Gorge Grown Board of Directors

Gorge Grown Food Network Board of Directors reflects a wide section of our community’s interests. Everyone serves because they all believe in supporting our community’s agriculture and food needs. Our directors include food professionals,  business professionals, vendors, food advocates and others.

Alix Danielsen

Restoration Project Manager, Hood River Watershed Group

 

Alix Danielsen has worked in the agricultural and environmental fields for over 15 years, including stints in the wine business, agricultural conservation management, non-profit management, and now in restoration ecology. Alix developed a passion for and dedication to sustainable, local food systems through her varied experience working in the agricultural world, including growing wine grapes on a 600-acre farm, running a small CSA, and serving on the board of Growing Gardens, a Portland-based food justice organization. Alix is grateful to continue supporting food system work at Gorge Grown. Alix has a BA in Psychology from Princeton University and a Masters in Environmental Management from Portland State University.

Alma Gaeta

Organic Orchardist, Peachwood Orchard

 

Alma grew up mesmerized by her grandfather farming in Zacatecas, Mexico; trailing after him in the corn fields. It was remarkable to note his physical strength, the tranquility in his eyes, and the community he built through his work. His stories of working as a Bracero opened up a life-long interest in agriculture and social justice. Alma is an organic peach orchardist in Hood River, first generation Mexican-American. She has a Bachelors in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology and currently working on her Masters in Environmental Studies. She is also involved with several organizations focused on Latinx leadership and social justice including Comunidades and CultureSeed with the intent of serving our community. 

Courtney Jackson, N.D.

Courtney is a naturopathic doctor who passionately promotes the healing power of whole foods to her patients and the public. She currently practices as a primary care physician at Grain Integrative Health in southeast Portland with a special focus on hormone, digestive, and cardiovascular health. She co-founded the Food as Medicine Institute at the National University of Natural Medicine and created the popular 12-week hands-on cooking and nutrition series called Food as Medicine Everyday (FAME). She believes in the transformative power of community-based education for improving health outcomes. In 2016, she co-authored and published her first book, “Food as Medicine Everyday- Reclaiming Your Health with Whole Foods”. Rooted in nutrition research, this book provides friendly, practical and delicious guidelines to those looking to include more healthy, whole foods in their diet. Prior to practicing naturopathic medicine, Courtney earned her Bachelor of Science in Resource Ecology Management from the University of Michigan. She began her health career in the public health arena in beautiful Summit County, Colorado, working as an EMT at the local hospital and a bilingual medical interpreter at a public health clinic. She has worked for the international nonprofit organization, Amigos de las Americas, where she spent summers abroad in Oaxaca, Mexico and Valle, Honduras, serving as a mentor to youth volunteers while partnering with agencies like Save the Children to complete ambitious projects to improve community health. She currently loves spending time indoors and outdoors with her husband and two kids and celebrating a good meal with them.  In spite of her love of local, fresh food, she is a struggling but budding gardener.

Buck Jones

Cayuse/ Umatilla Tribal Member

Salmon Marketing Specialist, Columbia River Intertribal Fisheries Commission

Buck is an enrolled Cayuse member, one of the bands of Confederated Tribes of The Umatilla Indian Reservation. (CTUIR) He was raised practicing Sovereign rights including hunting, fishing and gathering First Foods. Buck attended the College of Southern Idaho in general studies and the Scottsdale Community College with a focus on Native American Treaty Law and Policy. Buck is Columbia River Treaty Fisherman who has done various duties including catching, processing, and marketing of Tribal Caught Salmon for decades. He was employed at Ain Dah Yung in St Paul, MN an emergency shelter for runaway and homeless American Indian Youth from 1997 through 2000. He has also been a Transportation Coordinator and a Family Advocate. Buck has been employed through Columbia River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission in various capacities since 2004. His first position was on Operation and Maintenance Staff of In Lieu and Treaty Fishing Access Sites. He then transferred into Fish Science Department working on Upstream Migration Project at Bonneville Dam in 2011. In September of 2015, he took his current position as Field Marketing Specialist in the Salmon Marketing Program. This position has allowed Buck to work on markets, provide training on Food and Boat Safety, Quality Handling and Product Development for approximately 600 Tribal Fisherman. It has also allowed him to be involved in various national and regional Tribal Food Sovereignty Groups along with being Gorge Grown’s Food Security Coalition.

Edwina King

Farmer, Stamboom Meats

 

Edwina King owns and operates Stamboom, a small-scale, land-focused farm in the Hood River Valley where she produces value-added meat products and charcuterie. Edwina has extensive farming experience, from small scale vegetable operations to meat production. She has worked with the Sustainable Agriculture and Food Systems Program at U.C. Davis to develop experiential learning opportunities for students around agriculture and local food systems. She has served on the Hood River County Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors and is a first generation South African-American.

Rachel Suits

Board President

White Salmon Valley School District, After School and Summer School Program Director

Rachel has previously worked with OSU Extension Service in Hood River and Wasco Counties managing the Master Gardener program in Hood River and Small Farms programs in both counties. She grew up on a small hobby farm in the San Joaquin Valley in California where she first learned that pulling weeds was therapeutic and cooking from the garden provided a creative outlet. Her B.A. from UC Berkeley in Integrated Biology allowed her to discover the enormity of nature and the humble feeling it creates. She has her M.A. in Education from Antioch University in Seattle where she was a high school science teacher before obtaining her M.S. in Entomology from North Carolina State University. Her studies emphasized Integrated Pest Management, and she had the opportunity to work with both large conventional growers as well as smaller organic growers doing research and consulting. Now she enjoys working and collaborating with local organizations and non-profits to strengthen the local food system. One of her favorite parts of her agriculture work is communicating with a diversity of growers and hearing their experiences. As an educator, she has extensive experience interacting with many different people towards a common learning goal. She is enthusiastic and genuinely interested in the passions of others, especially when they share their excitement for growing plants and eating nutritious foods.

Paul Rygiewicz

Paul Rygiewicz recently retired as a Research Scientist at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.  During his service in Corvallis, OR he conducted applied and basic research to understand how human activities influence the health and sustainability of terrestrial ecosystems.  He received his Ph.D. in tree physiology-soil nutrition from the University of Washington; following that he held a Post-Doctoral position at the French National Institute for Agricultural Research, and then a second Post-Doctoral appointment at the University of California-Berkeley.  Even though he arrived recently to live in the east end of the Columbia River Gorge area, he is familiar with a variety of PNW and west coast issues, having worked on projects in British Columbia, on the Olympic Peninsula, across Oregon east-to-west, and throughout the Cascades and Sierra Nevada Mountains.  His career allowed him opportunities to work in countries in South America, Europe including Russia/Siberia, and New Zealand.  He looks forward to serving on the Board as we continue to use and rely upon our local ecosystems to provide locally the abundant variety food that is possible to grow here, while also striving to maintain our local food production systems and the other societal benefits we derive from our ecosystems.