofu the dog, a winery, and countless wines later Lynn is very excited to join the School Garden Network team.
When Lynn is not at the winery or organizing files, her passion is in the garden with her girls or as the Garden Coordinator at the French American Charter School in Santa Rosa.  She values the lessons the garden can provide and strives to instill environmental stewardship alongside the joy of growing your own food.
If you're interested in learning more about our Board of Directors and our amazing staff,
​contact info@schoolgardens.org