What a year of welcoming talent to the Kittery Land Trust! We are thrilled to introduce you to our two new staff members and our two new board members!
By Joy McCauley, KLT Volunteer
Alex Keenan, Farm Manager
Alex Keenan is Farm Manager at the Kittery Land Trust’s Nooney Farm. Alex, a Kittery resident, brings his extensive experience in sustainable agriculture, events, education, and his passion for food to his new position. He has embraced KLT’s goal to en- sure the health of our vi- brant community and its environment.
Alex is proving to be a perfect fit as Farm Manager. He has been a part of local agriculture and community engagement for the better part of twenty years. It all began with his interest in music (Alex plays drums and guitar). Alex became a volunteer at a music festival at Musterfield Farm in North Sutton, New Hampshire. Here, he acted as an organizer for the June Jam, which has become a highly anticipated summer event. This his- toric property has reaped the benefits of this successful fundraiser, and inspired Alex to pursue a career in agriculture and events.
After working at Throwback Brewery and Farm in New Hampshire, Alex had his eyes opened “to the importance of local agri- culture, and the positive impact it has on the community.” Alex immersed himself in “all aspects of sustainable agriculture from seed starting, transplanting, pest control, and harvesting. “ As Farm Lead, he oversaw the day to day operations including vegetable production, perennial upkeep, and harvesting for the kitchen and farm stand. Alex supervised a crew and collaborated with kitchen and brewery. He now brings this impressive skill set to Nooney Farm. His belief is that farms have endless potential to serve as hubs for education, engagement, entertainment, and nourishment.
As farm manager, Alex enjoys introducing students to the intrica- cies of a working farm and looks forward to being part of the educational offerings Kittery students will experience this fall. Also, he wants the public to know that everyone is welcome to see the operation at Nooney Farm. He is proud of the property and recommends visitors take a walk to the marshland area, where wildlife can be viewed at a bridge constructed by KLT stewards.
At Nooney Farm, Alex has been working tirelessly with his cadre of KLT volunteers to provide fresh, healthy foods to those in our community who need it. He is inspired by the people who come regularly, with their varied backgrounds and “amazing dedication.” Nooney Farm works with local entities such as Gather, Footprints, and Shapleigh School to make this happen. Alex works to fine tune this critical service. For example, kale, turnip, and chard are nutritious foods, but some people do not have access to cooking equipment. Foods like cucumbers and tomatoes might be easier for some recipients to eat. He finds that providing this service can be “bittersweet.” It is wonderful to be helping the hungry, but unfortunate that there is such great need.
It is this combination of Leadership, farming expertise, and com- passion that make Alex Keenan a welcome addition to Nooney Farm and the KLT family.
Alice Carey, Education Coordinator
Kittery Land Trust welcomes its new Education Coordinator, Al- ice Carey. Alice is committed to working with the Kittery School District to bring “place-based education” to students. KLT has provided her with the resources to accomplish this, and she is already making great things happen.
Alice first came into contact with the KLT organization and its director Lisa Linehan, as an architect and consultant working with the group to create a master plan for Nooney Farm. At a workshop in Portsmouth, she encouraged the group to “think big” about their vision for the farm. They did, and Alice learned exactly what KLT was all about and that she wanted to be a part of it!
It was serendipitous that the position of Education Coordinator opened up at KLT and that Alice had become certain that a new career path in Nature Based Learning was her vocation. It was soon evident that here was a person who could not only think outside the box, but who could plan and build the box! Alice displayed logistical wizardry at the busiest time in the school year. In the brief window between her arrival in April, and the mid-June end of the school year, Alice coordinated with the schools to introduce every student in grades K-7 to nature’s classroom at Nooney Farm, Pettigrew Woods, and their own schoolyards. They can now look forward to learning in the out- doors when they return in the fall.
Before coming on as KLT’s Education Coordinator, Alice studied and received her degree in architecture at Syracuse University. She met her husband there and upon graduation the two headed off to Boston to work in their fields, eventually relocating to Portsmouth NH to set down roots and start a family. Alice had a life changing revelation while shadowing her child at a “forest” pre-school program based in Rogers Park in Kittery. The experience changed her ideas about Kittery Land Trust – Saving Land, Building Community Page 5 child rearing, and about her professional desires.
She became an advocate for equitable nature-based experiences in her community, and volunteered at her kids’ schools by developing Nature- Based Learning initiatives and spaces. This led to some paid positions in the area and a certainty that Alice had found her life’s calling. Al- ice looks at the Seacoast environment with fresh and curious eyes (she was raised in the Midwest) and loves to share discoveries with students.
Alice takes the Kittery Land Trust mission to “build community,” as one of her guid- ing lights. Knowing how stretched the schools are these days with so many responsibilities, she considers it paramount to take some pressure off our educators and students by facilitating the kind of place based education that KLT and the Kittery School Department so strongly support. It provides a break in the school day; it is doing something different, it is diving deep into something, and it’s just marveling at the offerings of the environ- ment. Alice is enthusiastic about what is happening at Kittery Land Trust, and is our proud new Education Coordinator.
Karen Erikson, Board Member
Karen Erikson is a Kittery Land Trust board member, a Nooney Farm volunteer and a member of the KLT Education Committee. She brings a wealth of experience to these positions, matched only by her passion for education, and her desire to help find a solution to the pressing issue of food insecurity. Armed with a degree from Worcester Polytechnic Institute and a background in the private sector as a chemical engineer, Karen brings a “look at the data, then figure it out” approach to volunteer- ing with KLT. She believes in understanding systems and developing creative solutions. Karen is excited to learn from and work with the new Nooney Farm Manager, Alex Keenan.
Karen describes how her involvement with KLT began during COVID. Students were coming to Nooney Farm from the Shapleigh School to learn in nature’s safe and soothing classroom. This was the start of Karen’s “just being another hand,” a role that has evolved and grown as she looks forward to supporting the important work of Alice Carey– KLT’s new Education Coordinator.
A uniquely qualified volunteer, Ms. Erikson worked with Boston Public Schools (middle and high school students from the city’s Roxbury section) for twenty years. Many of those students, adults now, have stayed in touch with Karen and are lifelong friends.
Additionally, she, along with others from the Winchester (MA) Unitarian Society, traveled to the Transylvanian area of the Carpathian Mountains several times to connect American students with their Romanian peers. These young people learned what it is like for people once persecuted under a brutal dictator to then be free.
Karen loves living in the oldest town in Maine, and grows vegetables and flowers at her Kittery Point home. She is contem- plating a return to beekeeping, as well. She hopes that we can establish a Bee- keeping Team and start two new hives at Nooney Farm. In addition to being a KLT member Karen volunteers at Gather, helping to combat food insecurity on the seacoast.
Karen Erikson describes why her membership on the board of the Kittery Land Trust is so gratifying: KLT is a working board. The board members actually work. A team effort, a group effort, is the way to have a successful organization. Karen is excited to be part of the good things happening at KLT and we are excited to have her!
Amy Seif Hattan, Board Member
Amy Seif Hattan is a new Kittery Land Trust board member who brings a fresh commitment and an expertise in communications to the fundraising committee. Amy also brings a novel perspective as a Shapleigh School parent who has seen the great benefits that Nooney Farm (handily located right across the street from the school) provides students. Amy has an extensive educational background; she received her bachelor’s degree in environmental studies from UNH, and master’s degrees from the University of Wisconsin and Harvard University. Her professional career has been focused on environmental communication, organizational change, and sustainability for campuses and businesses.
Currently, Amy is a Corporate Responsibility Officer at Thornton Tomasetti, a 1500- employee $340M revenue international engineering firm headquartered in New York City. This prestigious firm champions “scientific and engineering principles to solve the world’s challenges.”
Amy has an impressive volunteer resume, which includes board experience at Laudholm Trust at Wells Reserve, Carbon Leadership Forum, and LT/USA Seacoast NH. She also is a long-time member of the Southeast Land Trust. Now that she lives In Kittery, Amy is “happy to participate in KLT!”
In addition to a powerful background in science and business, and her various volunteer positions, Amy loves to listen to podcasts. She has also been involved in radio broadcasting. She hopes to some- day speak on the radio about Nooney Farm, where she enjoys “getting her hands in the earth.”
To round out the interests and accomplishments of this true “Renaissance woman,” Amy Hattan loves to garden, enjoys CSAs, farmers’ markets, and any- where local food and strong communities can be found. Amy has a keen interest in nutrition and wellness, and has even been a yoga teacher. She is now writing a book for children about the environment. Kittery Land Trust is proud to have such an accomplished individual on its Board.