Erika Fredrickson
Missoula Independent
Missoula, MT 59802

Arts editor and reporter for the Missoula Independent alt-weekly. Erika graduated from the University of Montana’s environmental studies program in 2009. During her time in the program she researched and wrote about local food justice, agriculture and climate change, food policy and Montana’s food history. Before her graduate studies, Erika worked on a sustainable agriculture farm in Tuscany, Italy as the sheepherder for four months during which time she cultivated an obsession with local food culture. Erika is committed to supporting the growth of Montana’s food system by reporting on and writing about the wonderful food projects already taking root in the state.

Contact: Email Erika

Pam Gerwe
Farmer – Purple Frog Gardens
Whitefish, MT 59937

A partner/operator of Purple Frog Gardens, a first generation market farm in Whitefish, MT. Working with teenagers and community members in the dirt is one of her favorite things to do. She likes making compost, vermicompost and driving the tractor. Slowly decreasing the farm flock of laying hens from a high of 750, she hopes never to have more than 200 chickens again.

She loves the way the year divides her attentions. About 1/2 the year is spent farming/marketing and growing food/community. The other 1/2 she gets to travel around the Flathead Valley and Montana to talk about farming, growing food, community and the importance of eating local.

Contact: Email Pam

Alison Harmon
Faculty at MSU Food & Nutrition and Sustainable Food Systems
Bozeman, MT 59717
Alison Harmon is on the faculty at MSU in the area of Food and Nutrition and Sustainable Food Systems. She has spent the last 4 years working with others to develop an undergraduate degree program called Sustainable Food and Bioenergy Systems. This program requires students to complete an upper level off-campus internship with a mentor who is a food system professional (farmer, rancher, market gardener, CSA operator, food enterprise owner, researcher, policy maker, non-profit director, food processor distributor or retailer, emergency food provider etc.). Alison also is a faculty advisor to the Towne’s Harvest Garden, which is an outdoor classroom located on MSU-Bozeman’s Horticulture Farm. Towne’s Harvest has a partnership with the Gallatin Valley Food Bank, operates as a CSA, and conducts outreach and produce sales at local farmers’ markets. The primary purpose of Towne’s Harvest is as a training ground for students in the Sustainable Food and Bioenergy Systems degree program where they learn the basics about food production, distribution and marketing. She has served as a site supervisor for Americorps Volunteers who have worked to develop MSU-Bozeman’s Montana Made Program. Alison can serve as a resource for food system professionals who want to develop mentoring relationships with student interns; CSA operators who have research questions related to small scale production, distribution, marketing, or connecting with emergency food providers; or small scale producers who want to market food products to public institutions but have questions about good agricultural practices, and safe food handling requirements.

Contact: Email Alison

Heidi Drivdahl Johnson
The Orchard at Flathead Lake, Partner
Flathead Lake Organic Cherry Cooperative, President
Bigfork, MT 59911

Heidi is a 4^th generation Montanan with deep roots in agriculture.  Two sets of her great-grandparents homesteaded in Big Timber and south of Butte at Feely, raising sheep and cattle, respectively.  After graduating from Butte High, she earned her BS in Chemical Engineering and worked first as an R&D Engineer and then a Winemaker in Napa, CA.  After spending 12 years outside of Montana, Heidi and her husband, Gary, moved home to take stewardship of his family’s cherry orchard on the east shore of Flathead Lake, and to raise their family.  Eight years and three kids later, they are partners in a growing business that makes added value products from the certified organic fruit grown at their orchard.  Heidi and Gary also mentor and consult for other growers wishing to transition to more sustainable framing practices.  Heidi has recently helped form the Flathead Lake Organic Cherry Cooperative (FLOCC) to help meet this increasing grower demand.  She is also involved in the “Buy Local” program and with several groups working to bring healthy local foods to schools, including from their own gardens and orchards.

“I was fortunate to be in attendance at the 2007 Governor’s Summit on Food and Agriculture.  But with my kids and business in their infancies, I couldn’t commit to the Council at that time.  I am thrilled to be able to serve now!”

Contact: Email Heidi

Kristen Lee-Charlson
The Heirloom Project
Missoula, MT 59802

Kristen has been the publisher of edibleMISSOULA magazine for the past 4 years, a publication celebrating the bounty of local seasonal foods and farming. She is an accomplished chef, caterer and home-cook. As a mother of four she is dedicated to educating and empowering others about traditional food preparation and the joy and economy of eating local. She serves on the board of the Community Food & Agriculture Coalition of Missoula County (CFAC) and is a strong advocate for more localized and sustainable food system with a personal mission to educate and empower consumers to make informed choices. She is working on a new venture - the Heirloom Project – exploring traditional foods, farming & modern homemaking.

Contact: Email Kristen

Cindy Owings
Madison Farm to Fork
McAllister, MT 59740

Spirited McAllister, Montana citizen who has turned her retirement from a design business into an opportunity to volunteer for causes she is passionate about that focus on Montana food, Indian Country housing needs, the cooperative movement, and development of a local foodshed in Madison County. She loves making cheese, traveling to find artisan cheese, and reading cheese tales. Writing about living rurally through publications and her blog has become a favorite pastime. She grows a farmers’ market garden filled with heirloom vegetables researched and started from collected and saved seeds. To spread the heirloom word, she shares her seedlings through visits to her dentist, the post office, the second-hand store, and board meetings, wherever a listener expresses interest in food the way it used to taste!  Cindy also runs the popular lifestyle blog, petuniagirl.

Contact: Email Cindy

Velma Real Bird
Universities Liaison - USDA Tribal Colleges
Apsáalooke (Crow Agency), MT 59022

Velma is an enrolled member of the Crow Tribe, and is married to Shawn Real Bird. She has one son named Charlie, and three stepdaughters. Her Indian name is Medicine Butterfly or Sacred Butterfly, which was given to her by her late Great-Grandfather George Reed, Sr. Velma, is a member of the Whistling Water Clan, a child of the Bad War Deed Clan, and is fluent in the Crow language. She is also a member of the Tobacco Society, the Night Hawk Dance Society, the Native American Church, and participates in the Crow Sundance.

Velma has over 10 years of experience in business education and small business development in Indian country. She received a Bachelor of Science Degree in Secondary Education-Business Education from Montana State University-Billings, and a Master’s of Science Degree in Community Economic Development from Southern New Hampshire University. She is a former TBIC Director, Business/Information Systems Instructor, and Administrator for the Little Big Horn College in Crow Agency. She is also a former Native American SBDC Initiative Director in Billings, former Chief Development Officer for the Three Affiliated Tribes in New Town, North Dakota. She is also a former Executive Director for the Native American Development Corporation, non-profit organization in Billings, Montana, where she purchased a coffee shop and developed a training center for Native Youth. She is currently working for the United States Department of Agriculture, Office of Advocacy and Outreach, 1994 Program as the Western Region Tribal College Liaison.

Contact: Email Velma

Lisa Schmidt
Rancher and Writer
Conrad, MT 59425

Lisa Schmidt raises and direct-markets natural, grass-fed beef and lamb with her family on their ranch near Conrad. She and her husband work hard to sustain the land first, recognizing that environmental and economic long-term sustainability go hand in hand. They use horses almost exclusively to manage their livestock — and head to the Bob Marshall Wilderness every chance they get. Lisa also writes magazine articles on agriculture and environmental issues.

Readers regularly comment on her bi-weekly column about ranch life, Prairie Ponderings, which can be viewed at a-land-of-grass-ranch.com.