CT Commnunity Gardens Association - About Us

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Connecticut Community Gardening Association
P.O. Box 266
Harwinton, CT 06791

Mission

To support community gardening in Connecticut by disseminating information, building communities and claiming land for environmentally friendly use.

Officers
President Cordalie Benoit
Vice President Charmaine Craig
Treasurer Tom Bott
Secretary Susan Pronovost
Board of Directors

Cordalie Benoit, J.D., M.E.M. is the first president of the Connecticut Community Gardening Association and currently serves as president of Elm City Parks Conservancy, New Haven’s park friends group. She is active in the Wooster Square Greenspace Group and the William Street Community Garden.

Tom Bott is the CoChair of the Torrington Community Gardens Program and the Harwinton Public Library. He has served as treasurer of the CT Community Gardening Association, the Harwinton Public Library and the Trinity Episcopal Church. He is Chair of the Camp Washington Committee and the Trinity Arts Series. He has served as a guardian ad litem for children in placement for more than 12 years.
Charmaine Craig, the Program Manager at Knox Parks Foundation has B.A in Sociology from Central Connecticut State University and is an experienced community organizer and neighborhood activist. Charmaine coordinates the community garden, Trees for Hartford Neighborhoods Hartford Cleans Up and the Greater Hartford Green Team programs; and is responsible for community and volunteer outreach and linkage to all of Knox’s horticultural initiatives.

Mohamed Dhimbil is an Extension Educator who has been coordinating the Urban Gardening and Home Horticultural Programs of the University Of Connecticut Department Of Extension since 1987. He coordinated the Master Gardener’s Program in the Southern District for four years and taught the vegetable classes during those years. Prior to his present job responsibility he was a Deputy of Agricultural Extension Department and Agronomy teacher for seniors of Vocational Agricultural High School in Somalia. He has an extensive training in both tropical and temperate grown crops. Has earned MS in General Agricultural from the University of Arkansas, Certificate in English Language from Georgetown University and BS in Agronomy from the National University of Somalia.

Bill Duesing is Executive Director of CT NOFA, the Northeast Organic Farming Association of Connecticut. For 35 years he has owned and operated the Old Solar Farm in Oxford. He was a founding director of the New Haven Ecology Project and its Common Ground High School and for more that 20 years, Bill created educational gardens at schools in New Haven and Bridgeport.

Hannah Gant Somewhere in the back of her mind Hannah Gant is planning her next meal, and maybe the one after that too. She manages the Farmers' Market at Billings Forge in Hartford and makes cheese at Cato Corner Farm in Colchester.

Robert Halstead worked 28 years in housing & community development and real estate in Bridgeport, and founded its community garden program, previously was a Peace Corps Volunteer and.currently work for Habitat for Humanity and is president of the Bridgeport Community Land Trust. Have an MS in City Planning from Pratt Institute and a Master Gardener’s Certificate from UConn.

Michael T. Keilty of Morris is a Sustainable Agriculture Researcher/Educator in the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources, University of Connecticut, owner of Maple Spring Farm in Morris CT., member CT. Food Policy Council, and author of Alternative Health Practices for livestock and the founding chair of the what has become the CCGA.

Doreen Larson-Oboyski works for the City of New Haven Parks Department as a Project Coordinator and is the co-founder of the fourteen year old Greenspace & Community Gardens Partnership Program. Doreen learned about gardening from her Swedish grandfather and has loved working in the garden ever since. She is also one of the first members of the Connecticut Community Gardening Association. She and her husband Frank live in the Morris Cove section of New Haven with their cats.

Dawn Pettinelli is an Assistant Extension Educator at the University of Connecticut where she manages the UConn Home and Garden Education Center and the UConn Soil Nutrient Analysis Laboratory. A lifelong gardener, Dawn also was a coordinator of the Master Gardener program in Massachusetts and a horticulturist at Old Sturbridge Village. Since 1987 she has been writing gardening columns for local newspapers and is involved in adult and youth education efforts focusing primarily on soil quality and fertility.
Susan Pronovost is Executive Director of Brass City Harvest, a sustainable inner city agriculture and sustainable food system in Waterbury, Connecticut. She is also Administrative Director for Greater Waterbury Interfaith Ministries, an emergency hunger relief/self-sufficiency skills agency. She is a certified food operator and advocates for food safety and security in her agricultural programs. She is currently enrolled in the University of Connecticut's Master Gardener Program with an anticipated graduation date of October 30, 2008.

Russell H. Wheeler Jr. has owned and operated both Wheeler’s Landscape and Compsoil farm Composting Company, located in Northfield CT, since 1986. He also manages a 287 acre farm in Harwinton, CT. Wheeler’s Landscape builds and designs composting sites for on-farm use at cattle and equine operations, and also for private gardeners along with many other services.

Contact Information

Phone: (860) 485-0211
Email: cordalie.benoit@aya.yale.edu

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