Our Team
Ms. Jenni
Executive Director and Educator at The Mason Jar Farm School
My children have been attending Greenplay Northwest programs since 2018, and it has been such a great experience for our whole family. We were thrilled to join this wonderful community and I was eager to get more involved. I first volunteered to help plan the Community Harvest Festival at Lake Wilderness Arboretum. Since then, I have taken on various roles within the organization from parent volunteer to educator to Board of Directors President.
Growing up in Montana, I developed a love for the great outdoors and farming life. I moved to Washington State to study interior design at WSU. During graduate school in Spokane, I focused my research on how our environments impact all aspects of our health and well-being. I am especially passionate about considering the benefits of both exposure to art and the natural world. As a parent and homeschool educator, the importance of time spent playing, learning and recharging in outdoor spaces became even more evident to me. I now find joy in helping connect children and their families with opportunities for positive art and nature experiences.
Before becoming a mother, I was a commercial interior designer based in downtown Seattle. Over the past decade, I have been busy attempting to balance part-time work and homeschooling my three children. Whenever possible, our family enjoys spending our time in nature. I especially love gardening and am always wishing I had more time for playing in the dirt.
Ms. Joann
Enumclaw Program Administrator, Nature Play & Learn Facilitator and Educator at Osceola Art & Garden School
I was lucky to grow up spending time in two beautiful countries. In Ireland, some of my favorite childhood memories included climbing – either to the top of a very tall hill or a small mountain – I loved seeing how things looked from above! In France, I would spend my days on the beach drawing pictures in the sand, constructing shelters, and swimming until my hands were as wrinkly as prunes.
Since graduating from the National College of Art and Design with a BA in Fine Art, I have had the pleasure of teaching children from all over the world. Locally, I’ve worked at both the Bellevue Arts Museum as a summer art instructor and the Tahoma Children’s Museum as an art docent and teacher. What amazes me about the young students I have worked with is there ability to bring me, as their teacher, back to the moments where I saw the world for the first time. They find and notice infinite beauty in the smallest parts of nature. I want to protect that ability and inspire creativity for all children from their earliest beginnings.
Ms. Edie
Spokane Program Administrator and Educator at Vinegar Flats Farm School
Since childhood I have explored cities and rural settings and spent many years living and working on organic produce farms. I worked on farms as I traveled in Central and South America in my 20’s, returned to the states and got my teaching license as a k-12 special education instructor. I taught special education at the elementary level for 8 years in rural Wyoming. After relocating to Spokane, I got my AMI Montessori diploma and taught at the 3-6 level for four years in a small, non-profit Montessori school in Spokane Valley.
I currently live in Spokane with my daughter and our two little dogs. I am an artist and enjoy making art out of all sorts of mediums including drawing and fiber art. I love animals and being outside working in my yard and garden, paddleboarding or cross-country skiing. I love to cook and am passionate about supporting our local farming community. Working with preschool-aged children outdoors and supporting a local farm marries two of my biggest passions! I am excited to be teaching Monday through Friday at Vinegar Flats Farm School this coming year, as well as working to evolve and grow our program as the Eastern Program Administrator. I can’t wait to see what the next school year brings!
Ms. Brittany
Educator at Lilac City Harvest Farm School
Growing up in a small town in Ohio, I lived a pretty urban lifestyle but had the benefit of an older brother who took me around the neighborhood on our bikes until the streetlights came on. For the most part, it was a City Girl life, but in the summers, I was enrolled in camp after camp while my single mother worked full time. It wasn't until I had my own children that I realized what a gift a childhood spent outdoors really was and how rare opportunities have become for our own children to enjoy nature without expectation or time restraints.
As a military family, we spent 10 years living in Oklahoma City. While attending The University of Central Oklahoma, I feel in love with the forest school movement and observed several field studies at outdoor education programs. I also taught process art to preschoolers at OKCMOA and dove deeply into my studies of the emergent-curriculum, constructivist-based Reggio Emilia philosophy. I had the amazing opportunity to complete my student teaching hours at a Reggio-inspired preschool and even traveled to Italy to study Reggio Emilia's inquiry-led teaching methods.
I was so excited to discover GreenPlay Northwest when our family moved to Spokane in 2018 and enrolled my then-3-year-old as soon as I could. It was quite a learning curve to learn to dress her for INW winters but attending the program at Vinegar Flats Farm School (then Urban Eden) paved the way for finding real community and friendship as newcomers to the area. Since then, we have enjoyed the marked seasonal changes, exploring family-friendly hiking, and family bike rides through the neighborhood. When I'm not teaching, you can find me studying in the hammock for my graduate program in Family & Child studies with a jumbo iced coffee in hand, playing with my two husky mix doggos, or volunteering in my kid's classrooms.
Ms. Danae
Educator at Vinegar Flats Farm School
I was born and raised in Spokane, where I spent most of my childhood outdoors—building forts, climbing trees, and exploring with my brothers and neighborhood friends. Those early experiences sparked a lifelong love for being outside.
I went on to attend Eastern Washington University, earning a degree in Recreation Management. It was there where I discovered my love for experiential education. During my summers in college, I worked at camps as a counselor and on recreation staff, facilitating challenge course activities. In 2021, my husband and I traveled in our rooftop tent, spending the spring and summer exploring over 15 national parks. I also had the incredible opportunity to live and work in Glacier and Acadia National Park.
One of my greatest passions has been working in after-school programs. I have over 10 years of experience, starting in programming roles and later stepping into leadership at the Boys and Girls Club. Last June I had a baby boy, and I can’t wait to take him on all the adventures. I am ecstatic to be joining the teaching team at Vinegar Flats Farm School!
Ms. Candy
Educator at Mason Jar Farm School and Osceola Art and Garden School
I am one of the newest teachers at Greenplay Northwest, but I've always had a love for the outdoors and know how much of a difference being outside can make for children. I grew up on a horse farm towards the bottom of Mt. Hood and was always outside catching Salamanders in our pond or exploring the woods around my grandparents’ house.
I attended college at Oregon State and obtained my bachelor's degree in human development and family studies with a focus in children. Since graduating, I have been mostly around the Orting Valley area working between preschools, mostly with 3- and 4-year-olds, and being a family nanny. I enjoy working with smaller groups so that every child can get one-on-one time when they want it or need it to learn how to use tools like a hammer and nails.
On days that I’m not working, I’m either chasing my two boys or taking care of my animals. I love spending sunny days out on Lake Tapps paddle-boarding, or at our local farmers market with my family. During the cold season, I love to go snowboarding up at Crystal Ski Resort whenever I can make it up there. When I'm at home, you can find me in my garden or knee-deep in a new craft project.
Ms. Bella
Educator at Lilac City Harvest Farm School
I spent most of my years growing up traveling while being homeschooled. My family and I went to places like Costa Rica, Thailand, Cuba, and Guatemala. I was raised to appreciate nature and the beautiful world around me in each place we went. I’ve lived in Washington my whole life and have been attending homeschool programs that practice outdoor and child-led learning. I’ve always had a huge love for the outdoors and I enjoy camping and hiking in the Pacific Northwest.
I live on a farm with horses, chickens, rabbits, and guinea pigs, and I love being around animals and taking care of them. I worked an internship in childcare with preschoolers and that’s when I discovered my love for working with children and families. I discovered Greenplay Northwest and their nature-based approach to early learning and realized this would be an amazing opportunity for me to work in the type of community that raised me.
My goal is to pursue a degree in Social Work and continue enjoying nature and traveling throughout my career.