Michael Seliga

I focused much of my coursework in the Community and Environmental Planning Program at the University of Washington on integrating urban planning and sustainable food systems because food affects everyone every day, and has impacts the economy, public health, social justice, and environmental sustainability–Can you believe some of our best agricultural farmland is underneath the South Center Mall?! As a Jr., I initiated a chapter of Food Not Lawns, an informal volunteer-based organization dedicated to replacing lawns with edible gardens. We helped 3 homeowners during the project, for which I earned a Leadership Award from a University Foundation. I learned many things as project lead, including challenges of being a strictly volunteer organization and about ways to encourage resident participation. Later, while traveling in Central America, I realized how disconnected I was from my food; I had eaten dozens of bags of peanuts without ever knowing how they grew. This motivated me to work for local farms upon my return to Washington State to obtain more on the ground experience. I started Cascadian Edible Landscapes soon after while simultaneously working as Garden Coordinator at Seattle Youth Garden Works, where I managed a full greenhouse and 1 acre site for a short while. Now I teach nutrition and gardening to K-5th Graders through the WSU-King County Food $ense program part time. A main focus of this curriculum is fresh fruits and vegetables, which are difficult to access due to this population’s financial constraints and the public’s lack of gardening knowledge. This observation motivates me greatly to bring build edible landscapes at sliding scales rates.  Whereas I have been working a job to pay the bills and doing side work with edible landscapes, I AM READY TO LAUNCH Cascadian Edible Landscapes (CEL) and am looking for partners and allies to make it happen.

Chris Omer

After graduating from the University of California Santa Barbara, I worked as an environmental educator and later as a Garden manager for a CYO site outside Monroe, WA. I have worked with the WSU extension-Food Sense program for three years, help Cascadian Edible Landscapes with various projects and have a growing repertoire of other landscaping talents and projects of my own.

Stephanie Snyder

My deep commitment to social justice and food justice brings me into the garden/farm scene. I currently work with GRuB (Garden-Raised Bounty), an Olympia based non-profit dedicated to the mission of “good food for all people.” My work there has included coordinating the installation of over 100 free back yard gardens for low income people through their Kitchen Garden Project (KGP), supporting their Cultivating Youth employment program as a youth counselor, and facilitating the overlap of the KGP and the Cultivating Youth program. Cascading Edible Landscapes’ mission is very similar to GRuB’s. CEL’s commitment to a more just and local food system in King County inspires me as truly revolutionary work.