Winter Food Conference 2021

Rosie Sill, co-owner of Earth Song Farm in Greene County, is a year-round grower. Earth Song Farm's chemical free produce is available through a summer and fall CSA and can be found at farmers' markets through all four seasons. rosiesill@gmail.com

Joni Muchler is a second year Nutrition Director at West Washington School Corporation. She has a Masters in Health Administrations with an undergraduate in Nutrition, and spent 5 years as a Health and Human Sciences Educator with Purdue Extension where she developed a passion for enhancing nutrition in the lives of others. muchlerj@wwcs.k12.in.us

Keith Nance is the Superintendent of West Washington School Corporation in Washington County. nancek@wwcs.k12.in.us

Lauren McCalister is a farmer-owner of Three Flock Farm in Ellettsville, IN, a community activist, and founder of the Plant Truck Project, a BIPOC-led initiative making plants, seeds, medicine and healthy food accessible for those historically denied land and food sovereignty due to discrimination based on race, class, sexual orientation, gender identity and citizenship status. lmccalis@indiana.edu

Rachel Beyer is the Local Food Coordinator for the City of Bloomington, working on a USDA grant project to connect Indiana farmers with institutional buyers.  Her background is in organic vegetable production and she has been a manager and educator on small farms around the Midwest for ten years, including most notably the Michigan State Student Organic Farm and the Purdue Student Farm. She and her husband operate a market garden, called Mavourneen Farm, on family land in rural Monroe County. rachel.beyer@bloomington.in.gov

M. Claus is a Purdue Master Gardener, Junior Master Gardener Program Leader, and certified Grow Organic Educator. She serves on the Executive Board of the Monroe County Master Gardener Association, Inc. and on the Board of Directors of the George E. Archer Foundation. Her focus is on small farms, home vegetable gardening, and youth gardening programs. Claus is the Garden Outreach Instructor at Hilltop Garden and Nature Center at Indiana University in Bloomington, IN.  mkclaus@iu.edu

Jamie Sterling Hooten is a third-grade teacher at Lincoln Elementary School in Bedford, Indiana. She has woven gardening into her science curriculum for years and, in 2016, she began a school-wide after school garden club for all students.  She has been a Land of Limestone Master Gardener since 2017. hootenj@nlcs.k12.in.us

Bridget Anderson is the Director at Patronicity, a crowdfunding platform designed to support creative placemaking projects around the country. It's powerful work that empowers hyperlocal community development and investment. She also hosts the Building Vibrant Communities Podcast and is the Lead Consultant and Community Advocate for Bench Consulting, and has over six years working with statewide and national non-profits including civil justice and educational organizations as well as six years serving elected officials and political campaigns. Anderson graduated from Indiana University with a degree in political science and is inspired by civic engagement as a means to improve lives. bridget@patronicity.com

While serving as Director of Parks and Recreation for the City of Bedford, Barry Jeskewich established a 5-acre park centered around a public garden; complete with 74 plots, 12 raised beds, a 2k sqft greenhouse, and extensive value-added sources to support the publics’ food system. Previously, Barry managed the first certified organic working orchard in the state of Utah, and served as president of the Springdale Farmers Market at the same location. jeskewich@gmail.com

Camryn Greer serves as the Community Programs Director at Patronicity, spending her days supporting creative placemaking projects around the country. She recently graduated from Indiana University Bloomington with a double Masters in nonprofit management and arts administration where she spent her time studying the ways that arts, culture, and quality of place can feed into almost every aspect of human life. Her current work with Patronicity is primarily focused on helping communities across the state of Connecticut plan, implement, and fund more sustainable practices and infrastructure. When not working, she spends most of her time hiking, crafting, and pining for the Appalachian mountains. camryn@patronicity.com

Sara Stewart serves as the Executive Director at Unity Gardens, actively working in administrative, labor, and development activities. Stewart has 16 plus years in business administration in the community health setting, specializing in third party health care reimbursement and Medicaid.  Her recent role as a Professor of Community Health Nursing in conjunction with her research focus on the culture of poverty adds to her ability to connect with and serve all of the communities with which she works. growunitygardens@yahoo.com

Allison Finzel is a Community Wellness Coordinator with Purdue Extension Nutrition Education Program (NEP) serving Vigo and Vermillion counties. NEP is funded by two federal funding streams: SNAP-Ed (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program – Education Division) and EFNEP (Expanded Food and Nutrition Education Program). Community Wellness Coordinators work to improve nutrition and health of audiences in limited-resource communities statewide by concentrating on NEP’s five focus areas: diet quality, physical activity, food security, food safety and food resource management. Together with her community partners, Finzel works to make policy, systems, and environmental changes, with the goal to make the healthy choice the easy choice. 

Mark McInerney is an Assistant Professor of Clinical Nutrition at Rush University in Chicago, IL. His teaching and research are focused in the area of community nutrition, in particular identifying ways to increase fruit and vegetable consumption among marginalized communities for the prevention and treatment of chronic disease.

Julia Valiant is a public health researcher trained in the social determinants of health. Agriculture and food focus her work, as forces guiding a people's ability to be well in a place. This includes farm policy. Some particular interests include how the history of public health intersects with that of agriculture, and especially animal agriculture; participatory research methods; and multimedia translation.  

Brandon Query Bey is the Healthy Initiatives Coordinator at Lost River Market and Deli in Paoli, IN. He has been working at Lost River Market for almost 4 years. Before working at the market, he and his wife and were brought to Orange County through an apprenticeship at Living Roots Farm and Sustainability Center and then went on to manage their own mini farm where they sold produce at a local farmers' market. 

Megan Songer-Gendig is the Cooking Matters Program Manager for Indy Hunger Network. She graduated from IUPUI in 2016 with her B.S. in Public Health with an emphasis on Community Health. In her last year of college, she was a wellness intern at a camp for children from low-income families, where she realized how much Marion County struggles with food insecurity. Her favorite memory was having the children try smoothies; many of the children had never tried the fresh fruits and asked for more. That experience led her to join the Indy Hunger Network in April 2017 as an AmeriCorps VISTA for the Cooking Matters program, and she now oversees that program as a full-time staff member. Megan enjoys teaching others the importance of cooking a healthy, nutritious meal on a budget. 

Claire Crosby is the Nutrition Promotion Coordinator VISTA for the Indy Hunger Network. Claire was born and raised in south Louisiana and received her undergraduate degree from the University of Kentucky in human nutrition. After studying abroad in Ghana, West Africa, Claire became interested in the connection between nutrition and other social and economic conditions as drivers to health. She took her newfound perspective of nutrition and health and decided to work directly with University of Kentucky students to improve food access on campus. Claire volunteered her time with Campus Kitchen to process and cook nutritious meals for students, and implemented a meal swipe bank for students to receive meals when struggling to meet basic needs. After her year with Indy Hunger Network, Claire hopes to start an MD program to blend the roles of providing excellent care and improving aspects of communities that affect health. 

Sarah Rocker is an independent researcher and rural sociologist at Penn State University engaging with public and private agencies, businesses and organizations in research and evaluation of agriculture, food systems and value chain coordination. 

Anya Peterson Royce is a Professor of Anthropology at Indiana University with a focus on local and global identities; anthropology of dance, performance, popular theater; ethnic identity, aesthetics and creative processes; indigenous peoples of Mesoamerica; death belief and ritual; anthropological writing; landscapes and identities.

Jorge Luis Allier is pursuing his Ph.D. in the Archeology and Social Context program in the Department of Anthropology at Indiana University. He completed his doctoral research project on cultural heritage management in Oaxaca, Mexico, and he has studied the culture, history, processing and production of chocolate.

Jodee Ellett leads the Community Engagement element of our project in Indiana working to enhance partnerships with communities as they address food system issues. Her asset-based community development approach involves communities in the exploration of ideas and opportunities in the food system and provides ongoing support in sustainable food systems science. Jodee steers the Indiana Food Council Network, supporting our grassroots community food system councils and is working with farmers and buyers to build an Indiana Value Chain Network. Jodee earned a BA in Botany from the University of Montana and an MS in Plant Biology from the University of California, Davis. 

Jacob Simpson supports the work of Indiana University's Center for Rural Engagement by building relationships with community members who collaborate with IU faculty, students, and staff to foster a more resilient Indiana. Living in Iowa along the Mississippi River for most of his life, Jacob is excited to now call the Hoosier land home. Prior to joining IU, he collaborated with the University of Iowa Office of Sustainability and various university and community stakeholders to develop a plan for a garden and outdoor classroom on the main campus.

Claire Frohman (cfrohman@iu.edu) serves as Regional Food Systems Assistant for the collaborative effort between Sustainable Food Systems Science and The Center for Rural Engagement to help strengthen the regional food system. Claire received her undergraduate degree from Vassar College in Sociology and Italian, and spent the years that followed exploring many avenues of food systems work, from sustainable farming to food service, permaculture design, food justice work, and youth gardening and cooking education. She now uses her diverse background to help navigate the multifaceted work of food systems development on campus and beyond.