About NOFA Vermont

Kirsten Bower  - Extension 16

Kirsten Bower is NOFA Vermont’s Financial Manager and has worked with NOFA for over 20 years. Her previous positions include Office Manager and Vermont Organic Farmers (VOF) Certification Inspector as well as coordinator of various programs. She has a BS in forestry from West Virginia University and a masters in Plant & Soil Science from the University of Vermont. Kirsten lives in Richmond with her husband Steve, two daughters Camille and Maya, their dog Luna, cat Eva, and 5 chickens.

Erin Buckwalter - extension 27

Erin joined NOFA-VT’s team in 2011 as the Food Security and Food Access Coordinator.  She has been working and volunteering in a variety of capacities on food systems and sustainable agriculture issues in Vermont since 2005, including building and managing community gardens, and managing the Bristol Farmers’ Market.  In 2011, Erin completed her master’s degree in Community Development and Applied Economics at The University of Vermont, focusing on farm-to-school programs’ effects on children’s fruit and vegetable consumption.  While not at work, Erin enjoys dappling in farming and homesteading; cooking, baking and eating yummy local foods; and being crafty!

Cheryl Cesario - Extension 18

Cheryl Cesario started working for the Vermont Organic Farmers (VOF) certification program in 2004. Cheryl says her favorite part of her job at VOF is the opportunity to see all the amazing work being done by Vermont farmers. She graduated with a degree in Animal Science from the University of New Hampshire and also received a Master's degree from the University of Vermont in Plant and Soil Science. Her agricultural experiences include vegetable farm and greenhouse management, seasonal orchard work, and relief milking on dairy farms. She and her husband Marc live in Cornwall where they purchased 100 acres of land through the Vermont Land Trust. They have established Meeting Place Pastures, a diversified livestock farm where they raise beef cows, pigs and chickens.

Nicole Dehne - Extension 13

Nicole Dehne administers NOFA Vermont's certification program. She first came to Vermont in the summer of 1995 to work at the farm at the Mountain School in Vershire. After graduating from the University of Montana in 1997, Nicole returned to the Green Mountain State to receive her teaching certificate from the post baccalaureate program at the University of Vermont. During the summers she worked at Shelburne Farms and Shelburne Orchards, combining her interests in education and agriculture. A winding road brought Nicole from teaching 3rd grade in Guatemala to placing high school students on farms with Vermont Farm Youth Core to working for the certification program at NOFA Vermont. She started working at NOFA Vermont in May 2003, and has been here ever since.

Willie Gibson 

Willie Gibson is one of NOFA Vermont’s Dairy and Livestock Advisors. Willie grew up with dairy farming as a 7th generation Vermonter. He spent 15 years with UVM Extension as an agriculture agent/specialist, focusing on grass-based, family farming. He and his wife, Martha, and their children have a small farm on the Connecticut River in Ryegate, VT, raising food crops, grass-based poultry, cattle, equine, and whatever else makes sense (or not) along the way.

CAITLIN GILDRIEN - Extension 15

Caitlin Gildrien is NOFA Vermont's Outreach Coordinator and newsletter editor. Along with her husband, she also farms at Gildrien Farm in Middlebury. Caitlin graduated from Prescott College in Prescott, AZ with a degree in Agroecology and has survived five winters in Vermont, so far.

SAM FULLER - extension 14

Jean Hamilton is NOFA Vermont's Food Security and Marketing Coordinator and also works with Vermont Food Education Every Day (VT FEED). She has been working on organic farms for about seven years and is delighted to now be working with NOFA Vermont to help improve consumer accessibility to the delicious food that the farmers of Vermont are growing.  Jean earned a bachelors degree from Middlebury College in Environmental Studies and Religion. When not cooking, eating, or otherwise thinking about food, Jean can be found playing banjo with her husband, Caleb.

LIBBY MCDONALD - Extension 26

Libby works as the Administrative and Communications Manager for Vermont Food Education Every Day (VT FEED). She grew up in Michigan before moving to Vermont in 2003. Prior to coming to Vermont FEED, Libby worked as the Program Coordinator for Center for Whole Communities, a national nonprofit working for healthy connections among people, land and community. There she worked with environmental and social change leaders from across the country to imagine and create more a just and healthy world. Libby is on the board of the YWCA of Vermont and a Student Program Advisor for Round River Conservation Studies.

Abbie Nelson - Extension 12

Abbie Nelson is the Education Coordinator of NOFA Vermont and the VT Food Education Every Day (VT FEED) Director involved in all aspects of local purchasing and professional development of school food service. She has been a teacher for over 20 years in regular and special education, and worked on an organic vegetable and flower farm. As part of NOFA Vermont and a VT FEED partner, she has been working in Vermont schools linking Food, Farm, and Nutrition education for 8 years. Her role has been focused on school food by connecting kitchen managers with local farmers, helping farmers with agricultural education on their farms, training school food service personnel, and teaching school staff how to introduce new foods to students.

LAURA NUNZIATA - extension 11

LYNDA PRIM - extension 21

Lynda Prim joined the staff of NOFA-VT in 2011 as the Fruit and Vegetable Technical Assistance Advisor. Born in Burlington, Vermont, she’s returning home after working in sustainable organic agriculture in New Mexico for the better part of 34 years. In 1977, she received a BA in Cultural Anthropology from Penn State University and went to New Mexico to do field work in ethnobotany and cultural ecology of the Pueblo peoples. She fell in love with the Land of Enchantment and the traditional agriculture of the region which lead her to the High Desert Research Farm at Ghost Ranch, dedicated to preserving traditional crop varieties, where she was the farm manager. Lynda was an organic certification inspector in New Mexico for 12 years and had a small farm, Bread & Roses. She dreams of finding a small farmstead in Vermont.

 
Barbara Richardson - Extension 10

Barbara Richardson became Office Manager in June 2010. She grew up in Vermont and received a Plant & Soil Science degree from UVM in 1989, then apprenticed on farms, worked in apple IPM research, and spent most of the next two decades at Gardener's Supply Company and the National Gardening Association. Barbara is a lifelong gardener thrilled to be part of this stellar team supporting sustainable, local and organic food systems for Vermonters. She lives in Burlington with her husband, Terry Souers. 

Becca Weiss - Extension 20

Becca Weiss has been at NOFA Vermont since 2002 as Office Assistant and Share the Harvest Coordinator. She has also helped out with membership, the Apprentice Directory, the annual Winter Conference, in the certification office, and with the Food Education Every Day (VT FEED) program. Becca has an MFA in studio art and has worked in both her own studio and in environmental education since 1990. She has three children and a wonderful husband who share her love for gardening and nature.

Enid Wonnacott - Extension 17

Enid Wonnacott has been the Executive Director of NOFA Vermont since 1987. She received her Bachelor of Science in Biology from St. Lawrence University and her Masters in Natural Resource Planning from the University of Vermont. Enid was raised on a small farm in Weybridge, VT and spent most of her childhood dreaming about becoming a large animal veterinarian. She now lives on a small farmstead with her family in Huntington.