NH Permaculture Day

Leigh Cameron is a systems-thinker who is passionate about exploring the intersections between healing our communities, our environment, and our bodies. She has seven years of experience in community organizing around environmental and social justice issues from Senegal, West Africa to Portsmouth, New Hampshire. As a Program Manager for the Grassroots Fund, Leigh supported grassroots groups across New England, organized groups for collective impact, and implemented participatory processes to shift power dynmics within philanthropy. As an Urban Agriculture Volunteer in the Peace Corps and as the Director of a start-up non-profit farm and community center, Leigh gained hands-on experience in direct grassroots efforts, including all aspects of organization formation and organization. She received her Permaculture Design Certification through Food, Water, Shelter in Tanzania. Leigh is also currently studying to be a Nutritional Therapy Practitioner through the Nutritional Therapy Association.

Marsha Campaniello has been doing organic gardening in over 10 communities in NH & VT for the past 45 years. She now "does it all" the permaculture way on 1/4 acre site, that includes her sprawling ranch, in downtown Concord. The 7,ooo sqft of tillable area contains over 200 varieties of perennial & annual vegetables, fruits, herbs, flowers, ground covers, grasses, ferns and shitake mushroom logs. The low maintenance gardens incorporate companions planting, microclimates, spiral herb garden, gutter irrigation, lasagna, hugelkultur, barrel, worm bin and mounded composting; with meandering brick, stone, moss & grass paths.

Mary Tebo Davis is a Natural Resources Field Specialist for UNH Cooperative Extension. With degrees in environmental conservation, education, and permaculture certifications, she leads 400+ Natural Resources Stewards and NH Big Tree Volunteers throughout the state. Mary also partners with NH communities to create ecologically-based landscapes and gardens. She has collaborated on many revitalization projects, especially in NH’s largest city, Manchester, renovating vacant degraded spaces creating community gardens and ecological landscapes, establishing the first green roof on city hall, and bringing permaculture to inner city neighborhoods. Mary is a co-author of two books: Integrated Landscaping: Following Nature Lead and Landscaping at the Water’s Edge and served as an editor on NH’s Innovative Land Use Planning Techniques – A Handbook for Sustainable Development. She lives in Strafford practicing permaculture with her extended family at Turtle Run Farm.

Buzz Ferver I have always been preoccupied with the natural system of the planet. My earliest memories are of crabapples, flowers, rocks and water, spending my childhood collecting bugs, leaves and being lost in the woods studying plant communities. Totally convinced that either bacteria or fungus (or both together) actually run the show, I nonetheless work hard in human society. In the 70’s, I studied horticulture and landscape design at the feet of my father and continue with my horticulture fantasy at my wet farm in Berlin Corners VT. In the 80's and 90's I worked with two of the largest mushroom growers in Pennsylvania to build revenue roducing operations from their previously underutilized stream of mushroom growing substrate. I also spent quite a bit of time researching and developing mushroom compost as the organic fraction
in green roof media. I have worked for 30 years as a consultant to farming operations on every scale, to design, and develop on-farm composting at appropriate scale and technology, and in a parallel career, as a general contractor, designing and building homes and doing major renovations to existing buildings. On my farm in Vermont I use permaculture principles, searching nut trees suitable for Zone 4, and building soils by composting. I was on the Board of Directors of Yestermorrow Design Build School for 9 years and still teach there periodically.

Hanna Flanders has a degree in philosophy and environmental science and policy from Smith College. She is a co-founder and board secretary of the Kearsarge Food Hub. She also heads the educational programming, community outreach, and marketing departments. She calls upon a variety of mediums to tell the story of the Kearsarge Food Hub and it’s many facets, including art, writing, social media, video production, talks, presentations, and events, while inviting the community to be a part of the growth through nurturing partnerships and hosting events. Hanna is driven by the human story behind the local food and community systems within which she is working, and by the urgent need to create a safe and prosperous future for her two young children.

Lucas Fowler: Soon after graduating from Dartmouth College, Lucas Fowler found himself working on a crew in Alton, NH building a house from peeled cedar logs and huge boulders. He was hooked. Lucas has spent years learning from some of the best in the business several different styles of timber framing. He has cut many large western style frames using mill rule, snap line square rule, scribe, and combinations of all three. Lucas has also spent time working with some fantastic Japanese carpenters learning a very different approach to a familiar discipline. Lucas has always loved sharing his knowledge with others who are also passionate about the built environment: from teaching new members on the crew to a stint as an Adjunct Professor at Manchester Community College to teaching Timber Framers Guild Workshops. Lucas's passion for woodworking is always expanding. He has built a wooden kit boat, loves to build furniture when he can, still likes to play with sticks and logs, and is always open to learning something new. Lucas designed and built his own home in Andover, NH where he lives with his wife, Traci and their 5-year old daughter, Bianca. Lucas is currently enjoying running his own timber frame shop, Lion Creek Design.

France Hahn has a degree in Economics and International development from McGill University. She moved to her hometown of Bradford, NH to co-found the Kearsarge Food Hub and start creating positive change on the local level. France is the board president of the Kearsarge Food Hub, organizes the local food supply for multiple market outlets, and co-manages Sweet Beet Farm, where she actively explores regenerative farming methods to grow food for market while caring for the land. France received a Permaculture Design Certificate from Colby-Sawyer College and she has a passion for how smart design and systems thinking can create a sustainable local food system that contributes to a healthy and happy human spirit.

Valerie Piedmont and her husband, Pablo began their off-grid homesteading journey in 1981, raising a family in Gilsum N.H. In 2000, they founded The Sustainability Project, a 501(c)3 nonprofit, promoting a love of nature, environmental stewardship, and caring communities. They opened a family, retail business, Green Energy Options of Keene in 2007, registered as a B-Corp in 2017, offering sales, service and installations of solar PV and energy efficient home heating and cooling appliances. In 2011, they signed on as Airbnb hosts and have since shared their home with thousands of people from around the world seeking the peace, beauty, and functionality of low impact living in the Emerson Brook Forest. They love life, laughing and living with a sense of community during unprecedented times.

Chris Skoglund has a broad background that includes education, farming, healthcare and energy & climate policy. His day job is focused on the development of statewide energy & climate plans & policy, and his is currently managing an effort within the NH Department of Environmental Services to incorporate considerations of climate change across the agency's programs & activities. However, he falls asleep musing about resource sustainability and upcycling treasures from the dump,and when hi isn't playing dress-up with his two daughters, he is replacing his lawn with vegetable gardens and a diverse perennial polyculture.

Carole Soule and Bruce Dawson own Miles Smith Farm, a 37 acre farm in Loudon where they raise a herd of 60 beef cattle. Miles Smith started farming the property in the 1830's and today Bruce and Carole continue the farming traditions he established. To meet the growing demand for local beef the farm buys cattle from other like-minded New Hampshire farmers. They sell the beef they raise and purchase at NH retail stores, hospitals, schools, retirement communities and in their solar powered farm store: www.milessmithfarm.com. They also lease over 200 acres of unused fields which they use to graze nine months of the year.

Cynthia Tina works at the heart of regenerative community networks, creating change by uplifting examples of a future work unfolding. She is Vice President on the Board of Trustees for the Global Ecovillage Network and Communications Director at the Foundation for Intentional Community. She has travelled to over one hundred sustainable community projects across four continents. Frequently on the move, she straddles between her base at an ecovillage in Slovenia in Europe and her home region of the Northeast in the United States. For communities and teams, she offers marketing consulting and group facilitation. Through her online service, she helps people from all walks of life plug into regenerative networks. Learn more at www.cynthiatina.com

David Wichland is the owner of Wichland Woods, a unique, local myco-business located in the Monadnock Region of New Hampshire. By educating the public about mycology, Dave strives to promote people’s awareness about the health and ecological benefits of mushrooms. Through various workshops, Wichland Woods encourages people to expand their gardening realm into a mycological-friendly landscape. We educate the public on the techniques of “backyard mushrooming” and how everyday resources can be used to cultivate their own mycelia network. Dave creates over a dozen local strains of mushrooms, which are carefully expanded using sterile techniques. By working with other northeast mycologists, we are promoting the health benefits that mushrooms have in our world.

Bios: Presenters & Demonstrators - ALPHABETICALLY