Meet the Board of Directors for PlacerGROWN in Placer County California

Meet the Board of Directors

Karen Killebrew – President, AgTourism karen@naturemedia.net

Karen Killebrew is a marketing consultant based in Applegate, CA. She works part-time for PlacerArts as a program specialist, providing communications and internet support and project management, including oversight of PlacerArts’ online events calendar and artist registries.

Karen has worked with a wide spectrum of businesses and non-profit organizations in Northern California. She is a freelance writer, and has written numerous articles about Placer County’s family farms. She has been a volunteer member of the Placer Farm and Barn Tour planning committee, designing and writing brochures for each tour host and maintaining the event website.

Karen has an extensive background in tourism marketing, having spent thirty years in the retail travel industry. She holds a firm belief that community involvement in tourism development is the key to the economic health of communities where tourism takes place. Her major focus is on cultural and heritage tourism, including nature tourism and agritourism. She serves on the board of PlacerGROWN, and is a member of the Sierra Business Council, The International Ecotourism Society, the California Roundtable for Recreation, Parks and Tourism, the Placer Gold Slow Food Convivium, and a number of local land trusts and conservation organizations.

Mary Schug - Community/Culinary mschug@placercoe.k12.ca.us

Mary is semi-retired from a long career in education, most recently as a school administrator for Placer County Office of Education. She still works part time for PCOE doing staff development and new teacher support, as well as for Project Pipeline (a non-profit organization providing a curriculum leading to a California State Teaching Credential), and St. Hope Charter Schools where she coordinates their special education program. Since Mary’s husband John spent his early years tending a truck garden for his family, Mary has NOT been able to convince him that they should raise their own produce or meat. Subsequently, she can be found at local Farmer’s Markets, produce stands and other local business’s – and has proven over the years to be the ultimate consumer, making her well qualified for this position on the Placer GROWN board.

Yarda Hansen – Treasurer, Mandarins ylhansen@gmail.com

Yarda, along with her husband Eric and their family tend to Pine Hill/Stoney Point Orchard’s one hundred acres of mandarins and other fruit in Loomis. It’s one of the largest orchards remaining in Placer County, and continues its evolution as a family farm. Yarda also has her own “ditch water Iris garden” on the property and both Eric and Yarda are involved in the American Iris Society’s Region 14 conference, which takes place during the Spring in Placer County. The Hansens were awarded PlacerGROWN Farmer of the Year in 2008.

Annmarie Mallo – Education annmallo@surewest.net

Annmarie has lived in Placer County for 33 years. She taught school in the Eureka Union School District for 15–years, and previously was in pharmaceutical sales. Being retired, she and her husband spend much of their time traveling, and when home, tending and making wine from their backyard grapes. Being of Italian descent, fresh food and wine have always been of interest to her. Annmarie hopes her education experience, former sales background and keen interest in supporting the local grower community will help to make a valuable contribution in promoting Placer Grown.

Stephanie Perry - Wine/Winegrapes

Stephanie runs Fawnridge Winery in Auburn with her husband, Stewart.

Karin Sinclair – Livestock karin@sinclairfamilyfarm.net

Karin and her husband Keith, along with their children operate Sinclair Family Farms, raising grass fed lamb in Penryn. They started with a single ewe for their daughter as a 4-H project and have grown to the current 130 ewe flock. Lambing twice per year, they continue to have lambs to care for and rotate on several pastures. When not caring for the lambs, Karin and Keith operate a construction business and Karin volunteers for several organizations. She is a 4-H project leader, member of the Gold Country Fair and Placer County Fair Junior Livestock Auction Committee, Gold Country Fair Junior Fair Board, President of Gold Country Sheep Producers, producer for the Sierra Foothills Meat Buyers Club, member of the California Wool Growers Association and member of PlacerGROWN. Her goal is to produce a healthy and great tasting product and she encourages people to try lamb and other local products and discover how great tasting local really is.

Tim Cheney – Fresh Produce/Eggs eggs@penrynfarm.com

Oracle programmer by day, egg farmer by “the rest of the day.” Tim is a fourth generation egg farmer at CC Family Farm, using sustainable practices to produce fresh fruits, nuts, vegetables, and eggs. Tim’s family got into the egg business in the 1940's in southern California. In those days, they had over 20,000 chickens. Nowadays, he deals with much smaller flocks and handles things very differently. But the same passion for a quality product is carried on and that passion translates to the work he now does with PlacerGROWN.

Justin Miller - Twin Peaks Orchards picosgemelos@yahoo.com

Justin comes to PlacerGROWN from a background in microbiology and food science and is currently the managing partner of his Newcastle family farm, Twin Peaks Orchards. A former Plant Manager and VP for a fortune 400 food manufacturing company prior to returning to Twin Peaks two years ago, Justin now applies his extensive produce processing experience to growing, packing and delivering stone fruit, citrus and other fruits to local stores, farmers markets, distributors and restaurants. He's skilled at implementing good agriculture practices and food safety programs and has also led marketing and sales teams - a great fit for PlacerGROWN!

Jenny Gardemeyer - Colfax Hill Family Farm

I was raised in Placer County since I was 1 years old (I am very jealous of my younger brother who can say he is a bonifide Placer County native). I went to Colfax High School. During which time, I interned at the Dry Creek Herb Farm. After high school, I went to Sierra College and Humboldt State University. I received my B.S. in Botany in 2001 from Humboldt State University. I worked on several plant restoration projects after college, before I finally settled down with State Parks. I have worked as a Park Ranger at the Auburn State Recreation Area since 2005. In 2008, my husband J.D. and I purchased a property in Colfax. After much soul searching after the birth of our son Graham, we decided that we wanted to take the plunge and try farming. In 2009, we began our pilot season farming on our dinky property. We did fairly well, and are currently expanding our operation. At this point, I am still working for State Parks while J.D. and the kids do most of the farming. My hope is that some day we can make the farm profitable enough for me to quit my day job. I truly find joy in producing a great product for people who truly appreciate it. We are big fans of great food, sustainable agriculture, and family values. We also believe that support of local businesses and local economy is imperative to keep Placer County a great place to live. We feel that PlacerGROWN is about much more than an advocate for Placer grown farmers, producers and consumers. We feel that PlacerGROWN is an advocate for keeping Placer County a great place to live, and we are honored to be a part of it.

STAFF

Jocelyn Maddux – Program Manager
placergrown@gmail.com

Jocelyn got involved with PlacerGROWN in 2006 while packing fresh boxes of produce for the Harvest Box pilot CSA program. On hiatus from a legal career, she tasted Placer County’s fresh fruits and vegetables first-hand and became a convert and advocate for local produce. Helping her family start-up a local vineyard and winery business (Lone Buffalo Vineyards in Auburn) drew Jocelyn back to her corporate sales & marketing roots and soon PlacerGROWN snatched her up on a permanent basis. A girl with “many hats,” Jocelyn now applies her abilities towards growing Placer County as an emerging California wine region and helping PlacerGROWN spread the word about local agriculture.

Lisa Pilz – Bookkeeper
lisapilz@dishmail.net

A local producer herself, Lisa keeps PlacerGROWN’s books in order and assists with outreach at local agricultural events. Together with her husband Steve, Lisa also runs Pilz Produce and Hilcrest Orchard, a mandarin orchard that’s a local Penryn legacy. They produce high quality mandarins along with a veritable cornucopia of fresh produce which they sell from the farm and at local farmers markets.

ADVISORS

Placer County Cooperative Extension

Roger Ingram, UCCE County Director

Placer County Department of Agriculture Weights and Measures

Christine Turner, Agricultural Commissioner