More About Ann:
Ann grew up in California where growing vegetables in the front yard among the ornamentals is normal. In 2010, Ann retired from teaching High School Chemistry and Earth Science in Montgomery County Public Schools where she earned National Board Certification. She is a 2008 Albert Einstein Distinguished Educator Fellow, in the Earth Science Division at NASA Headquarters. She is a HoLLIE (Howard County Legacy Leadership Institute for the Environment) member. She is on the Steering Committee of Transition Howard County, and was one of the founding Steering Committee members of the Chesapeake Fibershed. Her hobbies include most of the fiber arts, lace making being my current passion. She gardens, does nature photography, birds, plays the piano, reads, and cooks all the delicious things that grow in her garden.
Ann is, by nature, a teacher. She has raised two children who have taught her that changing traditional practices can be rewarding, and one very creative grandson who's imaginary 'laser ray gun' is used for planting seeds. Her goal in her retirement is to help people learn about the importance of biodiversity to the health of human life, and to help people find joy in the natural world. The basis of biodiversity is plants, which she has always loved, so she became a Master Gardener to learn and teach about plants, specifically the ecosystems of native plants in relation to human needs.
She loves the people! Both her Master Gardener peers who are so excited to learn and experiment with new ideas about plants and gardening, and the public whose 'Ah ha!' moments fuel her joy.
The "Garden to Garment" project which incorporates her prior work on the Bay Wise, Pollinator, Native Plant and Public Education committees with her passion for the fiber arts is both her newest gardening adventure and her favorite. Always congratulating and giving credit to others before herself, Ann thanks Maddie Potter, Stephanie Pully, and Lynne Traversa for their enthusiastic support, and the hard work of Master Gardeners Judy Sheldon, and Leslie Dunham, whose support, teamwork, and problem solving has been invaluable. Their story is a continuing adventure trying something unusual for Master Gardeners, to bring back the nearly lost arts and skills of growing fiber plants for weaving. It started one evening when she was relaxing making lace. She reached for her thread to wind a new bobbin and realized that all her thread was made overseas. Why? Research revealed the lost arts of locally growing cotton, flax for linen, and the Indigenous use of fiber plants such as dogbane and yucca developed in the Americas, and which support local ecosystems and biodiversity. Would others be interested in growing flax, cotton, and dogbane? What pollinators would be supported? Would hobbyists plant dogbane in their rain gardens and then harvest it for weaving? Could we teach people about climate and biodiversity friendly clothing options? Can we make a fiber object or garment from plants we have grown? Yes! The story is about taking a risk, starting an adventure, with the wholehearted support of the Master Gardener program. They couldn't have done it, nor could our workshops have reached as many participants without their sponsorship. They have been teaching people of all ages how to grow, ret, ripple, break, scutch, heckle, and spin flax straw and dogbane. The project is growing, with increasing numbers of requests for workshops. They invite you to join the project with MG demonstration Garden to Garment gardens of your own.
We love this sentiment from Ann: “I empathize with the Common blue violet. We are persistant, covering the ground efficiently, gathering friends around us cheerfully, adding color and kinteic energy to the gardens, setting the stage for others to pick up the path. Sun or shade, we thrive where opportunity presents itself.”
Thank you, Ann, for your tireless dedication and wisdom!
