Kim Rockman
Executive Director
While living in different parts of the US, I continued to see a growing hunger for greater harmony between the natural and built environments. With a passion for extraordinary public spaces and wholehearted, healthy living, a vision began for sharing the small acreage I grew up on in Luverne, Minnesota with the community. Project Food Forest continues to be a crucial partner of what has become Prairie Ally Outdoor Center in Luverne. I desire to be part of creating more spaces like it and connecting with similar spaces that already exist. There are passionate people creating and maintaining food forests all over the world! Within my role at Project Food Forest, I hope to continue its mission, strengthen current partnerships, and establish new partnerships; opening up opportunities for an array of people to create and care for more food forests and edible landscapes. Food forests give so much more than just food. They hold space for friendships to form, soil to be restored, and inspiration to be born.
Rachel Saum
Education and Outreach Director
Rachel comes to Project Food Forest with a variety of experiences related to sustainable agriculture, including working for several diversified vegetable farms and a goat dairy, as well as five years as the produce manager at the Sioux Falls Food Co+op. Currently they run Common Roots Seed Library, a free public seed library that was established in Sioux Falls in the spring of 2021, and are a newly appointed team member to the South Dakota Local Foods Coalition. While much of their experience and expertise lies in annual production, Rachel also knows the value of native and food-producing perennial plants, and is excited to work with PFF to bring that knowledge to the communities Project Food Forest serves.
Robin Buterbaugh
Vice Chair
Robin was born and raised in South Dakota and grew up in an environmentally conscious gardening family. She‘s been growing a vegetable garden for over 20 years, but became interested in permaculture (permanent agriculture) when her brother lent her the book "Gaia’s Garden" by Toby Hemenway about 10 years ago. Since then, she‘s been incorporating permaculture techniques into her regular vegetable garden, expanded into permaculture design and forest gardening, and received her Permaculture Design Certificate in 2017. Robin returned to SDSU to get a Master’s degree in Natural Resources Management focusing on integrating native plants into community landscaping, and also started her own ecological landscape design and consulting business The Wild Edge, LLC. She currently works as a graduate research assistant for the Native Plant Initiative and as laboratory manager at Ecdysis Foundation/Blue Dasher Farm. In her free time, she likes spending time disc golfing with her two sons and trying to do some gardening of her own.
Boyd McPeek
BS in Mechanical Engineering, SD School of Mines & Technology;
Certificate in Risk Management, Insurance Institute of America;
Certified Safety Manager, National Safety Management Society
I am retired from a career that included stints as a loss control consultant, safety director and business process analyst. Now that I have time to do more things I wanted to get involved with projects that support sustainable and chemical free communities. Project Food Forest is one of those projects. Our goals are to make food available in communities using sustainable and safe growing methods. I hope to use my 43 years in the business world, 25 years of chemical free gardening and my family farm upbringing to help Project Food Forest achieve it’s goals.
- Ron Peterson
- Bobbi jo Horsted – Secretary
- Diana Hensley – Treasurer
- Damon Brown
- Kimberly Rockman