s'Cool Food Initiative

A native Californian, Lanette first got involved in food and agriculture while studying Environmental Science at UC Berkeley. During her time in Berkeley she worked on the service staff at Chez Panisse, an experience that helped to strengthen her belief in the delicious virtues of growing and eating local seasonal food. In 2007 she apprenticed at UC Santa Cruz's Center for Agroecology and Sustainable Food Systems, where she fell in love with farming and gardening as a career. Before moving to Santa Barbara she farmed for an educational nonprofit in the Bay Area, focusing on reuniting children with their food and the natural world.

Jana Brody lives in Goleta with her husband, three kids and a dog. Jana has a keen sense of passion for children, and through education hopes to “cultivate the future” and enrich our students lives though hands on learning. Jana is a USCB Alum and has her Masters Degree in Arts Administration. She has also co-created a free online resource guide; www.sbnaturally.com, and is a member of the newly formed S. B. Weston Price Foundation with the intention of sharing the importance of eating healthy and true to the source food; a goal that parallels the s’Cool Gardens mission. She owns www.paintjamusa.com, has worked as a “No Place For Hate” Education Outreach Programmer and an Art Specialist in our local schools, as well as a working Artist for Bragg Farms. The Brody family was recently awarded the “2010 Green Family” award from sbparent.com due to their passion for eating healthy and teaching others about it, from organic gardening and composting, CSA membership to supporting local egg, raw milk and grass feed beef farmers to teaching about nutrition in their kids classes. Jana is enthusiastic, combining her love of good food and nutrition, as well as art and science to challenge and inspire our creative young minds to become healthy individuals; and in time healthy adults and parents.

Kelly was born with a passion for connecting people with the natural world.  During her undergraduate coursework at the College of Creative Studies at UC Santa Barbara, Kelly became interested in the inherent connection between art and science—a passion that led her in the direction of environmental education, curriculum development, exhibit design, and eventually, farm-based education. For the last eight years, Kelly has been involved with local educational groups and organizations that focus on science, natural history and the environment. Kelly loves making art, playing in the ocean, watching seeds germinate, eating honey by the spoonful and bottle-feeding baby goats.

Ramsey hails from Minnesota where he ran wild and played sports in the woods and snow. After graduating from college in Wisconsin, he worked for a landscaper in Lake Tahoe. This inspired him to start a business
installing backyard food gardens and school garden programs in Oakland, CA. Attending the Center for Agroecology and Sustainable Food Systems at UC - Santa Cruz, he met his wife Alexis, and heard laughter from the Life Lab Learning Center. Mentoring youth to garden, cook, work together, and become one with nature has become his life symphony. He hopes to start a farm school or camp some day that allows the land to guide an everlasting experience. Ramsey also works with military veterans installing gardens in Los Angeles and beyond. He looks forward to building community with you by growing soil and plants throughout SB county in the years to come. Ramsey hails from Minnesota where he ran wild and played sports in the woods and snow. After graduating from college in Wisconsin, he found himself skiing in Lake Tahoe and working for a landscaper. This inspired him to start a business installing backyard food gardens and school garden programs in Oakland, CA. Attending the Center for Agroecology and Sustainable Food Systems at UC - Santa Cruz, he met his beautiful wife Alexis, and heard laughter from the Life Lab Learning Center. Mentoring youth to garden, cook, work together, and become one with nature has become his life symphony. He hopes to start a farm school or camp some day that allows the land to guide an everlasting experience. Ramsey also works with military veterans installing gardens in Los Angeles and beyond. He looks forward to building community with you by growing soil and plants throughout SB county in the years to come.

Lauren grew up camping, sailing and snorkeling the rivers and lakes of the Midwest with her family. She graduated with a B.A. in Communications and Journalism from Loyola University-Chicago, where she captained the soccer team and explored the big city life. She realized she missed the slower pace of life and set out to the Big Island of Hawaii, where she volunteered to protect endangered sea turtles, which lead her into the world of field biology and conservation. She continued as a traveling field biologist for almost a decade; studying endangered species, meeting interesting people, and experiencing beautiful places; Catalina Island, Santa Cruz Island, Lake Tahoe and now the Central Coast. Upon moving to San Luis Obispo, she became involved with the local food movement, CSAs and amazing farmers’ markets. Lauren is inspired to share her stewardship of the environment with students, reconnecting them to the earth and healthier lifestyles. She and her partner, Carlos, enjoy backpacking, surfing, cooking, working in their garden, and catching up with family and friends that are spread out all over the world.

A native of California's Central Coast, NikiAnne earned her BA in International Affairs from George Washington University in Washington DC. She is a bilingual Spanish speaker with over 10 years experience in educational, community-based program development in the non-profit and academic sectors. NikiAnne's work in experiential education, community building, and sustainable living skills has led her from Washington DC to Latin America, and now back to California. Prior to joining the SBCC s'Cool Gardens program, she worked at University of California- Santa Cruz, helping former foster youth achieve their dream of a college education. NikiAnne is also a local wilderness guide and nature-based mentor with Wilderness Youth Project, based out of Goleta.

Tucker grew up amongst the winding intertidal waterways of Charleston, SC, but found his home amidst the sunshine and waves of the California coast. He graduated from UC Santa Barbara with a BA in Neotribal Studies; an interdisciplinary approach focused on what it means to be indigenous in the world today.  An avid surfer, permaculture practitioner,  global traveler, and local farmer, Tucker currently lives and works on an organic ranch in Winchester Canyon in Goleta.  In addition, Tucker has studied traditional agricultural systems in Guatemala and the Solomon Islands. The experience of water's flow in all forms drives him each day.  His life's work is to help heal the human interface between coastal watersheds and the global ocean.

The Environmental Studies Program Coordinator at SBCC, Adam is an ecologist by training with bachelor’s degrees in chemistry and wildlife biology from University of California-Davis, and graduate degrees in wildlife ecology from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Adam currently teaches courses in Humans and the Biological Environment, Environmental Field Studies, Projects in Sustainability, and General Biology. Adam has a design certificate for permaculture (2007) from the Regenertive Design Institute with Penny Livingston, Brock Dolman, and Geoff Lawton .

Jesse grew up in the Bay Area with gardening parents and a backyard orchard that produces some of the crispest Golden Delicious apples on Earth. He studied horticulture at Merritt College in Oakland, CA and worked on farms in Oregon, California, and Mexico. Before completing his M.S. in environmental education at Southern Oregon University, Jesse designed, installed, and maintained edible and native landscapes in the Bay Area. In his spare time he likes to grow food, eat guacamole, nerd out on plants, explore mountain ranges, surf, and play funk beats on the drums. Jesse hopes to start an orchard of his own someday, with seed crops grown between the trees and maybe a donkey to plow and bring the fruit to market.

Emma was born in the Santa Barbara mountains on a ranch with apple orchards, raspberry bushes, and the wilderness in her backyard. She recently graduated from UC Santa Cruz with a BA in Environmental Studies and an emphasis in Environmental Education. It was at Santa Cruz that she became involved in the Life Lab Science Program, where she completed 3 quarters as an intern leading field trips on the UCSC Farm & Garden as well as fulfilling her senior exit requirement through their organization. Over the years she has developed a passion for teaching and learning with children, and has discovered a new passion and interest in gardening and the novelty of eating what you grow! She is extremely excited about being given the opportunity to help create something that will hopefully influence and shape the lives of children for many years to come.

Zack is currently a student at UCSB, and has been living and working in Santa Barbara his entire life. He's been involved in a variety of social and environmental projects during that time, as an employee and as an activist. Although he has been gardening and growing food nonprofessionally for several years, his knowledge of sustainable and healthy farming increased dramatically during his employment at the Fairview Gardens Center for Urban Agriculture, a Goleta farm and nonprofit that grows organic produce and provides information about organic farming to the public. He discovered the s'Cool Gardens program through the contacts he made during his time in the Fairview Gardens community. In addition to his work with s'Cool Gardens, Zack does graphic design work and is pursuing a Bachelor's degree in sociology at UCSB.

Bettina has been blessed to travel and live in Europe, Kenya and Uganda while also spending significant time in Central America working with kids, the outdoors and health. Working with kids has been one of the greatest highlights in her work so far and she is so excited to keep being involved with kids and the great outdoors at s’Cool Gardens. She is pre-medical and hopes to continue on into pediatrics and natural health and was recently accepted at the College of Creative Studies at UCSB for Biology. She trail runs, trains horses in her free time and loves hanging out with friends, all of whom she eventually introduces to sports, especially yoga :) .

Kate works and lives on a farm in Ojai and runs a sustainable landscape design business. For 5 years, she worked in the Mexican Caribbean in environmental education and conservation, creating 'Wastewater Gardens"" as a means to clean water. She has an MS in environmental engineering and loves to work with children building their own solutions towards a sustainable world.

Wendy lived in six states prior to attending UCSB and making Santa Barbara her home. She now lives here with her husband and three children. Gardening and eating have always been two of her favorite activities and now Wendy is able to share this love with elementary school children. She looks forward to growing the garden communities at Adams and Open Alternative Schools.

Alexis is an east coaster whose passions have lured her to the California coast. She earned her BA in environmental science from Dickinson College in Pennsylvania. Her senior year she and a partner initiated an organic garden that has now become an integral part of the college community. From there she traveled to different parts of the world, where she was inspired by the passion people have for their land and community. Working with children in nature lights her up as she spent many seasons on an educational farm on the east coast helping children and adults learn about and connect with the land and where their food comes from. She has created various outdoor/farm based educational programs, including a market garden centered entrepreneurial program for teenagers and a place based curriculum for the classroom teacher. In 2006 she attended the Center for Agroecology and Sustainable Food Systems apprenticeship program in Santa Cruz where she met her partner, Ramsey Cronk. Alexis also has a California teaching credential and recently earned her Masters of Art in Education from Antioch University. Alexis and Ramsey also work with veterans to establish school garden programs in the Los Angeles area and intend to have their own educational farm in the future. Working for s'Cool Gardens is the perfect combination of her passions and she is excited about reconnecting the children of Santa Barbara county with their place.

Trish started her “foodie” career as a high school Biology teacher in the Santa Barbara schools. Her classroom teaching practices incorporated food and related nutrition experiences through cross-curricular approaches. Leaving teaching for 15 years to practice law, Trish became increasingly interested in organic gardening for her family’s well being and that of the community. Following the passions, Trish began promoting a friend’s publication, Edible Santa Barbara. Trish returned to a career in education once again after volunteering in her daughter’s school with the s’Cool Gardens Program. She was instantly attracted to its mission, and the rest is history.

Mike came to Goleta ten years ago for a graduate program at UCSB, and Old Town is now very much his home. When he's not traveling, he enjoys watching aha! moments alight in his students' faces, fixing neighbors' bicycles, and experimenting with what he has learned about permaculture.