# ILoveMyPlantJob
Friday November 6, 9am - 2pm on Zoom 

Our 2nd Women in Horticulture program took place on Friday, November 6 from 9am-2pm.  Due to COVID-19 regulations, we have moved this year's program online (Zoom format.) 

We cohosted this program with Chemeketa Community College’s Horticulture Department. Our speakers included seven talented women currently employed in the horticulture industry. They shared their daily activities, career pathways, and tips on getting a job or internship in their respective fields.
 
Each speaker had 30 minutes for her presentation and Q&A. Participants could listen to the full hour program or to select speakers.  Men and non-students were welcome too! 

Funding was provided by the Herbert A. Templeton Foundation and Marion Cultural Development Corporation.  
​

Keynote Speaker: Jennifer Jewell
9:00am - 9:45am  
Jennifer Jewell is a gardener, garden writer, and gardening educator and advocate. Since 2016, she has written and hosted the national award-winning, weekly public radio program and podcast, Cultivating Place.  In her new book The Earth in Her Hands, Jennifer introduces 75 inspiring women working in wide-reaching fields that include botany, floral design, landscape architecture, farming, and food justice.

Session #1: Leigh Geschwill
10:00am - 10:30am 
Leigh Geschwill is co-owner and sales manager for F and B farms, a wholesale greenhouse grower based in Woodburn, Oregon that sells to independent garden centers throughout the PNW. After earning a degree in housing design from OSU, she married into a farming family and together they opened both a retail and wholesale nursery. Leigh is well-connected to the local horticulture scene, serving as President of the Oregon Association of Nurseries in 2016.

Session #2: Abra Lee
10:35am - 11:05am
Abra Lee is a national speaker, writer, and owner of Conquer the Soil a platform that combines Black garden history and pop culture to raise awareness of horticulture. She has worked as a municipal arborist, extension agent, airport landscape manager, and more. Lee is a graduate of Auburn University and alumna of the Longwood Gardens Society of Fellows, a global network of public horticulture professionals.

Session #3:  Susan Dolan
11:10am - 11:40am 
Susan Dolan is a Seattle-based historical landscape architect for the National Park Service, as well as the manager of its Park Cultural Landscapes Program. For more than two decades, Susan has championed the development, protection, and care of some of our nation’s most treasured natural and cultural resources, from Yosemite to the Everglades. Susan's focus is on incorporating more sustainable practices into the  landscapes she helps preserve so they are more resilient to the changing climate. 


Session #4: Brie Arthur 
11:45am - 12:15pm
Brie Arthur studied landscape design at Purdue University and is known for her leadership with the suburban Foodscape movement.  In her book, The Foodscape Revolution, Brie identifies under-utilized garden spaces around homes and sees places where food can be grown. She has worked as a grower and propagator for leading nurseries and is passionate about sustainable land management and promoting the value of gardening across the US.


Session #5: Elise Bauman 
12:20pm - 12:50pm
Elise Bauman, Executive Director of Salem Harvest, connects farmers, volunteers, and agencies fighting hunger throughout the Willamette Valley by rescuing fresh produce that would otherwise go to waste. Elise started volunteering at Salem Harvest in 2011 when she was still working as a structural engineer with five children to feed.  Today, through her work, the non-profit prevents on-farm food waste and collects close to 400,000 pounds of food annually, the equivalent of more than 300,000 meals a year for Oregonians struggling with hunger. 

Session #6: Tracy Potter-Fins 
12:55pm-1:25pm
Tracy Potter-Fins (she/her) owns and manages County Rail Farm, a 3 acre organic vegetable and flower farm in Western Montana. Tracy grew up in Idaho, spent a few years in New York, and landed in Montana in 2011. New this season is Field Five Flowers, a cut and dried flower operation. Her products are distributed via the Western Montana Growers Coop, Missoula's farmers market, and her farm stand. County Rail Farm is also known for farm to table dinners, queer dance parties, and dried flower garlic braids.