Chelsea Leaves the School Garden for Adventure and Education

Colleen Stewart steps into her boots

— by Madie Murray —

Chelsea says “bye” and Colleen gets to work!

We are saddened by Chelsea Cates leaving us, but so excited about the future she is planning for herself. She will soon be hiking the Pacific Crest Trail with her partner, Evan Allred, then returning to school to study agro-ecology, environmental studies and education. For the past five years, the public school garden has been graced with the presence of Chelsea Cates. She has not only brought new life, smiles and many more square feet to the school garden, she has brought enthusiasm, grace and sheer love into Mandy Randolph’s K-6 Farm to Classroom and the garden.

When Chelsea was hired by the Orcas Island Farm to Cafeteria Program in April of 2010, she had just arrived on Orcas from Alaska with a love of nature and a passion for growing food and sustainability. She didn’t know where this would lead her, but over the past five years working in our school garden and assisting in Mandy’s classroom, she discovered the value of educating young people about the same things she loves so much.

In her words, “My experiences here have given me a focused passion and renewed sense of purpose. What an inspirational community of people! I especially want to thank the students, who instill wonder and hope. I hope you all understand how significant and capable you are!

“Thank you for growing and blossoming. You have had a tremendous impact on my life, and I have appreciated every minute of it!”

We’re so happy we were able to have her in our lives making such a positive impression on our kids and community, and wish her many successes and inspiring moments forever. She promises to keep in touch.

We “heart” you, too!

Colleen Stewart is new to Orcas Island, just like Chelsea was five years ago. In fact, there are a lot of similarities you will notice as you get to know her better.  “I have fallen in love with Orcas, in no small part, due to the vibrant sustainable agriculture, foraging and forestry lifestyle,” Colleen admits. “People here are intimate and enthused about their food sources in a way I’ve seldom seen.”

She is a recent Honors graduate of Western Kentucky University in Bowling Green, with a degree in Journalism and Geography. On Orcas, she has worked with Coffelt Farm and Maple Rock Farm. Before that, she was a media manager and garden educator for a small urban garden called Hariyo Chowk in Kathmandu, Nepal. And a significant time for her was during her experiences at Woodland Farm and Kentucky Bison Co. as well as the Americana immigrant and refugee garden and the Food Literacy Project. We could go on and on, but the short story is, she’s here with us and we are so pleased she has accepted the position of our new school garden keeper. “I’m so grateful and excited for this opportunity,” she says. “I’m brimming with ideas!”

If you happen to see Chelsea before she leaves, or Colleen as she starts her new adventure in our school garden doing what they love, please say “hi!”

There are a lot of changes at our public school this year that affect the Farm to Cafeteria Program and we love to share them. Keep in touch with all of it on our web site at www.orcasislandf2c.org and/or facebook at www.facebook.com/orcasislandf2c. You can also sign up for our periodic newsletter by clicking here.