Board Members, Staff, & Founders

OUR BOARD

Teresa Raffo
Board member, President
I’ve been on the Noyo Food Forest Board of Directors since 2018, and in 2022 became President. I love community gardens because everyone needs to eat. I love growing good food at NFF for the high school cafeteria program, and showing students how to do it. Nourishing our kids and our community through this kind of service feeds me deeply. Outside of the gardens, exploring the natural world, listening to live music, and sharing a meal with good friends brings me home.

Tracy Wolfson
Board Member, Treasurer
I have been deeply rooted in our community for the past 20 years selling organic soil and amendments to coastal gardeners and farmers. A big part of Noyo Food Forest’s mission is growing organic vegetables for the Fort Bragg Unified School District, and teaching children where their food comes from is a core value of mine. I am passionate about helping this organization continue to thrive on the coast.

Ericka Lutz
Board Member
I am a slapdash gardener, writer, and retired professor with a passion for food, sustainable farming, and words (not necessarily in that order). Working with Noyo Food Forest blends my communications background with my interests in all the best ways. Providing nutritious, organic food to kids, building community food sovereignty, and teaching people how to grow what they’ll eat, what could be any better?

Jessica Scribner
Board Member
Feeding our community and teaching children how to grow nutritious food in a sustainable way is vital to maintaining a healthy environment and future. As an HR professional, and as a mom who has strived to model these values at home, I’m grateful to have the chance to be involved with the work being done at Noyo Food Forest and in the Learning Garden.

S.A. Ephraim
Board Member
I moved here with my wife Ruth in November 1997. I was involved with the Mendocino Community Garden for 19 years, growing and sharing in food production. I taught gardening in Fort Bragg elementary schools and then moved on to working at Caspar Creek Learning Community. Ruth and I bought and ran Frankie’s Pizza and Ice Cream Parlor and we’ve been deeply involved in organizing and growing community ever since. I still maintain a love of growing food and a passion about food and food security.

Anne Harvey
Board Member
One of my greatest joys is planting flower bulbs with friends and family in Fall in order to watch the miracle of nature unfold in the Spring. I think there is a metaphor in there. While embracing and enjoying every aspect of educational and community gardening mission of the Noyo Food Forest, I think what I uniquely bring to the Board is a bridge to the Spanish-speaking community of Fort Bragg, which I have built on since serving as Latino Family Advocate at Safe Passage Family Resource Center (2016-2019).

 

OUR STAFF

Beth Horkman
Director of Operations
I believe NFF’s mission is essential to all local communities and I am so grateful it is in ours! I have a background in communications and event planning, and love using my interpersonal communication skills and passion to grow food sustainably, accessibly, and locally. I’ve called Mendocino Coast home for twelve years now, and enjoy exploring its beauty with my dog, Sawyer Green.

Ryan Schnirel 
Garden Manager
I have years of regenerative, biodynamic and organic farming experience on the Mendocino Coast, and I am passionate about providing solutions, empowering students, and being a contributing voice in our local food systems. Most recently, before coming to NFF, I taught Architecture Field and Materials at the University of Oklahoma.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

OUR FOUNDERS

NFF Founding Members: Kim Morgan, Susan Lightfoot, Katrina Aschenbrenner, and Veronica Storms (not pictured)