Finding seeds to smiles
About Lily
After graduating with a degree in Conflict Analysis and Resolution, Lily turned her attention to the most significant conflict facing us today: the one that drove a wedge between humans and the environment. After apprenticing on several small, chemical-free family farms to learn about growing food and living closer to the land, Lily served in the AmeriCorps as the garden coordinator for a public elementary school. During her service, she built extensive garden areas for the school, including a 30-tree orchard, and taught hands-on lessons to students grades pre-K through 6th about food and gardening.
The most impactful part of her service was guiding the school community toward embracing the new garden spaces. When she first started, the school had little else outdoors beyond a playground. At the end of her service, the multiple new garden and orchard areas offered a space for everyone at school to be outside differently: teachers took their classes outside for lessons; counselors took their sessions outside for sensory exploration; family engagement events were hosted in the garden; and summer school started a gardening club.
Lily witnessed firsthand that having a garden to love and care for is a simple way to unlock more meaningful community engagement, sense of belonging, and resilience.
Lily’s Expertise
During her two years on chemical-free farms, Lily learned the ins and outs of small-scale production agriculture. She has growing experience in both annual and perennial vegetables, cut flowers, and herbs. Her farm seasons were year-round, giving her additional expertise in under-cover as well as field production.
After working in the public school system as an AmeriCorps service member, Lily gained skills in curriculum design, classroom management, grant writing, and garden design, while expanding her knowledge of child nutrition, school budgets, student needs, and staff capacity.
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