Julie previously worked with the Sylvia Center as the Education Director and Garden Manager from 2011-2016, and she is excited to be back working with our students and growing food for our programs. Julie is a gardener, author, and educator who loves to grow food and share that joy with others. For the last 20 years, she has worked in environmental education and agriculture to promote ecological literacy and greater wellness through gardening. She believes that one of the most meaningful and memorable ways to engage with the natural world is to grow a garden and eat what you grow! Our living bodies need living food, and gardening is a wonderful way to develop long lasting relationships with whole foods that help sustain us. Julie is the author of The Little Gardener: Helping Children Connect with the Natural World, a detailed guide designed to take a “Big Gardener” and a “Little Gardener” on a journey of connecting to nature through creating and cultivating a garden together. When she’s not taking care of the Learning Garden, she’s helping flowers grow at Damsel Garden in Stuyvesant, NY, exploring the Adirondacks, or finding tasty things to eat in the Hudson Valley and beyond.