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MSU Organic Farming Certificate Program Students

January 2007: The Inaugural Class

Joining MSU’s Organic Farming Certificate Program marks a mid-life career shift for Linda Anderson. She and her husband Andy have lived in the Lansing area for 28 years. They have three grown kids who live all around the country. Most recently she has volunteered with organizations that promote local fresh food, including the community garden program of the Greater Lansing Food Bank, Lansing’s Allen Street Farmers' Market, and the East Lansing Food Co-op. She wants to learn how to increase the amount of fresh, local, sustainably-grown food available to everyone, regardless of income level. Linda is especially eager to learn more about four-season production and how to plan and organize urban community gardens. She enjoys gardening, reading all kinds of books, yoga, and cooking.

Dan Bair spent his childhood roaming the inland lake shorelines and forests of southern Michigan and on a special northern Michigan island, developing his deep appreciation of natural processes and features. He grew up just outside Brooklyn, Michigan, near Jackson, where his parents still live, surrounded by family farms and plentiful fresh water. Dan’s university studies focused on urban and environmental issues, resulting in his Bachelor of General Studies degree from the University of Michigan. Both the academics and his experience living in a student cooperative sparked his interest in locally produced organic food and the practical world of agriculture. After spending post-graduate time in Ann Arbor, Portland, Oregon and Chicago, the Organic Farming Certificate Program drew Dan back to Michigan.

Hearing about MSU’s Organic Farming Certificate Program led James Garthe to transfer from Northern Michigan University, where he was pursuing a Master’s degree in environmental education to add to the BS in environmental conservation that he earned earlier at NMU. When he completes the certificate program, he plans to continue his education with a Master’s degree relating to sustainable food systems and education. He enjoys working with children, and has directed the Leland 4-H Kids Club, an MSU Extension after-school program. James enjoys gardening, cooking, skiing in powder, playing music and being in nature. He hopes to start a farm/education center that will grow foods more sustainably, grow minds, and help to create a more sustainable planet.

Arranging for her sweet, funny, smart, amazing kids – Xavier and Aurora – plus two crazy sled dogs to stay with family members near Grand Haven while she is in school was a critical part of
Teri Vanhall’s
arrangements to participate in the Organic Farming Certificate Program at MSU.
A born and bred West Michigander, she smiles when thinking about old trucks, good dogs, fishing, all things music, an honest day’s work, and a good cup of coffee. Teri considers her work as a paid educational adventure and she has engaged in these adventures in various health field positions; with DNR Parks & Wildlife; teaching rock-climbing, survival, and ecology; as a sled-dog tour guide; in construction; and most recently pouring concrete. When she completes the program, Teri looks forward to creating a CSA farm in the center of a web of sustainable research, education and practices.

Anna Kaschner grew up in Potterville, Michigan on a 17-acre farm with Angora goats and Black Angus cattle. Currently living in downtown Lansing, she cares for a dozen feral cats in her neighborhood. Anna even constructed a “cat condo” in her back yard, complete with ‘apartments’ and a community feeding area to keep these kitties safe from the harsh winter weather. Anna is working to replace all the commercial cleaning and cosmetic products in her house with products she has made herself. She also enjoys bicycling, rock climbing, and Yoga. Anna is more excited about starting the Organic Farming Certificate Program than she has ever been for anything in school before. She especially looks forward to learning about the bees.

Joining the initial cohort of MSU’s Organic Farming Certificate Program will take Kathy Koch another step closer to her desire to teach hungry people how to feed both their bellies and their souls. She has already earned vocational certificates in horticulture, integrated pest management; obtained her pesticide license with the State of Michigan; and studied greenhouse management, plant science, and soil fertility and management. Kathy has contributed to community gardening and food projects in Southeast Michigan. Reading a 2003 article by Eliot Coleman sparked her interest and study of sustainable and organic gardening and farming. After completing the OFCP, Kathy hopes to obtain a degree in Plant Pathology at MSU. She wants to use her education and experience to help establish community gardens in low-income neighborhoods.

Rosemary Sheets calls herself a neophyte in terms of her farming knowledge, even though she has lived for many years in rural areas and on farms and has gardened for most of her life. She lives in Williamston, Michigan on a farm and is married with three children – Margaret, away at college; Alison, a high school senior; and Ian, a freshman. Rosemary’s entry in the Organic Farming Certificate Program will mark the beginning of her third career. She was educated as a lawyer in England and in the U.S. and was admitted to the Michigan Bar in 1982. She has spent a number of years as a homemaker. Her involvement in the program will help her investigate the optimum way to use the land that her family owns. Rosemary suggests that the cohort be called the ‘GANICS – a cross between mechanics with skill and hands-on knowledge and manic which indicates a particular devotion to the subject!.

Growing up on a farm near Pewamo, Michigan, Thomas Stump learned about raising a variety of animals, especially swine. While working at a variety of jobs including one in a saw mill, he earned an Associate’s Degree in the Arts at Lansing Community College. Still working, this time at General Motors, he earned a second Associate’s Degree in Philosophy at LCC and took some classes at MSU. Thomas eventually returned to full-time farming with his brother. He knows conventional farming methods, and is excited to come to MSU’s Organic Farming Certificate Program to explore organic approaches, learn new methods and expand on his strengths.

Maggie Wright earned a Bachelor’s degree in Spanish from the University of Michigan. She has trained and worked as an English as a Second Language teacher and is interested in immigration issues and learning about other countries, languages and cultures. Originally from Brighton, Michigan, she now lives in Lansing. Maggie loves theater and music. She sings, plays various instruments, and mimes in a local circus group. She entered MSU’s Organic Farming Certificate Program to learn more about growing food and about how local food can improve the health, vitality, fellowship and autonomy of all communities -- especially lower income, urban neighborhoods.

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