Greetings from your new garden coordinator

Hello, Eugene!

Allow me to introduce myself.  My name is Isabel Francis-Bongue, and I am the new Garden Coordinator for the 2014-2015 school year.

Before coming to Laurel Valley Educational Farm, I worked with Northwest youth corps as a conservation crew member and as an Outdoor Oregon leader.

I hail mostly from Ohio, although I have also lived in California and in Spain.  I studied at Ohio University (OU not UO) and grew up on a small organic vegetable farm. I have an extensive practical background working with various organic/ sustainable farms. I am a cook, a conservationist, artist, forager and farmer and human.

These last two months have been exciting and overwhelming, as we’ve been bringing in fall harvests, starting school and putting the garden to bed for winter while simultaneously learning the ropes of the new job.

Our frost has been unusually late so the garden is still bountiful, but at last as cool weather comes, things have begun to slow down. And I am excited to get to know this place and the lovely people that make it tick.

Buen Provecho

Isabel