Staff
Dana Guber
Amy Kousch
Adam Lovell
Megan Veley
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Dana Guber, Executive Director, dana@thegrowingproject.org
Dana is a grower, artist, and community organizer focusing on creating community through agriculture and education. Dana was born and raised in Boulder, Colorado, attending CU Boulder majoring in Spanish and Anthropology. She has worked with farms in both Colorado and Washington State and has traveled a lot in South America, living in Ecuador for a while. Working with numerous farms and nonprofits over the years, Dana is a student to social justice, learning everyday more ways to work together to create a more equitable food system and society. With immense gratitude, she has been the Executive Director of The Growing Project for over 5 years and aims to create a leaderFULL movement of food justice activists. Amy Kousch, Farm Manager, amy@thegrowingproject.org Amy Kousch has been farming sustainably for eight years and holds a B.S and M.Agri from CSU. While building and operating CSA farms in New England and in northern Colorado—she thrives as a steward of soil fertility and intensive organic vegetable production. As a farm manager and educator, Amy believes in: worms, heavy June yields, composting, social justice, the wonder of children, community gardens, muddy boots, outdoor classrooms, cover-crops, all of our pollinators, empowered generations of food consumers, kindness, teamwork, creativity, and the hope one tiny seed. Adam Lovell, Community Garden Outreach Specialist, adam@thegrowingproject.org Adam has always loved nature, and grew up camping, skiing, and hiking here in Colorado. He became interested in Environmental Education as a career in high-school when he interned for Outdoor Lab, an Environmental Education camp for Jefferson County sixth-graders. After graduating high school in 2013, he traveled to Europe and then to Colombia and Ecuador where he taught English and was introduced to permaculture. He lived in an intentional community for two months and received his Permaculture Design Certification in April, 2015. It was then that he realized that his mission in life is to create abundant ecological systems and provide holistic garden experiences to young people. He worked as a farm hand for Aspen Moon Farms before completing an Urban Farm Management class at FRCC. In 2016 he interned for The Growing Project and absolutely fell in love with the community, the farm, and everything TGP does. As a Teens For Food Justice and Stonecrest Rentals Mobile Home Park garden mentor, he grew his skills in community development and horticulture therapy. He also was the children’s garden education intern for The Gardens On Spring Creek in 2016. Megan Veley, Volunteer Coordinator, volunteer@thegrowingproject.org Meg grew up in Upstate New York surrounded by dairy farms & Apple trees. Any chance she could get she was helping out with the farm animals. For college she found herself in the Adirondack mountains where she went a forestry school and got her BS in Natural Resources Management & Policy. Her heart was swept aboard and after graduating she found herself in Iceland where she pursued her Master's in Coastal and Marine Natural Resource Management. There she lived and worked on an isolated sheep farm while discovering her love for community outreach, environmental education, and activism. She was also a sea kayak guide. Even though Iceland was home, she headed back to the States and was swept off to Ecuador to help save the last equatorial coastal rainforest. The States called her back, but to the West coast this time. Her connections in Iceland found her a spot in small town on the Olympic Peninsula where she worked at a Marine Science Center. The land where the mountains meet the Sea is how Meg made her connection between proper organic land management (farming, etc.) and saving the ocean--ALL drains lead to the Ocean. Her work was to educate everyone and anyone while recruiting volunteers. After falling in love & living in a Mongolian yurt off-grid with her partner for 4 years, his home Colorado was calling him. Being swept away from the ocean, Meg knew she was heading back to the farm. Last year she was a TGP intern and worked on the Teens for Food Justice Program and loved it. Meg hopes to spread her love for the oceans through connecting people with the land and reminding us that it's all connected. Liz Manes-Ruhl, Educator and FoCo Cafe Garden Manager, liz@thegrowingproject.org
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Board of Directors
Chris Fry, President: The Fry Law Firm LLC
Matt Fetissoff: Matt is a designer & activist. Years ago, a love for cooking sparked his desire for a deeper connection with the origins of food, which ultimately ignited the light of permaculture in him. In 2015 he founded Common Roots to build a more resilient community designing food systems and water conscious lifestyles. He's a mentor gardener for The Growing Project's Urban Food Outreach program when not working his day job as a website designer and developer.
Michelle Milholland, Treasurer: Michelle is a Registered Dietitian with a passion for helping others improve their health and well-being through delicious food. She holds a Master's degree in Food Science and Nutrition from CSU, and currently works as an instructor and developer of online nutrition courses. She teaches nutrition programs and hands-on cooking classes for The Growing Project, and enjoys helping participants find new ways to enjoy fruits and vegetables.
Patrick Padden: Padden Permaculture: Patrick Padden is a sustainability consultant and designer specializing in the design science known as permaculture. He holds a Master's degree in integrative eco-social design from Gaia University and obtained his Bachelor's degree from CSU. He is passionate about the patterns of human habitat creation and seeks to have an impact in the world of landscape architecture and community development.
Josh Sbicca: Josh has been an organizer and a scholar since 2001. During college and for two years after graduation he was involved with the anti-war, environmental, food, and labor movements. After spending many years in graduate school, he is now a sociology professor at Colorado State University where he teaches courses on food and agriculture, social problems, and social movements. He believes that the food movement should prioritize food justice to advocate for the right to healthy food that is justly and sustainably produced, recognize diverse cultural foodways and histories, and promote democratic participation and equitable distribution of resources in the food system.
Kristina Cash: Fortified Collaborations
Laura Shiels MS Botany, BS Environmental Studies (www.herbalmagik.com; www.scintillatingfirecircus.com) is a biologist, herbalist, ethnobotanist, ecologist, environmental advocate, performance artist, and director. She is a strong supporter of sustainable living and the local food movement and has passions for education, healing, organic gardening, and performing/storytelling. Laura has a strong teaching background, having lectured courses for the University of Hawaii Biology Department for 5 years, previously teaching as a Biology and Botany graduate teaching assistant, teaching workshops on herbalism and sustainable living strategies for The Greenhouse Hawaii since 2005, teaching environmental education and organic gardening to children through the Learning Environmental Awareness Program and Gardens in Schools Program, and teaching international Ethnobotany field courses in Nicaragua and Hawaii. She has also worked as a Wilderness Advocate on a successful campaign to designate more Wilderness Study Areas as federally recognized Wilderness and has worked on city greening projects (such as Let’s Grow Hilo, Laulima Eco-friendly Alliance of Farms, and the Institute for Human Services) to creatively grow harvested edible produce and herbs within city downtown areas and at homeless shelters. She currently runs the herbalism practice Herbalmagik, serves as president of the entertainment troupes Scintillating Fire Circus and Hawaii Fire Dancers LLC, volunteers and teaches workshops for The Growing Project and other organizations, and will start teaching Herbology at Front Range Community College as an instructor with the Holistic Healing program in Summer 2017.
Shay Galto: Shay Galto works in the Division of University Advancement at Colorado State University. She holds a Masters of Arts Degree in Sociology with an emphasis in educational research and bachelor's degrees in Psychology and History. She is interested in strengthing communities through education and has been volunteering with at-risk children for over 10 years. Her interest in sustainable farming and the reduction in food insecurities started when she volunteered at low-income schools outside of Chicago. After moving to Fort Collins she fell in love with the mission of The Growing Project and is excited to continue to work towards growing the impact on the Larimer County community.
Matt Fetissoff: Matt is a designer & activist. Years ago, a love for cooking sparked his desire for a deeper connection with the origins of food, which ultimately ignited the light of permaculture in him. In 2015 he founded Common Roots to build a more resilient community designing food systems and water conscious lifestyles. He's a mentor gardener for The Growing Project's Urban Food Outreach program when not working his day job as a website designer and developer.
Michelle Milholland, Treasurer: Michelle is a Registered Dietitian with a passion for helping others improve their health and well-being through delicious food. She holds a Master's degree in Food Science and Nutrition from CSU, and currently works as an instructor and developer of online nutrition courses. She teaches nutrition programs and hands-on cooking classes for The Growing Project, and enjoys helping participants find new ways to enjoy fruits and vegetables.
Patrick Padden: Padden Permaculture: Patrick Padden is a sustainability consultant and designer specializing in the design science known as permaculture. He holds a Master's degree in integrative eco-social design from Gaia University and obtained his Bachelor's degree from CSU. He is passionate about the patterns of human habitat creation and seeks to have an impact in the world of landscape architecture and community development.
Josh Sbicca: Josh has been an organizer and a scholar since 2001. During college and for two years after graduation he was involved with the anti-war, environmental, food, and labor movements. After spending many years in graduate school, he is now a sociology professor at Colorado State University where he teaches courses on food and agriculture, social problems, and social movements. He believes that the food movement should prioritize food justice to advocate for the right to healthy food that is justly and sustainably produced, recognize diverse cultural foodways and histories, and promote democratic participation and equitable distribution of resources in the food system.
Kristina Cash: Fortified Collaborations
Laura Shiels MS Botany, BS Environmental Studies (www.herbalmagik.com; www.scintillatingfirecircus.com) is a biologist, herbalist, ethnobotanist, ecologist, environmental advocate, performance artist, and director. She is a strong supporter of sustainable living and the local food movement and has passions for education, healing, organic gardening, and performing/storytelling. Laura has a strong teaching background, having lectured courses for the University of Hawaii Biology Department for 5 years, previously teaching as a Biology and Botany graduate teaching assistant, teaching workshops on herbalism and sustainable living strategies for The Greenhouse Hawaii since 2005, teaching environmental education and organic gardening to children through the Learning Environmental Awareness Program and Gardens in Schools Program, and teaching international Ethnobotany field courses in Nicaragua and Hawaii. She has also worked as a Wilderness Advocate on a successful campaign to designate more Wilderness Study Areas as federally recognized Wilderness and has worked on city greening projects (such as Let’s Grow Hilo, Laulima Eco-friendly Alliance of Farms, and the Institute for Human Services) to creatively grow harvested edible produce and herbs within city downtown areas and at homeless shelters. She currently runs the herbalism practice Herbalmagik, serves as president of the entertainment troupes Scintillating Fire Circus and Hawaii Fire Dancers LLC, volunteers and teaches workshops for The Growing Project and other organizations, and will start teaching Herbology at Front Range Community College as an instructor with the Holistic Healing program in Summer 2017.
Shay Galto: Shay Galto works in the Division of University Advancement at Colorado State University. She holds a Masters of Arts Degree in Sociology with an emphasis in educational research and bachelor's degrees in Psychology and History. She is interested in strengthing communities through education and has been volunteering with at-risk children for over 10 years. Her interest in sustainable farming and the reduction in food insecurities started when she volunteered at low-income schools outside of Chicago. After moving to Fort Collins she fell in love with the mission of The Growing Project and is excited to continue to work towards growing the impact on the Larimer County community.