OUR TEAM
“Let man heal the hurt places and revere whatever is still miraculously pristine.“
– David Brower
Interested in Interning?
STEWARDS OF FOX HAVEN
Fox Haven is a living growing community – from all the diverse lifeforms that reside on this land, to the people who visit, contribute, and learn, to our neighbors and friends, near and far. We invite you to visit Fox Haven and get to know our community.
JoAnn Coates-Hunter: Director
JoAnn holds a BS from University of Pittsburgh, MA from Earlham College/School of Religion and a teaching certificate from Brown University. JoAnn empowers and supports our stellar team, oversees operations, directs our educational programs, teaches, and brings her knowledge and excitement about the wonders of nature to visitors of all ages. Her work on the boards and steering committees of Community F.A.R.E., the Frederick County Food Council, and Frederick Farm to School serves to weave Fox Haven’s mission into the lives of farmers, students, and families struggling with food security and the food economy of Frederick County and the region. JoAnn’s hope is that everyone leaves Fox Haven with a new understanding of self, nature, and our inter-dependency with an action to take, be it a new gardening or farming technique, an energy-saving act, a letter or phone call to a business or governmental body, a plan for a community project or better nutrition.
Lacey Walker: Learning Center Herb Farm, CSA & Herb Internship Manager
Lacey is an educator whose passion for herbs led to becoming Fox Haven’s herb farmer, herbalist, forager, and plant educator. While teaching English to non-native speakers in DC, Lacey began facilitating peer to peer learning, a style of group learning. As Director of the Learning Center Farm, she created the Fresh Herbal CSA in 2017 and established Fox Haven’s Herbal Internship Program in 2018. A lifelong learner, Lacey studies with noted experts and has completed two years of apprenticeship at the Wild Ginger Herbal Center (formerly Centro Ashe), as well as two study trips to Costa Rica and training on the body, with Tammi Sweet of Heartstone Herbal School. In 2017, she completed coursework on fermentation with Sandor Katz in Tennessee, and in 2019, completed an apprenticeship with Susquehanna Apothecary, where she honed medicine making skills.
Sarah Rollison: Orchard Steward
Sarah discovered Fox Haven in 2018 and was immediately captivated by the beautiful land and the dedicated stewards behind it. Enthusiastically volunteering her time and lending her strength, she gained valuable insights into the diverse array of plants and fruits nurtured at Fox Haven. With years spent at Meadows Farms and her homestead in Winchester, VA, she embodies a unique blend of passion and expertise, making her a valuable asset to the Fox Haven family.
Alecks Moss: Program Coordinator, Marketing & Events Director
Alecks is a professional event planner and marketing strategist who designs and publicizes Fox Haven’s class offerings. Alecks uses her B.A. in marketing and business administration in the creation of dynamic brand management and event design. Infusing a magical spark into every event she plans, Alecks loves bringing together Fox Haven’s growing, vibrant community of locavores, nature lovers, herbalists, storytellers, movers, shakers, learners, and makers. An herb enthusiast at heart, she also brings her passion for nature, mindfulness, and folk herbalism to Fox Haven.
Ashley Hoffman: Graphic Designer, Facilitator, Farmer & Outreach Specialist
Ashley Hoffman, a lifelong resident of Frederick County, integrates her deep connection to the region into her role at Fox Haven. Advocating for accessibility in herbalism, Ashley leads garden tours and classes to foster positive connections between individuals, their health, and the environment. Currently enrolled in the clinical mental health graduate program at Hood College, Ashley explores the intersection of mental well-being and nature. Beyond these pursuits, Ashley’s artistic touch enhances Fox Haven’s promotions, infusing creativity into our work. Her contributions underscore a sincere dedication to nurturing a community where wellness, nature, and creativity harmoniously come together.
Mardelle Poffenberger: Business Manager, Living History Teacher
Mardelle grew up on the shore of the Chesapeake Bay and spent her youth in the outdoors, camping, swimming, fishing, exploring the Bay area, and Frederick County farmland when visiting relatives. She loves history and is known for her living history activities in Frederick and Washington Counties. Mardelle subscribes to the sustainable, use-everything-throw-nothing-away lifestyle which existed for thousands of years, and she works to incorporate this into her daily routines. Professionally, Mardelle is a bookkeeper, administrator-trained in business management, and is part owner of Bravura Arts & Framing, an art gallery and custom picture framing shop in downtown Frederick. Mardelle’s work at Fox Haven allows her to combine much of what she loves in life.
Randal Marcoux: Facility and Land Steward
Carpenter, foreman and superintendent for 43 years in the Baltimore/ Washington area. Looking to help people close to home for a change and get to know my neighbors in return. In his spare time, Randal is an avid gardener, frequently sharing homemade creations including pickled peppers and wineberry wine.
Dick Bittner: Fox Haven Organic Farm, LLC Farm Manager
Dick has spent most of his life close to farming and the farm community here in Frederick County. Born, raised, and educated in Frederick County, Dick’s degrees in engineering from Johns Hopkins University led him to work for 17 years assisting doctors at Johns Hopkins Hospital, where he designed, built, and tested medical instruments. A second career selling farms and land led Dick to help in the formation of the tract of land that is now named Fox Haven Organic Farm, LLC (FHOF). Now, in his third career as farm manager of the LLC farm, Dick draws upon this life experience to restore the land and build innovative systems, demonstrating sustainable models to produce food, restore the land, natural systems and wildlife.
Harriett Crosby, Founder
Harriett was trained at the C.G. Jung Institute in Zurich, Switzerland as a Jungian psychoanalyst and set up practice in Washington DC. During the Clinton administration, Harriett worked in the White House Office of Environmental Policy and the President’s Council on Sustainable Development. She invited innovative thinkers, including Father Thomas Berry, David Brower, Joanna Macy, Fritjof Capra to speak at brown bag lunches. She was a speech writer for Vice President Al Gore on Native American Indian issues. Harriett was a Sundancer on Pine Ridge Reservation in S.D. for four consecutive years. While fasting on a four-day vision quest in the Black Hills, she watched the approach of a thunderstorm, was drenched in rain and felt bolts of lightning striking all around her. She had a vision of the earth being alive, intelligent, expressive and Mother Earth became her teacher. She has been guided by this vision and it is foundational to Fox Haven’s mission. She currently serves actively on the boards of Friends of the Earth, the Institute of Noetic Sciences, Second Chance Wildlife Rehabilitation Center, as well as Fox Haven.
Larry Bohlen
Larry is a former NASA engineer, an international environmental advocate, and a food safety entrepreneur. He helped repair the Hubble Telescope, led efforts that saved farms and forests, and discovered an illegal variety of genetically engineered corn in the American food supply. Now he is developing novel methods to detect food contaminants through NaturalCheck, a triple-bottom-line company that he founded. Previously, he held positions at the American Lung Association, the Sierra Club, and at Friends of the Earth, where he directed the Health and Environment Program to prevent pollution of air, water and food.
Sophia Marvell
Sophia grew up on an organic seed saving farm in Montgomery County, MD. After attending the farm school for organic vegetable production and animal husbandry, she co-founded Brickyard Educational Farm and received her M.A. in Education, focusing on land-based communities. She currently works at Potomac Vegetable Farms in Virginia, as a farm-based educator and educational garden manager. Sophia is committed to multi-generational social and ecological healing through connection to land, nature, and our collective histories.
Lotte Schlegel
Throughout her life and career, Lotte has been involved in sustainability initiatives including conservation, clean energy, social welfare, and waste reduction. She has more than 15 years of experience in nonprofit management and governance and has been instrumental in growing multiple organizations. She enjoys outdoor adventures and can often be found gardening, biking, or exploring with her family. Lotte has an M.B.A from Georgetown University’s McDonough School of Business and a B.A. in biological sciences from Wellesley College.
Kai Hagan
Kai is the Director of Envision Frederick County and serves as an at-large member of the Frederick County Council. He was a member of the Frederick County Board of County Commissioners from 2006 – 2010. After growing up in Washington DC, Kai went to St. Olaf College in Minnesota, returning east after a dozen years there and eight more in California, where he worked with a number of environmental organizations. Kai and his family moved to Frederick County in 1995, and he has been highly engaged in the community since then, volunteering with local organizations, serving on many boards and commissions, coaching soccer and basketball, writing columns for the Frederick News-Post and Gazette, hosting a community-focused radio show, and more.
Carl Hildebrand
Carl Hildebrand is co-founder of HLA and serves as the firm’s tax partner. Possessing a thorough understanding of sound business management, Carl is an experienced consultant and successful tax strategist. Working closely with owner-managed companies in our Strategic Performance Management program, Carl consistently helps clients achieve above-average growth. He is experienced in handling special tax situations, such as the acquisition or disposition of a business. He also assists our individual clients in the areas of tax planning and preparation, estate planning, and personal financial planning. When Carl’s not busy planning financial strategies or helping business owners recapture their purpose, he spends his time teaching others the great art of Reiki, a Japanese technique for stress reduction and relaxation that also promotes healing.
David Berry
David co-founded the Sustainable Water Resources Roundtable, organizing and leading workshops on sustainability. With seven years at the White House Council on Environmental Quality, he chaired groups focusing on Sustainable Development Indicators and Industrial Ecology, raising awareness and encouraging action. A member of the Balaton Group, he also chairs the Baobab Learning Center, a non-profit benefiting children in Mali. David served as Chair of the Dharma Centre of Canada, continuing spiritual work and teaching globally. Ordained in 2003, he studied with Namgyal Rinpoche, traveling to Antarctica, the Arctic, and Indonesia. David worked with Indian Yogis and helped fulfill Hopi Elders’ UN presentation prophecy. He co-founded the Prayer Vigil for the Earth, spoke on international trips, and authored books, including “Gate in the Fence of Time” and “Tales of Awakening.”
In addition to Fox Haven staff who teach programs and classes, the Learning Center features these instructors in our classes and events throughout the year. View more of our esteemed teachers on the learning center event’s page.
Jared Urchek
Jared lends a hand in teaching the Foraging series at Fox Haven. He holds expertise in mycology and mushroom identification. This year, he is helping to lead a mycoremediation project on Fox Haven’s land. Jared is the owner of Boulder High Country Mushrooms, a purveyor of fine, gourmet fungal food and medicine. Beginning his fungal studies through a basic permaculture course, he furthered his studies with Paul Stamets’ mushroom cultivation and mycoremediation courses. With a mushroom laboratory and cultivation space, he travels the land searching for the most delicious, most medicinal mushrooms to culture and propagate.
Samantha Feld
Samantha owns The Mushroomworks, a mushroom growing and foraging business in Baltimore. Her fascination with mycology began when her backyard sprouted a garden of colorful mushrooms from the decaying roots of an old maple tree. After learning that they were a cousin to the powerfully medicinal Reishi mushroom, Sam began her research into the complicated, and often misunderstood, world of mycology. Sam is an avid forager and gardener, interested in the medicinal properties of mushrooms and plants. She has taught mushroom focused foraging, cultivation, dyeing, and illustration classes in the Mid-Atlantic area. When not out in nature, she can be found puttering around her row house homestead or teaching art in Baltimore City schools.
Nick Spero
Nick Spero is a biologist, Natural History Society of Maryland board member, and long-time volunteer who loves to observe wildlife. He was featured on NPR talking about foraging for wild edibles. Check out the awesome video HERE. With a professional life devoted to insects and a passion for everything outdoors, Nick is one of our guides in the Fox Haven Foragers program, offering a class on how to forage cattail and milkweed and includes a live cooking demonstration to enjoy a taste.
Holly Poole Kavana
Holly is a botanist and herbalist practicing in Washington, DC. She is a lifelong plant enthusiast and has a bachelor’s degree in botany. In 2005, she shifted her focus to herbal medicine and studied with a series of experienced herbalists in the classroom, clinic, and outdoors. Since 2010, she has operated Little Red Bird Botanicals, a small business that provides individual herbal consultations, an herbal CSA (Community Supported Agriculture), locally-grown herbal products, and education. Holly also works as a birth assistant and labor doula.
Jason Drevenak
Jason grew up on his family’s homestead in West Virginia hunting, fishing, hiking, building shelters and making tools. After serving as a medic in the Army and subsequently returning to college, he made a career of teaching people how to engage with the outdoors through various businesses. As an established teacher and founder of the North American Bushcraft School, Jason is setting new roots here in Maryland and West Virginia!
Natalie Love
Natalie Love is a lover of learning and living things! After completing an internship at Fox Haven Learning Center in 2020, she is joyfully sharing her enthusiasm by stepping into the role of supportive facilitator and teacher. In her upcoming classes, Natalie will share her love and lessons of the natural world of herbalism, plant dyeing, fiber art, toolmaking, and tea preparation.
Dr. Eziaku Ogbonna, PharmD, MBA, PMP, BCPS
Clinical Pharmacist Specialist & Herbalist Eziaku Ogbonna is a Board Certified Clinical Pharmacist Specialist, Project Management Professional, and former Herbal intern at Fox Haven Farm. She received her Doctor of Pharmacy degree from the University of Maryland School of Pharmacy after majoring in Chemistry as an undergraduate student. She currently works as a clinical pharmacist at a local hospital.
John Beutler, Ph.D.
John has been paying attention to mushrooms for about 50 years, identifying them, eating some, studying their chemistry, leading walks and identification courses, and just plain enjoying their diverse roles in the natural world. His Ph.D. research concerned the chemistry of the deadly Amanitas, and he has encountered many fungi of all sorts in his day job at the National Cancer Institute, where he focuses on discovering potential cancer drugs from natural sources.
Clarké Lunara
Clarké is a community herbalist, birth worker, mother, and lover of all things relationship. Connecting with people (especially young ones), place, and personality bring her such joy.
Luke Bauer
Luke Bauer is a basket maker, forager, woods wanderer, educator and certified permaculturist. He has been actively engaging in the process of nature reconnection for over a decade.
Lauren & Brian Dodge
This passionate duo bonds over the shared passion for community learning propelling them along a transformative path adorned with botanicals, philosophy, nature, ritual, science, and alchemy. As sound bath meditation guides, they seek to encourage intentional exploration and remind you to appreciate your own unique beauty every day.
Tamica Watson
In the spring of 2023, Tamica and her daughter Zoe joined Fox Haven as interns. While Zoe is a homeschool student, Tamica brings a background in science and health leadership. Opting for herbalism as a means of self-healing, Tamica realized the value of spreading awareness about herbs and gardening. This realization fueled her decision to transition into a lifelong career in herbalism education, catering to both students and adults. Tamica’s interests extend to tea blending, crafting salves, creating extracts, vegan cooking, and tending to her garden. Notably, her academic achievements include a Bachelor’s degree in Therapeutic Recreation with a Minor in Gerontology and a Master’s in Healthcare Administration/Management.
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