Liz Kelly; Rumney, NH – Facilitating Director (Term: 2017-2020)
Liz is a planner, ecological designer, and permaculture educator living in Central New Hampshire. Professionally, Liz works with communities, organizations, and other entities to develop future visions, designs, and town plans grounded in community resilience, living systems, and land stewardship throughout NH. She currently serves as a Project Planner for Resilience Planning & Design, teaches Permaculture Design at Plymouth State University, and serves as the Treasurer for “Gardens for All”, her local community garden organization. Liz is passionate about integrating permaculture practices and ethics into community design and land use planning processes and is slowly building her own regenerative homestead with her partner. She is also interested in making permaculture accessible to broad audiences and empowering individuals to strengthen their relationship with the natural world as active land regenerators. In her free time, Liz is an avid rock climber and hiker, practices yoga, and loves to garden, cook, and read.
Patty Love; Rochester, NY – Board Treasurer (Term- 2018-2021)
Patty of Barefoot Permaculture is a perpetually curious permaculture designer, teacher, and consultant based in the Genesee River Valley (Rochester, NY) where she practices and studies ecological and regenerative design, permaculture, and edible forest/forage gardening. Her work is informed from her “dirt time,” education, reading, time in nature, conversations, exploration, and spiritual pursuits. She holds two Permaculture Design Certificates, including Earth Activist Training, and is a Certified Permaculture Teacher in addition to traditional BS and MALS Degrees.
Ruth Roudiez; Boston, MA – Board Secretary/Communications (Term: 2018 – 2021)
Ruth of Gardens by Ruth learned to garden on the beautiful and lavish residential landscapes of Nantucket, where she later helped manage the largest garden center. After studying Sustainable Community Development in Senegal, WWOOOFing there and Washington state, she moved to the Boston area and started an ecological minded landscaping business. She received her Permacutlure Design Certification through The Resilience Hub and continues to mind the business from Somerville, MA while partnering with neighboring permaculture company Restoring Roots in Jamaica Plain and iFarm in Boxford.
Stephanie Aubert; Loudon, NH – (Term: 2019-2022)
Stephanie recently returned to her Northeast homeland after receiving a Masters in Environmental Management from Western Colorado University, managing a farm to food pantry program in Snohomish County, Washington, and spending time working on food policy in New Orleans. She helped to coordinate the Southwest Seed Library, A Farm to Table Conference in Colorado’s Gunnison Valley, and led a multi-day collaborative design process for the developing headquarters of the Coldharbour Institute. . 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. She recently signed on to work in her hometown of Nashua, New Hampshire to further develop programming for Grow Nashua. She also works as a field teacher at Prescott Farm Environmental Education Center. Her passion is to increase access to Permaculture education and she hopes to expand this collective work in the Northeast.
Malene Welch; Roxbury, MA – (Term: 2019-2022)
Malene is Interim Executive Director of Hawthorne Youth and Community Center (HYCC), a grassroots, non-profit located in Roxbury, MA. She has also worked as a freelance writer and real estate development project manager. She aims to incorporate permaculture principles into all aspects of her work. One of her earliest memories is watching her grandmother work magic in a garden in Georgia. It was a desire to reconnect with that history that led her to take a Master Urban Gardening course which then supercharged her drive to explore urban agriculture. She received a certificate in Permaculture Design from the Resilience Hub and completed an herbalism and holistic gardening apprenticeship. In addition to her role at HYCC, Malene coordinates two community gardens and is involved in the planning of a therapeutic garden as well as the revitalization of the Thornton Street Urban Farm and Gardens, all located in Roxbury, MA. She enjoys growing her own food and medicinal herbs and taking them from garden to table through adapted and original recipes. Malene’s greatest joys are cooking, creating, and sharing with others.
Rev Dele; New Paltz, NY – (Term: 2019-2022)
Rev Dele of Soil and Souls is opening the environmental narrative to include the voice of Mother Nature so we create JOY with our Impact. Trained as a Climate Reality Leader and spiritual director, she helps leaders to heal human crises with Nature based solutions. As grandmother, theologian and permaculture professor Dele teaches that justice begins with inner balance and flows through a community in diverse banks of love. Dele is developing national initiatives that will calm our social and weather chaos. The Spirit of Resilience radio show raises a platform for women Earthkeepers all over the globe. We invite dialogue, offer solutions, and connect with allies who invest resources on the ground and in campaigns we lead. The emerging Soil & Souls nursery also provides leadership training and community education on resilience in communities that need it most. Her newest book “Breath of Life” is a 5 week Bible study that helps us grow closer to God and grow a secure community by loving creation. She also serves as council member of the National Congress of Black American Indians, board member of Permaculture Association of the Northeast and the UCC Climate Council. Dele’s B.A. is from University of California-Riverside and M.Div. from Howard University School of Divinity. She serves in the Southern Conference of the United Church of Christ and maintains Baptist and Indigenous affiliations.
Selected Articles
- Rev. M. Dele on Sojourners
- A Gospel of the Garden
- EcoTheo: Fall 2015
- Earthcare Warrior Women
- Continuum of Climate Work
- Manifesto for Food Sovereign Churches
Dan Boynton; Campton, NH – (Term: 2020-2023)
Dan lives in Campton, NH with his family where he runs Serendipity Farm with his wife Jess, as well as Stratus Telecom, a cloud based phone and internet provider. Since his family purchased their farm in 2016, they have been converting the horse pasture into a productive, living landscape that allows for both annual and perennial production for the family and the community. As the farm has grown, so has Dan’s commitment to sharing the principles of permaculture with others. He sits on the Campton Select Board, Conservation Commission, and Zoning Board of Adjustment, where he focuses on informing community decisions through the lens of permaculture ethics and design. Outside of work, farm, and community commitments, Dan loves to cook, mountain bike with his family, backcountry ski, and hunt/gather. Dan holds a Permaculture Design Certificate from Colby Sawyer College.
Jeff Cantara; Portsmouth, NH – (Term: 2020-2023)
Jeff has worked as a wildlife biologist, wildland firefighter, organic farmer, and solar designer– anything to be outdoors! After studying at UVM, he headed to the Rocky Mountain West, the Pacific Northwest, and Alaska to work on a variety of ecological studies before returning to New England in 2001. He now splits his time between the Casco Bay region of Maine and the Lamprey River watershed of New Hampshire were he designs innovative solar arrays and serves as the Director of Groundswell Farms, a collaborative farmspace that offers affordable access to land for farmers, facilitates resource and equipment sharing, and provides mentorship. A former tillage-based organic farmer who “saw the light”, Jeff now explores the ideas of human and landscape rewilding, the practice of tending the wild, and the question of what constitutes appropriate agriculture- all through the lens of permaculture. When he’s not grafting trees or inoculating logs, you can find him paddling for waves on a wooden longboard, experimenting with wild cider fermentations, practicing ancestral skills, and exploring the remaining wild areas of the Gulf of Maine bioregion with his son. Largely self-taught in the permaculture realm, Jeff plans to continue his education through one or more of the many PDC programs available throughout New England. He is particularly interested in restoring the once highly-forageable and calorically-dense landscapes of the Northeast to begin reversing the damage wrought on humans and other beings through 400 years of extractive economic practices.
Jesse Labbe-Watson; Rockland, ME – Northeast Liaison to Permaculture Institute of North American (PINA) and Past PAN Facilitating Director (2014-2018)
Jesse of Midcoast Permaculture came to permaculture over the last decade by way of the movements for social and environmental justice. After a brief apprenticeship at Earthaven Ecovillage in North Carolina, Jesse formally studied permaculture with Charles and Julia Yelton at the Newforest Institute and Humustacia Gardens. He graduated from the their Advanced PDC in October 2008. He has gone on to start a permaculture landscape design/build and sustainability consultation firm in the Midcoast area. He has consulted for private residents, market gardens, farmers and non-profit organizations. He is the primary organizer for the Midcoast Permaculture Network which hosts workshops, meetups and potlucks. He was also a principal logistics coordinator for the 2010 and 2014 Northeast Regional Permaculture Convergence hosted at the MOFGA fairgrounds. He currently serves as president of the board of PAN – the Permaculture Association of the Northeast. Jesse brings an artist’s paintbrush, a philosopher’s pedantry, a tracker’s attention to detail and a holy fool’s comedic relief to the company he keeps. He lives with his young family in Rockland.
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
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 page to learn more about the beginnings of this organization.
Interested in joining the Board? Please submit your application here.