Speakers and Schedule

Kim is a fifth generation farm girl with a 130,000 sq ft no till garden. Kim sells the vegetables she grows using sustainable agriculture practices to food producers and consumers alike. She is a master photographer, master gardener and a Prairie Horticulture Certificate graduate in both the fruit/veggie and greenhouse streams. Join Kim on her facebook page @Rossdale Farms/Kross Farm - No Till Gardening as she shares her love of gardening with others.

Passive solar greenhouses work well as four season backyard greenhouses on the Canadian prairies as they provide better insulation through our cold winters! What is a passive solar greenhouse and how does it differ from a traditional greenhouse? What type of glazing should you use or how do you heat a greenhouse in extremely cold winter temperatures? Is it really possible to harness the energy of the sun to warm a greenhouse? Kim will cover all of this and how to manage growing vegetables and herbs in your backyard greenhouse.

Stephanie Sampson earned her diploma in Wildlife and Fisheries Conservation from Lakeland College and now calls Cold Lake home. Stephanie is easily captivated by bird calls and wildlife signs while out exploring, which she often has the opportunity to do with her husband, Jesse, puppy Magpie, and adventurous cat, Sarge. As the Education and Outreach Coordinator for LICA she shares her passion for the natural world with her community. Stephanie believes that fostering an appreciation for the environment inspires others to love and protect it.

LICA (Lakeland Industry and Community Association) is a not-for-profit Environmental Stewardship Organization that operates as a Watershed Planning and Advisory Council (WPAC), an Airshed Zone, and a Synergy Group. LICA focuses on environmental monitoring, environmental management, and community education and outreach. LICA shares timely and credible scientific data and fosters mutual learning and understanding between all stakeholders in our region.  

We started out selling our wool pellets at local markets, talking with gardeners, answering questions, and sharing the benefits of this natural soil amendment. The response was incredible. People loved the idea of something sustainable, local, and genuinely helpful for their plants. 

Our business began in 2019 with a simple idea: finding a meaningful use for waste wool that was piling up after shearing. What began as a small experiment quickly turned into a passion project.

Patty Milligan is the Agriculture Education Specialist at Explore Edmonton, connecting people with food and farming at events like KDays, CFR, Farmfair International, and the Urban Farm. After running a small honey company for over a decade, she moved into teaching and talking about bees with students and groups around the Edmonton area. She lives northeast of Edmonton on her grandparents’ former farm, with her son, dogs, cats, ducks, and geese, leading a local 4-H club and watching bees.