Rooting DC 2009 – Speaker & Panelist Bios
Speaker Bios
The Joy of Growing and Using Herbs
Fannie Hamilton has been gardening in the Washington area over 28 years. She completed the Master Gardening program at UDC in 1996 and has been a member in good standing with the International Herb Association since 1993. Her passion for gardening has led her to become a sought after Garden Consultant offering lectures and demonstrations with the Boys and Girls Club of Greater Washington, Healthydaes Naturopathic Medical Center and the DC Public Library System.
Pruning
Gene Sumi is the Education Coordinator at Homestead Gardens, an independent, full-service nursery and garden center located in Davidsonville, MD. As a certified professional horticulturist and nurseryman, he provides plant and gardening information through seminars, workshops, garden talks, published articles and by answering gardening inquiries via phone and through e-mail inquiries on our company website. He provides technical assistance to the garden center staff and assist in the training of new employees. He has been with Homestead Gardens for 6 years, and was with Behnke Nurseries for 9 years.
Organic Tree Fruit Production
Dr. Christopher Walsh of the University of Maryland has worked producing and handling fruit crops for more than three decades. The goal of this research is to identify and test metrics for use in food safety assurance programs. He has served as his department’s Undergraduate Coordinator for the past 15 years. He also teaches courses in Horticulture and advises students majoring in Plant Science and in Horticulture and Crop Production. Dr. Walsh also coordinates the Joint Institute for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition (JIFSAN) international training courses in Good Agricultural Practices (GAPs). He also trains and assists local fruit and vegetable growers in the mid-Atlantic Region in developing GAPs programs.
Natives
John Peter Thompson is a nationally known, dynamic speaker on topics ranging from invasive species and climate change to sustainable landscape and garden alternatives. He is working with the Sustainable Sites Initiative project at the LBJ Wild Flower Center in Austin, Texas; serves as vice chair of the National Invasive Species Council Advisory Committee, and is the American Nursery & Landscape Association’s national invasive species consultant. Having worked in all aspects of the nursery and garden center business for over twenty years, he now offers solutions for gardeners, businesses and organizations working for sustainable public policy, profitable private initiatives, and ecological program development.
Black Cat Ivy is dedicated to the removal of English ivy and other invasive vines from trees and grounds of private and public property. This unique DC-based business was founded by Joan Furlong, an environmental entrepreneur and active volunteer “weed warrior” in Glover-Archbold and Rock Creek Parks.
Harvesting Rainwater
Jim Foster is president of the Anacostia Watershed Society (AWS) and is an environmental leader with broad, hands-on technical expertise in environmental management. He has over 28 years of increasing responsibility dealing with all aspects of environmental management and consulting including: environmental management of properties, site inspections and assessments, remediation, training, permitting, and compliance audits. He recently joined Anacostia Watershed Society (AWS) as President. This nonprofit organization advocates for the Anacostia River. Our goals include a Trash Free River by 2013, reducing stormwater volumes to the river, and working to make the river fishable and swimmable. AWS is focused on resolving water quality issues at the source, reducing trash and controlling runoff of rainwater from developed sites. Mr. Foster has a BS in Environmental Resource Management, from The Pennsylvania State University with a focus on water and wastewater treatment.
Urban Composting
John Wasiutynski is a master composter from New York City who moved to the District in 2007. He now works for the District Department of the Environment, focusing his work on water quality improvements for area waterways, including stormwater issues and trash reduction. In addition to being an avid backyard composter, John is also gardener and a student at American University where he is getting his Masters in Public Administration from the School of Public Affairs.
What is Permaculture?
Hem Dhakal works at Ecovida Eco-Life, a permaculture school founded in 1998 under the leadership of Ms. Neris Gonzalez in Chicago, IL. Ecovida Eco-Life creates opportunities for low-income communities to develop skills and experiences in Permaculture, has developed various projects like ecology and environmental education, organic garden, nutrition, recycling, and composting programs.
Container Gardens–Focus on Edibles
Liz Falk is the Co-Founder and Director of the 7th Street Garden (recently relocated and renamed Common Good City Farm) and DC Markets and EBT/WIC Manager at FRESHFARM Markets. Liz has a background in environmental science and education and a master’s degree in Natural Resources and Sustainable Development. Her experience in sustainable agriculture comes from working on organic farms in Virginia, Australia and Costa Rica and she holds a certification in permaculture design. Liz is committed to food security for all people and to strengthening the local food movement in the Washington, DC region. When she’s not working, Liz is usually found running in the woods or standing on her head.
Extending the Growing Season for Increased Harvests
Vinnie Bevivino is the farm manager of the Master Peace Community Farm in Riverdale, MD, one of the only working vegetable farms inside DC’s beltway. He works on promoting and developing urban farming with the University of Maryland Cooperative Extension, where he has spent is time maximizing productivity in small spaces, which includes trying to extend the growing season.
Gardening with Youth
Lola Bloom and Rebecca Lemos are co-founders of City Blossoms, a Washington, D.C. area organization that uses gardening to create environmental, nutritional, and cultural connections for children and youth. We are dedicated to empowering children, youth, and community organizations in developing dynamic and productive green projects.
Green Roofs
Sarah Murphy began appreciating horticulture as a teenager, working at a neighbor’s cut flower farm in Virginia; growing, cutting and making bouquets. She went on to earn a BS in Horticulture from Virginia Tech and spent a year at the University of Sheffield, England, studying urban ecology, with a particular interest in greenroofs. Since 2004 Sarah has been working with greenroofs: doing research, design, installation and maintenance. In 2008, Sarah co-founded Green Roof Canopy, LLC., a company working to restore the Urban Canopy through green roofs and city gardens.
Urban Agriculture
Kacie Warner is the education coordinator at the Washington Youth Garden, an organization that has been sowing the seeds of healthy eating and green living in the DC community since 1971. Before joining WYG, Kacie worked with a youth development program on a non-profit teaching farm in the Northeast and spent some time at a desk advocating for sustainable food and farm policy.
Faces From the New Farm
A documentary produced by Women’s Garden Cycles. Three friends left from their home in Washington DC, and biked to Montreal, Canada and back, visiting and filming new groups of farmers who are living alternatives to industrial food.
SPIN-Gardening: Grow Like a Pro
Take your garden to the next level! Come learn how SPIN-Gardening can help you produce a steady and dependable supply of vegetables that have all the quality of farm-grown, and all the convenience of store-bought. Roxanne Christensen, Co-author of SPIN-Gardening and SPIN-Farming, will show you how to grow and process like a pro by adapting many of the techniques of sub-acre farmers. Get ready to achieve levels of productivity and diversification that go far beyond conventional gardening practices! Prior to this session, you can learn more about how SPIN can help you follow the call to good eating from the garden at www.spingardening.com
Discussion Panelist Bios
Food Justice and Gardening in Washington DC
Donne Malloy is the Vice President of Marketing and Sales of METTECH, Director of Client Development for Premier Personnel, Manager of H Street Market of Freshfarm Market, and a Board Member of Smart Markets, Inc. She is an advocate of bringing farmer markets into inner-city neighborhoods because she believes everyone should have access to fresh fruits and vegetables, no matter where they live. She is educating people about producer-only markets, and about why having food stamps, WIC, and senior coupons are important to make food affordable to everyone.
Jerry Smith is the coordinator for DC Parks and Rec’s Youth Gardening Program which teaches inner-city youth basic gardening skills and helps them to develop an awareness and understanding of their natural environment. This is achieved through hands-on gardening April – August at the Lederer and Twin Oaks Garden Centers, and through a series of lessons and projects at several elementary schools throughout the city October – March.
Matt Grason (D.C. Hunger Solutions) has worked in fundraising and programmatic capacities for non-profit organizations with focuses on such issues as hunger relief, the environment, alternative transportation, and the arts. He holds degrees from James Madison University and Manhattan School of Music.
Jenny Guillaume has worked with a variety of urban agriculture programs in Washington, D.C. and Brooklyn, N.Y., and most recently has been working with D.C. Hunger Solutions on the Healthy Corner Store Campaign. True to her southern roots her favorite vegetable is okra.
Liz Falk is the Co-Founder and Director of the 7th Street Garden (recently relocated and renamed Common Good City Farm) and DC Markets and EBT/WIC Manager at FRESHFARM Markets. Liz has a background in environmental science and education and a master’s degree in Natural Resources and Sustainable Development. Her experience in sustainable agriculture comes from working on organic farms in Virginia, Australia and Costa Rica and she holds a certification in permaculture design. Liz is committed to food security for all people and to strengthening the local food movement in the Washington, DC region. When she’s not working, Liz is usually found running in the woods or standing on her head.
Finding Suitable Land for Urban Gardens
Josh Christianson is the Career Program Manager at the Posse Foundation in Washington, DC.
Susan Ellsworth is a co-director and founder of the 7th Street Garden food project in LeDroit Park where she enjoys spending her days in the garden and working with community members to transform D.C.s food economy and increase food accesss for all residents. When not in the garden (and to pay the bills), Susan coordinates national outreach for the Sierra Club’s Responsible Trade program where she works three days a week.
Parisa Norouzi is the co-founder and co-director of the grassroots, membership-based community organizing project Empower DC. Empower DC is a multi-issue organization whose purpose is to build the confident self-advocacy and organized political power of low and moderate income DC residents. Empower DC is currently engaged in grassroots advocacy campaigns around the issues of Affordable Housing, Quality Affordable Child Care, and Saving Public Property (the People’s Property Campaign).
Mandie Yanasak Worsley is the coordinator of the Kingman Park-Rosedale Community Garden in Northeast DC.
Natives and Invasives
Damien Ossi is a Wildlife Biologist for the District Department of the Environment in the Fisheries and Wildlife Division. This Division is tasked with urban natural resource management & conservation and wildlife inventory & monitoring throughout the District, and is managing invasive plants on federal, city and private land in the District through partnerships and grants. Damien works on invasive plant management, invertebrate inventory and monitoring, and backyard wildlife habitat education. He has a Master of Environmental Management from Duke University, and in previous jobs he has raised endangered whooping cranes in captivity, protected piping plovers on Cape Cod beaches, and monitored waterbird nests on islands in the Cape Fear River.
Micah Ryder is the plant ecologist for the District Department of the Environment Division of Fisheries and Wildlife. Before coming to work for DDOE he worked as an ecologist for the National Park Service managing invasive plants and conducting surveys for T&E species at Assateague Island National Seashore. Prior to his work with NPS Micah worked for 6 years with the State of Hawaii Department of Land and Natural Resources helping to manage a 100,000 acre forested mountain range, including invasive plant control and restoration efforts. Micah was born and raised in Silver Spring MD, received his B.S. from the University of Maryland in Soil, Water, and Land Resources and received his M.S. from the University of Hawaii in Natural resources and Environmental Management.
