Cathy Umphrey has been a resident of Annapolis since 1984, is semi-retired from her job as a garden designer and was Director of Horticulture for Historic London Town and Gardens for seven years. While she finds growing plants of all kinds to be fascinating, it’s the recognition of the need for healthy food and the benefits of growing that food oneself, that has been the focus of volunteer work in recent years. Cathy served as City Dock Gardens Site Coordinator from 2011 until its closure in 2016, and was instrumental in the creation and development of the Eastport Firehouse Gardens, where she continues to serve as Site Coordinator.
A lifelong love of gardening started as a teen helping her dad with the family vegetable garden and became a life-changing event with her first garden as an adult. Volunteer work at a local CSA fueled the love of growing local and organic food with other like-minded people. Ten hens have become part of her new homestead in Harwood and she also started bee-keeping in 2017 with three hives at the Hollywood Farm community garden site. Beth has been the Site Coordinator at the Hollywood Farm site from its inception in 2013 to the present and loves getting to know all the gardeners.
Gardening has always been a love of Evie’s. She and her family had 8 acres and a greenhouse in Georgia. Their yard in Annapolis has very little sun so a garden plot at Hollywood was a dream come true. Evie says: ‘There are so many benefits to having community gardens and I am thrilled to be part of this organization. Being treasurer is the perfect culmination to my career teaching mathematics for 45 years’.
Mike grew up in Texas on a farm with a huge garden his father had to work with a tractor. He served in the Navy as an Oceanographer for 22 years followed by 15 years as a program manager in the commercial world. Throughout his career and no matter where they lived, he has always grown vegetables and flowers. Between gardening and woodworking,he still dabbles in program management and is currently learning how to program business applications.
Pam’s involvement with Grow Annapolis aligns with her abiding interest in sustainable environments, an interest that Pam pursues as an Anne Arundel County Master Gardener and a local beekeeper. In her previous lives as a computer professional and healthcare administrator, she learned the importance of setting achievable goals. She hopes to merge her interests in sustainability and achievable goals as she works with Grow Annapolis.
Brian’s love of fresh, local vegetables led him to the Grow Annapolis community garden near his home in Eastport. He keeps bee hives to help pollinate the landscape and provide honey to friends. Brian attended St. Johns College in Annapolis a long time ago. He’s glad to be back after a hiatus of many years and to offer his construction, software, and gardening skills to Grow Annapolis.
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