Get to know the dedicated board and team members behind Marymoor Community Garden Association. We are united in our passion to create an inclusive community garden that provides a safe and welcoming growing space. Read on to learn more about who we are and what we do. If you would like to join please consider applying here.
Michael-President, Tech Support, and Webmaster
Michael gardens at Marymoor because he enjoys taking advantage of the full sun to grow unique varieties of crops and has found a lot of joy in creating and maintaining his plots. He is passionate about helping MCGA improve its communications through the website and dashboard as well as making sure the mentoring program supports the success of each gardener.
Vinay-Board Member, Mentor
Vinay is as a passionate gardener and advocate for community gardening. His journey began in 2017 when he started growing plants at home. Gardening became a way for me to exercise my body and relax my mind. I soon became interested in learning more about gardening and started exploring local community gardens. In 2019, he discovered Marymoor Gardens and was immediately drawn to the beauty and potential of the space. His first year at the garden with basic crops and was amazed by the crop production due to the ideal lighting and weather conditions. Over the years, I have learned to maximize crop production by using interplanting and companion planting techniques. Excited about the opportunity to serve as a board member for the community gardens, Vinay is committed to helping our community gardens thrive and to spreading the joy and benefits of gardening to as many people as possible.
Lilian-Grounds Team
I have been a gardener at Marymoor Community Gardens since 2018. As a new gardener, I was immediately welcomed by a volunteer team of fellow gardeners to assist me in clearing and preparing my plot for use-that experience left a powerful impression on me! We have a wonderful diverse community that just keeps on giving, whether it be volunteering to support our Food Bank efforts, to clearing abandoned plots, tending our ornamental/beneficial flower beds, helping a neighbor, maintaining the general grounds, or, simply enjoying the fruits of our labor here at MCGA.
My general go-to standard veggies every year are pole beans, indeterminate tomatoes, garlic, beets, and spring onions. In 2022, I had an amazing yield of tomatoes, beans and cucumbers by means of trellising.
Hannah-Food Bank Team
Hannah was born and raised in our beautiful Sammamish Valley, just four miles from Marymoor Community Garden, and began gardening as a toddler, under her dad's tutelage. She has been gardening at Marymoor now for 16 years and has worked as a food bank manager for the past 3 seasons. She loves our gardens, our community, and all she's learned from others. What a grand experience!
Amy-Board Member, Produce Driver, and Grounds Committee Member
Amy is a trained architect and artist who joined Marymoor Garden solely as her mother’s planter box builder. She soon grew to love the garden and has taken it over this past year. It turns out, one of her favorite things is picking fresh sugar snap peas off an arbor trellis. Working in the garden occasionally becomes a family affair when she can manage to pry her three kids and husband away from their computers. Amy loves encouraging her fellow gardeners and learning from them. She believes strongly in the community at Marymoor and the effort behind it, as well as the future of the garden.
Carol-Board Member and Education Committee
Carol has been gardening at Marymoor since 2011. She and her daughter share two plots, and it's been a wonderful bonding opportunity. She loves the concept of our community garden, working together during work parties with like-minded folks of all nationalities and backgrounds, and sharing information/learning about other gardening ideas. She likens the garden to a patchwork quilt. Every plot is a little different from the next, all carefully thought out and planted with lots of love, sweat, and possibly even tears. Carol contends there is no better gift than organically grown produce, fresh as it can be from the garden! Everyone grows and gives their produce to Hopelink, and they, in turn, share with members of our community who are less fortunate.
Gia-Registrar, Grounds Team, Communications, and Volunteer Coordinator
Gia is the volunteer coordinator at MCGA. She gardens with her family and enjoys growing new and unusual crops. Her interest in gardening began as a child when she used to garden with her parents on Guam. Her goal is to nurture successful gardens through horticultural education/mentoring and to build a diverse and inclusive gardening community through outreach. Unequivocally, one of the best things about being at MCGA is meeting gardeners and sharing produce.
Michelle R.-Food Bank Lead, Mentor, and Education Committee Member
One of the original founders of MCGA, Michelle is our tireless food bank manager. She supports the garden in many ways, as a knowledgeable gardener who is always willing to lend a hand and provide gardening advice and as a historian, who keeps much knowledge about the creation of MCGA.
Betsy-Board Member, Mentor, Newsletter, and Education Committee Member
Betsy is a happily married mother of three grown children and shares gardening with her husband Michael. Together they gardened in Chicago and now Redmond and amassed over 30 years of experience. When she isn’t gardening, she works full-time as a Patient Coordinator for a Physical Therapy Clinic. She is also a freelance calligrapher, loves to draw, volunteer, and spend time with family and friends. Gardening has given her the opportunity to meet other like-minded people and spend hours outside, soaking up nature, sun, and friendships!
Ken and Maryanne-Board Member and Mentor Lead
Ken and his wife, Mary Anne joined the garden in 2014. Mary Anne sees planting and weeding as a form of relaxation and you can find her in the dirt most days, Ken on the other hand is more of a techie and engineering type and enjoys tweaking and tuning the plot for maximum planting space. Over the years they've expanded our at-home, spring-time seedling grow-out into a near year-around grow area, with greens growing year around. All using LED fixtures and are considering a greenhouse to further increase our options. Ken spends his time developing apps for agricultural and inspection drones. Mary Anne spends her time teaching piano to students of all ages.
John-Food Bank Lead and Finance Oversight
John tends to his own plots with his wife Cheryl. The two have been gardening at Marymoor since the ’90s. Both are addicted to homegrown tomatoes and go into terrible withdrawal for nine or so months during the year. Corn is a favorite too. He works to plan food bank work prior to and during the growing season. John leads food bank work parties to ensure maximum produce production and quality, and comradery. John also supports the MCGA board on an “as needed” basis in doing data analysis, particularly involving water usage, the garden’s largest expense.
Michelle U. -Produce Driver Lead
Michelle U. leads the Hopelink produce delivery team. She takes great pride in this role to ensure the produce that gets harvested at the MCGA food bank and also personal donations reach the hands of those who need it most in our community. Michelle grew up in Iowa and studied Forestry in college working on research projects building riparian buffers along streams bordering farmlands to reduce erosion and improve groundwater quality. She then moved to the PNW and worked with the US Forest Service to build econometric models for the international trade of forest products. Even though she now works in the tech industry, her love for sustainable agriculture is deeply rooted and she shares that passion with her husband, Eric, and children who are regulars out at the garden.
Ann-Grounds Team
Ann has been gardening at Marymoor since 2022. She loves spending time amongst like-minded people who enjoy tending and nurturing the gardens and learning from others about diverse food cultures through what they're growing. Her favorite things to grow are unique things that can’t be found in stores, and garden snacks like ground cherries and snap peas to munch on and share while pottering in the garden.
Kris-MCGA Instagram Photographer
Kris has been involved in some field of photography for many years, including photojournalism, portraiture, and now nature photography. When she began gardening at the Marymoor Community Garden, she noticed all the different birds that migrate through the park, including many that she'd never seen before. It's a joy to be here in nature and see the wildlife in the garden.
