Meet Our Team
Board of Directors
Suzanne Griffin
Laura Jean Brand
Ann Lefeve Snyder
Director, Independent and International Schools
Council for Advancement and Support of Education
David Geiman
Consultant – Agriculture Management
Sophie Cantell Lambert
Vice President, UrbanPlan
Urban Land Institute
Susan M. Pereles
Attorney
Chris Aycock
Managing Director of Development, Blue Ridge Area Food Bank
Emeriti Directors
Annie Sachs
Tom Brenneman
Courtney Cranor
Jenna Clarke Piersol
Ryan Blosser
Jill Templeton, Founding Director
Staff
Clara Metzler
Executive Director
Clara was born and raised in the Shenandoah Valley. Following high school, she moved to the Pacific Northwest where she lived for several years honing her barista skills and exploring glacier lakes. Following a backpacking stint in India and Nepal trying every variation of curry and momos she could, Clara returned to the valley and completed her BA in Sociology with a concentration in Nutritional Science from Bridgewater College in December 2017. While at Bridgewater College, Clara’s passion for food justice as well as local and sustainable food systems was nurtured and ultimately led her to Project GROWS.
When she’s not at the farm, Clara spends her time experimenting in the kitchen while listening to podcasts, playing frisbee with her pup Ginger, and spending time with family and friends – preferably outdoors!
If you were a vegetable, what would you be?
Green beans! They remind me of summertime meals at my Grandma’s house. Freshly harvested and sautéed with garlic (runner up in the favorite veggie race), I can’t think of anything more satisfying to my tastebuds!
What do you love about farming?
Food! No farming, no food – and what a sad and impossible world that would be. More personally, farming provides me the opportunity to view the food system from beyond a consumer standpoint; by taking an active role in food production, I am constantly reminded of the time, care, and hard work that goes into growing the food that nurtures our bodies and minds.
Megan Marshall
Director of Food Access
Megan moved to the beautiful state of Virginia in the summer of 2017 after living in Oregon her entire life. Prior to finding her home in the Shenandoah Valley, Megan found herself exploring the connection between food and community while working towards her undergraduate degree in Public Health at Oregon State University. One day, while working as a nutrition assistant at a school garden, Megan saw her first plant grow! Her mind was blown as she realized a zucchini grows out of a flower. This felt so special to her to witness such magic in the world and she wanted make sure everyone had access to this life changing magic, thus she began her journey at Project GROWS.
As the Director of Food Access, Megan oversees Project GROWS’ Farmers Market and Mobile Market programs. Megan also works closely with local farmers, connecting them to food retail outlets in the community like our local schools and market opportunities. Additionally, Megan is the Shenandoah Regional Lead for Virgina Fresh Match where she assists new farmers markets, farm direct outlets (CSAs & farm stands) and community food retail outlets in setting up healthy food incentive programs such as SNAP-Match and the WIC/Senior Farmers Market Nutrition Program. Outside of work Megan enjoys cooking, hiking with her dog Moose, and reading.
If you were a vegetable, what would you be?
I would be a mushroom native to the Pacific Northwest, growing on the mossy floor of a pine tree in the Oregon mountains. Mushrooms indicate healthy soil for trees and other plants to grow in. They also love the rain, the forest, and the mountains just like me.
What do you love about farming?
I love being a part of the process! From seed to vegetable, from farm to table, from season to season, from beginning to end. Growing food for myself and my community gives me purpose and connects me to nature.
Nichole Barrows
Director of Education
Nichole is a transplant to the Shenandoah Valley from Virginia Beach and after fifteen years is happy to call it home. After graduating with her BA in English and Master of Arts in Teaching from James Madison University, Nichole taught English to eighth graders in Harrisonburg, backpacked with Camp Woolman teenagers on the Pacific Crest Trail in California, and led forest field trips as the children’s education coordinator at the Edith J. Carrier Arboretum. Now as Project GROWS’ director of education, Nichole manages a wide-ranging menu of Farm to School programs with Staunton City Schools and Waynesboro Public Schools that introduce students to farming, the food system, and healthy eating. In addition to these programs, Nichole directs our Youth Leaders in Agriculture program, manages the preschool garden at Dixon Education Center, and facilitates summer camps on the farm. In 2022, Nichole was awarded the Outstanding Business and Leadership Award from the Virginia Association for Teachers of Family and Consumer Sciences for her work developing innovative Farm to School programs alongside Staunton City Schools. Nichole holds a current Virginia Postgraduate Professional Teaching License (English 6th-12th). Always delighted to learn a new tree or wildflower name, Nichole’s passion lies in connecting young people to the outdoors and to local food production. In her free time you can find her on the trail in the George Washington National Forest, with a field guide in one hand and binoculars in the other.
If you were a vegetable, what would you be?
Like a sweet potato, sometimes I enjoy working on projects for a long time “underground” before the world gets to see them!
What do you love about farming?
Farming gets you “up close and personal” to the seasons of year—the anticipation and green of spring, the heat and hard work of summer, the bounty and color of fall, and the slowness and chill of winter. I’m fascinated by the seasonal parallels we see reflected in the progression of a day from dawn to midnight; the timeline of a human life from birth to death; and the life cycle of a plant from seed to compost. We have so much to learn from the land!
Price Crenshaw
Farm Manager
Farmer Price hails from Charleston, South Carolina. She majored in Elementary Education at Clemson University, graduating in 2020. While at Clemson, Price founded Clemson Hope, a non-profit with a mission to empower students and teachers in Title 1 schools near Clemson, SC through relationships, resources, and opportunities. After passing her organization down to the next generation of leaders, Price spent the next few years pursuing a passion in farming while gaining experience at multiple operations throughout the United States, including Project GROWS. Returning to us, Price brings a passion for sustainable agriculture, education, and relationship building into her farming practice and commitment to ending world hunger. When Price is not farming, she is hanging out with friends, attending concerts, going on slow bike rides, or taking a nap, because farming is tough work.
If you were a vegetable, what would you be?
I would be a tomato because, 1. They are tasty, 2. I have this fun childhood memory of eating them like an apple, 3. Like tomatoes, we all need a positive environment to flourish.
What do you love about farming?
There is SOO much I love about farming. I find a lot of joy and purpose in personally stewarding the land and our food system for generations to come. I can’t think of anything more rewarding than watching all of your labor and hard work transform into a tasty meal on my plate!
Donovan Glasgow
Farm Fellow (Project GROWS) & Community Fellow (Allegheny Mountain Institute)
Born and raised in Corrales, New Mexico, Donovan attended College of the Atlantic in Bar
Harbor, Maine for a degree in food policy and climate science. His interest in food systems
began with an eye-opening class during his first year which detailed the intersections between
food insecurity, economic and international policy, and systemic racism. While in school, he
completed an internship at a food justice non-profit working with refugee farmers, researched
food access needs among the community’s senior population, and led campus activism efforts
around student food insecurity. After graduating in 2020, he moved to Bozeman, Montana
where he worked with the Gallatin Valley Food Bank’s child nutrition programs as an
AmeriCorps VISTA, and in 2022 he jumped back to the East Coast to begin the Allegheny
Mountain Institute’s Farm and Food System Fellowship. His first experiences growing food have
been during the fellowship, and he is looking forward to deepening and expanding his education
at Project GROWS. When he’s not at work, you can find Donovan reading, enjoying a cortado, or rummaging about in a thrift shop.
If you were a vegetable, what would you be?
I’d have to say an eggplant! They are found in cuisines across the world, from Asia to the Middle East to Africa and Europe, and I love traveling and eating new foods. They’re also down to earth and unpretentious, like I try to be; throw them in a simple stir-fry or ratatouille, nothing fancy, and they’re great!
What do you love about farming?
The people! For some reason our culture has this image in our heads of farming as a solitary endeavor, like building a homestead on the open frontier, but to me farming is the opposite. Much more than simply growing food, farming is about growing and nurturing a community. You cannot farm without help, without knowledge passed down through generations or across borders. Farming ties you to your surroundings and the people around you in a unique and exciting way. There’s also a powerful responsibility and ethic that farming cultivates toward the land, animals, and people.