· Jeff Lowenfels - Author, “Teaming with Nutrients: The Organic Gardener’s Guide to Plant Nutrition”
Our Keynote Speaker, is well known to Alaskan gardeners. His garden column in the Anchorage Daily News is the longest running Garden Column in the United States, he is in the Garden Writer's Hall of Fame. Jeff co-authored the book, "Teaming with Microbes, The Organic Gardener's Guide to the Soil Food Web" which won the prestigious Garden Writers of America Gold Award. He was once an Editor of the Harvard Lampoon, America’s oldest humor magazine, which when listening to his talks becomes immediately apparent as they are always extremely humorous, witty, and entertaining.
In addition to writing, Jeff hosted a statewide TV gardening show that was so popular, it ran four times a week and played to gardeners above the Arctic Circle. Today, Jeff has a popular radio show where he plays “The Germinator.” In his spare time, he lectures around the world on the science behind organics and how plants grow. He is the former president of the Garden Writers of America, a Garden Writer’s Fellow, and is founder of Plant A Row for The Hungry, a national program that encourages gardeners to plant one row in their gardens dedicated to feed the hungry.
His new book, "Teaming with Nutrients: The Organic Gardener's Guide to Optimizing Plant Nutrition," will be available for sale at the Conference.
· Darren Snyder - Cooperative Extension Agent, 4H Youth Development Organization
Graduated with a B.S. in Agriculture from the University of Hawaii Hilo in 1993. Having lived in Juneau since 1995 and earned a Master of Art in Teaching from UAS, he has developed a strong understanding of Southeast Alaska's natural world and communities. He has used that knowledge for the past 5 years as a Cooperative Extension Agent in Agriculture, Horticulture and Youth (4H) programs while working to help many Southeast residents achieve their gardening goals.
· Melissa Aronson - Ed.D. Professor Emerita Education, California State University, Secondary and Sustainability Education
Melissa has over 20 years of personal permaculture and organic farming experience. She has taught permaculture classes in Haines, Skagway, and Kona Hawaii and has a developing permaculture garden in Haines. As Professor Emerita at California State University, Stanislaus, Melissa has taught biology, elementary and secondary science methods, as well as courses in environmental education and sustainability education at University level. She has served as Chairperson of Haines Friends of Recycling since 2010 and is a member of the California State Board for Environmental Education.
· Deb Rudis - Wildlife Biologist, U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service
Deb is an avid gardener both around her home and at the JNU community garden. She is particularly interested in the promotion of flowering plants, especially in regards to their importance to native pollinator species. She is a Wildlife Biologist and the Environmental Contaminants Specialist for the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, Ecological Services Office in Juneau, where she has worked since January 1989. She is also the FWS Alaska Region Pollinator Coordinator and is encouraging the Nat’l Wildlife Refuges in AK to initiate bee surveys and create pollinator gardens. As a friend succinctly says – “pollinators are not an option!”
· Meredith Green – Interpretive Ranger, Klondike Gold Rush National Park
Meredith has lived in Skagway full time since 1998 and has been a Skagway gardener all those years. The program evolved out of her love of gardening and fascination with Skagway's history.
· Laurie Constantino - Author "Tastes Like Home, Mediterranean Cooking in Alaska"
Laurie Constantino is the editor, publisher, and primary writer of laurieconstantino.com. Laurie’s love affair with Mediterranean cooking began 30 years ago when she met Steven, a Greek-American, in Bethel, a remote Eskimo community, where she was working as the District Attorney. In 1987, Laurie and Steven traded the windswept tundra of Bethel for the sun-bleached beaches of Limnos to live in the home they inherited from Steven’s grandmother. There, Laurie learned Greek by cooking with her new relatives and shopping in tiny supermarkets and market gardens. After a year centered around the kitchen, it was as if she’d completed a comprehensive course in traditional Greek food and cooking.
In 2007, Laurie’s book Tastes Like Home: Mediterranean Cooking In Alaska, containing 182 fully-tested recipes, was published; a revised edition adding new recipes came out in 2011. The recipes are for authentic Mediterranean fare using ingredients readily available in Alaska and throughout the United States. Also in 2007, Laurie started her blog, Mediterranean Cooking in Alaska, selected by Saveur Magazine as Best of the Web/Site We Love. In May 2011, for National Mediterranean Diet Month, Laurie was selected by Oldways as one of 50 Americans “dedicated to helping others discover and enjoy the fabulous flavors and remarkable health benefits of the Mediterranean Diet.”
Today, Laurie dishes up Mediterranean home cooking inspired by her travels, and her collection of 3500 cookbooks, and writes about it at on her website. She also teaches classes on wild edible plants, foraging for wild mushrooms, and Greek/Mediterranean cooking.
· George Campbell - Owner, Little Diggers and Landscaping; Former president of SE Alaska Master Gardeners
Currently a resident of Haines, George is past president of the Southeast Alaska Master Gardeners. George has many years of landscape and civil construction experience including large wetland restoration projects and salmon stream relocation work. George and fellow conference speaker Ed Buyarski - along with other partners - have undertaken a large garden project at 18 Mile, Haines Hwy, on a historic Chilkat Valley homestead. Dubbed “18 Meadows,” they are experimenting with 23 varieties of certified organic potatoes with the goal of commercial distribution of both seed and edible potatoes as well as organic hardneck garlic.
· Charlotte Jewell - Skagway Garden Club founder; 2013 SEAGC chairwoman; Owner, Jewell Gardens
Charlotte was raised enjoying fresh homegrown tomatoes, sweet corn and squash on a dairy farm in southeastern Pennsylvania. She has been a resident of Alaska for 40 years. She sold bedding plants and nursery stock in Skagway for over 25 years, growing many of them in her greenhouses. She has also worked installing and maintaining both commercial and residential landscapes. As President of the Skagway Garden Club she helped Skagway Gardeners reestablish Skagway as the "Garden City of Alaska", in the 1980's. In 1996 Charlotte started Jewell Gardens, a USDA Certified Organic Show Garden in Skagway, Alaska. Jewell Gardens is also home to Garden City Glassworks the only Glass Blowing Studio in Southeast Alaska and the only glass blowing studio in the world offering cruise ship passengers a chance to not only experience, first hand, the art of glass blowing, but also blow a unique ornament of their own design.
· Ed Buyarski - Owner, Ed’s Edible Landscaping
Ed transplanted from Upper Michigan to Southeast Alaska in 1983 and has been gardening in Wrangell, Petersburg, Sitka, Juneau and Haines ever since. He and his wife Janis raised two children in Alaska and now visit them in California and pick fruit in the winter with their grandsons. He started his business - Ed’s Edible Landscaping - to give people a chance to have beautiful as well as tasty plants in their yards. Apples, cherries, saskatoons, hardy kiwis, strawberries, raspberries, currants, gooseberries and more are possible in small yards and large properties and native berries can all be integrated into the Alaskan landscape. He and fellow conference speaker George Cambell have started a large garden project at 18 Mile, Haines Hwy, on a historic Chilkat Valley homestead. Dubbed “18 Meadows,” they are experimenting with 23 varieties of certified organic potatoes with the goal of commercial distribution of both seed and edible potatoes as well as organic hardneck garlic.
· Barb Hanson – Inspection services, Alaska Department of Natural Resources, Division of Agriculture
· Johanna Herron - Farm to School Program Coordinator, Alaska Department of Natural Resources, Division of Agriculture
Our Keynote Speaker, is well known to Alaskan gardeners. His garden column in the Anchorage Daily News is the longest running Garden Column in the United States, he is in the Garden Writer's Hall of Fame. Jeff co-authored the book, "Teaming with Microbes, The Organic Gardener's Guide to the Soil Food Web" which won the prestigious Garden Writers of America Gold Award. He was once an Editor of the Harvard Lampoon, America’s oldest humor magazine, which when listening to his talks becomes immediately apparent as they are always extremely humorous, witty, and entertaining.
In addition to writing, Jeff hosted a statewide TV gardening show that was so popular, it ran four times a week and played to gardeners above the Arctic Circle. Today, Jeff has a popular radio show where he plays “The Germinator.” In his spare time, he lectures around the world on the science behind organics and how plants grow. He is the former president of the Garden Writers of America, a Garden Writer’s Fellow, and is founder of Plant A Row for The Hungry, a national program that encourages gardeners to plant one row in their gardens dedicated to feed the hungry.
His new book, "Teaming with Nutrients: The Organic Gardener's Guide to Optimizing Plant Nutrition," will be available for sale at the Conference.
· Darren Snyder - Cooperative Extension Agent, 4H Youth Development Organization
Graduated with a B.S. in Agriculture from the University of Hawaii Hilo in 1993. Having lived in Juneau since 1995 and earned a Master of Art in Teaching from UAS, he has developed a strong understanding of Southeast Alaska's natural world and communities. He has used that knowledge for the past 5 years as a Cooperative Extension Agent in Agriculture, Horticulture and Youth (4H) programs while working to help many Southeast residents achieve their gardening goals.
· Melissa Aronson - Ed.D. Professor Emerita Education, California State University, Secondary and Sustainability Education
Melissa has over 20 years of personal permaculture and organic farming experience. She has taught permaculture classes in Haines, Skagway, and Kona Hawaii and has a developing permaculture garden in Haines. As Professor Emerita at California State University, Stanislaus, Melissa has taught biology, elementary and secondary science methods, as well as courses in environmental education and sustainability education at University level. She has served as Chairperson of Haines Friends of Recycling since 2010 and is a member of the California State Board for Environmental Education.
· Deb Rudis - Wildlife Biologist, U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service
Deb is an avid gardener both around her home and at the JNU community garden. She is particularly interested in the promotion of flowering plants, especially in regards to their importance to native pollinator species. She is a Wildlife Biologist and the Environmental Contaminants Specialist for the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, Ecological Services Office in Juneau, where she has worked since January 1989. She is also the FWS Alaska Region Pollinator Coordinator and is encouraging the Nat’l Wildlife Refuges in AK to initiate bee surveys and create pollinator gardens. As a friend succinctly says – “pollinators are not an option!”
· Meredith Green – Interpretive Ranger, Klondike Gold Rush National Park
Meredith has lived in Skagway full time since 1998 and has been a Skagway gardener all those years. The program evolved out of her love of gardening and fascination with Skagway's history.
· Laurie Constantino - Author "Tastes Like Home, Mediterranean Cooking in Alaska"
Laurie Constantino is the editor, publisher, and primary writer of laurieconstantino.com. Laurie’s love affair with Mediterranean cooking began 30 years ago when she met Steven, a Greek-American, in Bethel, a remote Eskimo community, where she was working as the District Attorney. In 1987, Laurie and Steven traded the windswept tundra of Bethel for the sun-bleached beaches of Limnos to live in the home they inherited from Steven’s grandmother. There, Laurie learned Greek by cooking with her new relatives and shopping in tiny supermarkets and market gardens. After a year centered around the kitchen, it was as if she’d completed a comprehensive course in traditional Greek food and cooking.
In 2007, Laurie’s book Tastes Like Home: Mediterranean Cooking In Alaska, containing 182 fully-tested recipes, was published; a revised edition adding new recipes came out in 2011. The recipes are for authentic Mediterranean fare using ingredients readily available in Alaska and throughout the United States. Also in 2007, Laurie started her blog, Mediterranean Cooking in Alaska, selected by Saveur Magazine as Best of the Web/Site We Love. In May 2011, for National Mediterranean Diet Month, Laurie was selected by Oldways as one of 50 Americans “dedicated to helping others discover and enjoy the fabulous flavors and remarkable health benefits of the Mediterranean Diet.”
Today, Laurie dishes up Mediterranean home cooking inspired by her travels, and her collection of 3500 cookbooks, and writes about it at on her website. She also teaches classes on wild edible plants, foraging for wild mushrooms, and Greek/Mediterranean cooking.
· George Campbell - Owner, Little Diggers and Landscaping; Former president of SE Alaska Master Gardeners
Currently a resident of Haines, George is past president of the Southeast Alaska Master Gardeners. George has many years of landscape and civil construction experience including large wetland restoration projects and salmon stream relocation work. George and fellow conference speaker Ed Buyarski - along with other partners - have undertaken a large garden project at 18 Mile, Haines Hwy, on a historic Chilkat Valley homestead. Dubbed “18 Meadows,” they are experimenting with 23 varieties of certified organic potatoes with the goal of commercial distribution of both seed and edible potatoes as well as organic hardneck garlic.
· Charlotte Jewell - Skagway Garden Club founder; 2013 SEAGC chairwoman; Owner, Jewell Gardens
Charlotte was raised enjoying fresh homegrown tomatoes, sweet corn and squash on a dairy farm in southeastern Pennsylvania. She has been a resident of Alaska for 40 years. She sold bedding plants and nursery stock in Skagway for over 25 years, growing many of them in her greenhouses. She has also worked installing and maintaining both commercial and residential landscapes. As President of the Skagway Garden Club she helped Skagway Gardeners reestablish Skagway as the "Garden City of Alaska", in the 1980's. In 1996 Charlotte started Jewell Gardens, a USDA Certified Organic Show Garden in Skagway, Alaska. Jewell Gardens is also home to Garden City Glassworks the only Glass Blowing Studio in Southeast Alaska and the only glass blowing studio in the world offering cruise ship passengers a chance to not only experience, first hand, the art of glass blowing, but also blow a unique ornament of their own design.
· Ed Buyarski - Owner, Ed’s Edible Landscaping
Ed transplanted from Upper Michigan to Southeast Alaska in 1983 and has been gardening in Wrangell, Petersburg, Sitka, Juneau and Haines ever since. He and his wife Janis raised two children in Alaska and now visit them in California and pick fruit in the winter with their grandsons. He started his business - Ed’s Edible Landscaping - to give people a chance to have beautiful as well as tasty plants in their yards. Apples, cherries, saskatoons, hardy kiwis, strawberries, raspberries, currants, gooseberries and more are possible in small yards and large properties and native berries can all be integrated into the Alaskan landscape. He and fellow conference speaker George Cambell have started a large garden project at 18 Mile, Haines Hwy, on a historic Chilkat Valley homestead. Dubbed “18 Meadows,” they are experimenting with 23 varieties of certified organic potatoes with the goal of commercial distribution of both seed and edible potatoes as well as organic hardneck garlic.
· Barb Hanson – Inspection services, Alaska Department of Natural Resources, Division of Agriculture
· Johanna Herron - Farm to School Program Coordinator, Alaska Department of Natural Resources, Division of Agriculture