Education

• B.S. | Ohio University

Research Interests

I am passionate about our natural world and have spent the last decade immersed in organic farming, addressing food insecurity in urban areas, and saving seeds in support of a regionally adapted seed supply. Though I’ve always been fascinated by a seed’s lifecycle and the story of its origin, my interest in large scale seed production and biological preservation really began after processing agricultural seed crops on an organic farm in the Puget Sound during a growing season a few years back. When I moved back to the Midwest in 2018, I started working with the Cleveland Seed Bank, a nonprofit organization with a mission to build a network of seeds savers. Working with this organization expanded my comprehensive knowledge of seed saving and seed banking operations. With their support, I attended and presented at regional and national agriculture conferences and visited Vandana Shiva’s biodiversity seed saving farm in India. My work there presented an avenue for me to begin working with native plant species in our bioregion and my interest and passion in stewarding native seeds for conservation and restoration has only grown since. I am very excited to support Holden in their effort to establish a regional seed bank in Northeast Ohio.