Stephanie Elliot
Buds Mentor (2nd/3rd/4th grade)
I graduated from Chico State with a BA in Child Development and began working at Chico State campus in their child development lab, with preschoolers and college students. I loved working with both age groups. During my time there I received a MA in Human Development from Pacific Oaks, with a focus on Community Building. That program taught me that I did not like working for an institute that lost focus on caring for the children and students. I quit my job and wrote a grant that supported a non-profit, GRUB, Growing Resourcefully Unity Bellies. I co- taught the preschool garden project at 10 preschools around the Chico area. I have a love for teaching, children, nature, wonder and connecting. I have homeschooled my three children through their education with much support from my partner Tim. I believe that supporting a love for learning is the base that must be laid first. Children remind me to laugh and be silly and pay attention to the little things.
Melissa Greene
Berries’ Mentor (7-8 grades)
Melissa grew up in Marin and graduated from Novato High School. She went on to earn a B.A. degree in Psychology from Sonoma State University with a minor in Business Administration. She continued her education in law school, achieving her J.D. from UC Hastings College of the Law in San Francisco in 2004. Melissa was an office manager for a solar company, a technical support analyst for a software company, and worked as a Classroom Coordinator for a private K-12 school for children with special needs. She also tutors math and SAT prep privately. Recently she co-founded a non-profit called Surviving The Odds Project, which seeks to empower youth to find their voice through musical self-expression. An artist at heart, she paints, draws, and makes beaded and crystal jewelry. Melissa currently lives in Santa Rosa with her partner and their son John, dog Mellow, and two cats Sasha and Bagel.
My name is Max Kee, I am father to Ave (4rd grade), partner to Karisha and fellow dreamer of the beehive learning center collective. I was born a settler here straddling occupied southern pomo/ coastal Miwok territories also known as Sebastopol. From ages 18-33 I lived, studied, and practiced biodynamic farming, environmental stewardship, outdoor education, community organizing, and community living in Chico California. Working for the program Kids and Creeks my job was to explore the mysteries and miracles of nature through the lens of riparian restoration, with youth from 3rd-6th grade. Working with the GRUB Education program I shifted my work with youth towards bringing them to the farm to explore biodynamic farming (something I strive to get back to, but am not currently practicing), ethical land stewardship, and the interpersonal connections that seem to only come from engaging in something truly meaningful with children. Here at Landwell I intend to blend these two past programs into an exploration of the dance between the wild and the domestic, and how we as humans are needed in both to move into the right relationship with the earth. For the last three years I have been creating a small diversified farm here at landwell with the intention of using it for education. I am also in the process of setting up a wood shop and salvaged/hand milled materials yard. I intend to offer mentorship with interested youth in wood working especially as it pertains to farm infrastructure. I would love to work with each of the children in the rhythms of food tending to send boxes of produce home with them. I would also love to explore each child’s interests and be ready to have a focused plant/animal project to get running at their home (rabbits, chickens, goats, pigs, cows, veggies, flowers, seed saving, fruits trees, garden nursery etc..).
Max Kee
Maintenance and Farmer