Glyness Dean is the owner of Meadowsweet Gardens which provides garden design, maintenance, and mentorship in the Willamette Valley. Her company focuses on rehabilitation and adapting NW gardens to climate change. As an Oregon native, she has seen firsthand the changes this city has undergone and is committed to creating a more equitable city where every member of the community is represented, regardless of systemic or financial access.

Glyness is also the fundamental skills trainer with Connecting Canopies, teaching foundation skills classes, career readiness, post-internship development, and community building. In addition to this, she is an integral part of the curriculum development to ensure programming meets the needs of the program's career development while supporting the needs of the diverse communities Connecting Canopies serves. 

Her volunteer work has included the Portland Fruit Tree Project as a tree care leader, Lettuce Grow teaching beginning gardening to incarcerated individuals, and also serves on the board of the Montavilla Farmers Market.

Nick Canino is a regenerative land-tender based in Portland, OR. He is the founder and executive director of Rhythm Seed Farm, a 501c3 nonprofit urban farm dedicated to growing + saving seeds and educating about seed sovereignty. For every seed packet sold, Rhythm donates a packet to low-income and BIPOC communities. Nick works closely with Black, Brown, and Indigenous farmers in the Portland area, along with food banks and farms that grow exclusively for the houseless community. He brings 10 years of land-tending experience, specializing in urban edible landscaping and lawn-garden conversion. Nick is a systems thinker, revolutionary minded-change maker, and artist. He has access to millions of locally adapted seeds through his nonprofit and the knowledge of how to convert abandoned lots into lush food gardens in a single season. His understanding of deep mulch dry farming is foundational for many of the community food forests PPC is visioning on parcels with no on-site water. He is an intergenerational garden educator with experience in youth leadership development and loves to teach and share his passions. 

Rhythm Seed Farm

Elizabeth Wilson co-founded Peace Village Global in 1996 along with Wintry Whitt. The two went on to create the curricula, direct camps, and educate both camp directors and new trainers. Elizabeth was an adjunct professor in the Peace and Social Justice Department at Pacific University for over 20 years where she developed and led programs for students. She enjoys teaching outside the classroom and has worked in a UN camp for SE Asian refugees, with the Navajo Nation, and leading expeditions in the wilderness for many years. She started and ran the school/community organic garden at the Springdale school in Corbett, OR for over 15 years. Elizabeth has studied permaculture, natural medicine, yoga, and meditation for over 25 years, and delights in playing and teaching music, being outside, and spending time with family.

Dan Sloan is the founder and executive director of Portland Food Forest Initiative, a 501c3 non-profit that advocates for and actively converts grass spaces into productive perennial ecosystems utilizing elements of regenerative agriculture and syntropic agroforestry.  Dan is a certified landscaper, an urban regenerative ag consultant, a permaculture designer, a food forest educator and advocate, an urban forager, and a nut tree nursery steward focused on growing long-lived nut trees to provide urban food security and tree canopy, especially in underserved areas.  Previously, he worked with Lost Valley Education Center in Dexter, OR overhauling their online presence, marketing, and permaculture education content.  He owned and operated Everybody’s Bike Rentals from 2011-2021 and Petrified Forest Pottery from 2018-2022.

Portland Food Forest Initiative

Permaculture Visionary