Joe Nisbett; Jersey City, NJ – Board Treasurer (Term: 2022-2025)
Joe Nisbett is a landscape designer, community planner, and permaculture consultant. His work focuses on creating resilient communities, regenerative landscapes, and social justice.
Joe received his first Permaculture Design Certificate from Grow Permaculture in 2016. He holds a master’s degree in both Landscape Architecture and Community Planning from Auburn University. At Auburn, Joe was a researcher for regional green infrastructure planning. He is also the founder of the Permaculture Tigers Student Association. Joe now lives in Jersey City, New Jersey where he is the principal of Nisbett Design LLC. Joe also sits on the Board of Directors for Beyond Organic Design. He spends his free time community organizing, meditating in the garden, and cooking fantastic soups.
Stephanie Aubert; Loudon, NH – Interim Facilitating Director (Term: 2019-2025)
Stephanie Aubert is the founder and Creative Director of Grasshoppers Landing LLC and the company’s educational arm Grasshopper Academy. She earned a Masters in Environmental Management from Western Colorado University with a concentration in sustainable and resilient communities. She has managed a farm to food pantry program in Snohomish County, Washington, spent time working on food policy in New Orleans, and helped to coordinate the Southwest Seed Library. She received her PDC back when PAN was PINE, while simultaneously lifting Plymouth Permaculture Project off the ground at her alma mater of Plymouth State University in New Hampshire. Her passions include regenerating ecological literacy and increasing access to Permaculture education.
Linh Aven; Nottingham, NH – Upcoming Facilitating Director (Term: 2022-2025)
Linh Aven is a biologist, chef, and a farmer. Her love of learning has taken her from watching ladybugs as a child growing up in southern California, to a Biology degree at Whitworth in Spokane, WA, a Ph.D. in Molecular Medicine at Boston University, and a biotech start-up in Boston. Feeling called to nurture those around her through food, she took off her lab coat and put on an apron stepping into catering, a French bakery, a healthy fast-casual restaurant chain B.Good …and is now full-circle back to creating a space for ladybugs to thrive. Her experience in foodservice provided a broader understanding of how we eat: large-scale agriculture, lengthy distribution chains, and a lot of waste. This led her to think there has got to be a better way! Inspired by Masanobu Fukuoka’s book, One Straw Revolution, she found herself reading deeply about permaculture, agroforestry, and holistic practices all pointing back towards a return to ancient and indigenous ways of growing food. Linh started to understand that somewhere in our striving towards innovation and efficiency in food production important knowledge was lost.
Her farm, the Dandelion Project is a journey into the world of edible perennial crops, rebuilding soil health, and sharing abundance. Linh’s drive is to apply her systems-thinking and scientific approach to create a more natural ecosystem in which to grow food for her local community. Her focus is on exploring the culinary possibilities of edible perennials that naturally grow well in the New Hampshire Seacoast, transforming them into delicious pantry products. When you visit, you’ll likely find her in a berry patch, hands deep into the soil, marveling at the insects and plants all around.
Linzi Redekop; Ottowa, ON – (Term: 2022-2025)
Linzi Redekop is first and foremost a lover of the environment, animals, and people. She envisions a world where every living and non-living being is free to live a healthy and happy life. Linzi’s permaculture journey started at the age of 16 when she attended an Intro to Permaculture class taught by Bonita Ford at LivingEARTH. Ever since then, Linzi has been inspired to continue her learning in permaculture and its capacity for change. This drive has fueled her work as a program coordinator, outdoor educator, policy analyst, farmer, and horseperson. Through this work, she has had the opportunity to work with a local food cupboard, a grassroots food policy NGO, and a couple of federal government departments.
Depending on the day, you might find Linzi farming out in the fields, hiking in the woods, playing with horses, crafting a garment, playing guitar, attempting gymnastics, or just playing video games. From the school side, Linzi is currently working towards completing her Bachelor of Arts in Environmental Studies at Carleton University.
Bonita Ford; Perth, ON – Board Coordinator
Bonita teaches permaculture, Nonviolent Communication (cooperative communication), Reiki (energy work), and gardening. She is the author of the book “Embers of Hope: Embracing Life in an Age of Ecological Destruction and Climate Chaos” and has led workshops around the world for over 19 years.
Bonita has a B.Sc. in Biochemistry from Queen’s University, a M.A. in Holistic Health Education from John F. Kennedy University in California, and a diploma in Permaculture from l’Université Populaire de Permaculture in France. The land she calls home is 1/5 of an acre in Perth, Ontario, which is unceded Algonquin Territory on Turtle Island. Bonita is grateful to the Anishinabe Grandmothers and Grandfathers in her life who have influenced her way of being on the land.
Bonita loves eating wild foods, talking to the plants, and dancing barefoot on the Earth. To learn more about her work, visit www.livinghEARTH.net and www.embersofhopebook.com.
Previous Board Members
- Jessica Pelchat, Durham, ON – (Term 2022)
- Malene Welch, Roxbury, MA – (Term 2019-2022)
- Jeff Cantara, Portsmouth, NH – (Term 2020-2022)
- Ruth Roudiez, Boston, MA – (Term 2018-2021)
- Liz Kelly, Rumney, NH – (Term 2017-2021)
- Patty Love, Rochester, NY – (Term 2018-2021)
- Dan Boyton, Campton, NH – (Term 2020-2021)
- Jack Eaton, NH – (Term: 2018-19)
- Maya Norton, Boston, MA – (Term: 2018-2019)
- Brianne Merrill, NY (2018)
- Lisa DePiano, Holyoke, MA – Clerk/Secretary (2015-2018)
- Steve Whitman, Plymouth, NH – (2016-2018)
- Taylor Shuler, Ithaca, NY – (2016-2017)
- Jono Neiger, Leverett, MA – Co-Founder (2008-2016)
- Keith Morris, Jeffersonville, VT – (2009-2016)
- Lisa Fernandes, Portland, ME – (2010-2016)
- Steve Gabriel, Ithaca, NY – (2009-2015)
- Alice Oldfather, Albany, NY – (2013-2015)
- Laura Weiland, Kingston, NY – (2014-2015)
- Uma Alice Lo, Queens, NY – (2010-2014)
- Mark Krawczyk, Burlington, VT – (2009-2012)
- Roxy (Finn) Laurel, Chicopee, MA – Co-Founder (2008-2011)
- Patrick Gibbs, Co-founder (2008)
- Rob Petito, Co-founder (2008)
We stand on the shoulders of giants:
The current board wishes to acknowledge and appreciate the work of the original organizing committee: Jono Neiger, Roxy Finn (now Roxy Laurel), Patrick Gibbs, and Rob Petito, along with the additional early board members Keith Morris, Steve Gabriel, and Lisa Fernandes. Please read our History to learn more about the beginnings of this organization.
Interested in joining the Board? Learn more about joining or submit your application here.