Meet The Team

Burke (she/her) has worked in Minnesota for 20 years, doing work grounded in rural community and economic development, as a practitioner, an educator, a network builder – connecting people with each other and the resources they need. Since the early seventies, Burke’s been in love with rural life in small communities from Vermont and Massachusetts to Northern California, finally settling in Red Wing, Minnesota. She brings a wide range of experience – from field work in cultural anthropology with ranchers and farmers, to grant and program development, with a particular focus on introducing our youth to career opportunities in agriculture and manufacturing in Greater MN. She also brings years of experience leading regional initiatives in the US and Latin America. For Burke, inclusion is the path to progress, cultivating resilient communities. “I believe that none of us is smarter than the whole of us. So, let’s elevate the strength and diversity of experience that women bring to the practice of conservation in Minnesota!”

Noreen (she/her) lives in northwest Minnesota, just outside Moorhead, in a region she calls the "Deep North." In 1987, she married into farming, and the farm has since become certified organic. At Doubting Thomas Farms, the Thomas family focuses on growing organic hay and niche specialty grain crops. The farm is also part of the Minnesota Agricultural Water Quality Certification Program, highlighting its commitment to sustainable practices. Noreen holds a Bachelor of Science in Food and Nutrition, Chemistry, and Microbiology, bringing a different perspective to the family's operations. We're proud to say that Noreen was recently featured on the cover of Future Farmer magazine - read about her fascinating history here: https://issuu.com/fmspotlight/docs/ff_septoct24_1 ​ "The care you put into the land today helps ensure a legacy of abundance and nourishment for tomorrow. Besides I don't want my family down the line thinking I didn't do my share!"

Maddy (they/them) is a natural dye farmer, art educator and organizer of local textile economies. For Maddy, seeing our textile systems as intrinsically linked to sustainable agriculture is paramount to the creation of a thriving decentralized textile economy in the Midwest. They farm cooperatively at Get Bentz Farm in Northfield, Minnesota and live in the Prospect Park neighborhood of Minneapolis. Copy and paste watch this great podcast with Maddy: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R58VRAkk7x8 ​ "Land stewardship is, at its core, relational work. It is a privilege to commune with all who call our farm home and to accept the humble invitation to listen, offer care and be cared for, and to see ourselves as part a beautiful tapestry that works best when we see the goodness in each other."

Recently Alex (she/her) joined the staff of the Land Stewardship Project (LSP) in the Montevideo, MN office as a Soil Health and Land Access Organizer- a role that requires communicating, connecting, and learning about what is under our feet (metaphorically and physically). Alex grew up part-time in rural Wisconsin, spawning an affinity for open space, vintage tractors, bird chatter, and frog croaks. After 20-some-odd years working in the nooks and crannies of the food industry, she moved to Montana to learn more about farming and fell hard for the people and the work. Alex recently returned to the Upper Midwest to begin this next stage of work melding some of her favorite things: people, earth, farms, and food. Alex also enjoys her dog, Forest, asking questions, eating, and talking about what other people are going to eat or are eating, as well as how they grew the food in question. She hopes to one day have a place of her own to nurture! ​ "Such fortune to be learning from this galvanized group of fellow nature fanatics. I, like many, relish the outdoors and am elated to learn and explore the myriad of ways women express affection for Mother Nature."

Allison (she/her) has served as the Aitkin Farmers’ Market Hub manager since 2020 and has no plans to stop shortening supply chains, championing local businesses, and working for the chaotic good. She's excited to expand small and local agriculture work to include a greater story of conservation, preservation, and production. ​ Allison and her husband Scott own and operate AlliCat Farm in Aitkin, MN, where their motto is, “Food that nourishes, land that thrives.” Of their 80 acres, they have about half an acre in vegetable production, 20 in hayland, and the rest is mixed forest land. Soil health and ecological diversity are and always will be the lenses through which farming and stewardship decisions are made. ​ ​ "In all of my work and across all aspects of my life, I have found that most often it is the women that come to the table with open hearts and minds. A community built around women in conservation has the potential to make the change we’re all looking for to preserve Minnesota’s unique natural beauty and resources.”

Kriss (she/her) is a former Chicago journalist-turned-CSA farmer who recently transitioned her organic veggie fields into managed grazing paddocks for sheep and pollinator habitat. She hosts a farmstay campground on her Driftless Region property called Circle M Market Farm. ​​ "Conservation is contagious AND addictive. You can catch it from a visit to a well-stewarded farm with innovative practices or from a sunset walk in a neighbor's prairie with dragonflies and bees diving around your head. Once you've caught that bug, you can't stop thinking about what else you could do on your place. I love to help women achieve these conservation dreams."