Gretchen Garth 21 Acres Board President

Community activist and one of the 21 Acres founders, Gretchen is a committed volunteer serving the organization in many capacities.

Gretchen also serves as Board Chair of HumanLinks Foundation, which focuses on Sustainable Agriculture & Education. She helped create the Woodinville Farmer Market in 1994, which was her introduction to issues surrounding small family farms. Serving on a search committee to find a permanent location for the Farmers Market, actions led to the purchase of 21 Acres from King County in 2005.

Claire Thomas 21 Acres Board Vice-President and Director

Claire serves on the Board of Directors in hopes of strengthening our farming operations at the 21 Acres site. The future plans regarding advisory help for small farmers in our region will help to keep our small market farms economically viable and give much needed encouragement to new farmers. Claire serves as a volunteer on the Board of Directors.
Claire is the General Manager of The Root Connection
CSA farm, which she started in 1986. The Root Connection uses sustainable intensive farming practices and now feeds over 600 families with 8.5 acres under cultivation. She is also on the Board of Directors of the Sammamish Valley Alliance, and the Management Committee of FARM, LLC which owns and farms The South 47 farm.

Dale Nelson 21 Acres Board Secretary

Dale brings to the table 25 years experience in the food industry and a true passion in the artisan food environment. Dale serves as a volunteer on the Board of Directors.
Dale is owner and founder of Food Concepts, Inc.  (a full-service specialty food development company in Washington State) and Woodring Northwest. Founded in 1991, the company drew upon Dale's expertise in product innovation, new product development and a desire to create a quality specialty food experience, establishing the diverse organization that exists today.

Deanna Burnett Keener 21 Acres Board Treasurer

Deanna is the Small Business Counselor at Green River Community College's Small Business Assistance Center. Prior to coming to Green River CC,  Deanna was an award-winning lender in the banking community. During her 15 years as a local small business lender she worked successfully with hundreds of small business owners to overcome obstacles as they started or  expanded their businesses.

 Ron Wheadon 21 Acres Board Director

Ron is the Dean for Student Learning at Cascadia Community College and as such is responsible for all professional, technical and distance education including Environmental Technologies and Sustainable Practices program and Business Information Technology.

Fred Berman 21 Acres Board Director

Fred earned a BS in Environmental Sciences from CSU – Northridge, completed graduate classes at UC Berkeley while working on campus at the Office of Environmental Health and Safety, transferred to a position at UC Davis, and ultimately worked for Alameda Co. Health Dept. before immigrating with his wife and two children to Norway to begin a farming career. Fred has been an organic farmer for more than 27 years, and a restaurateur for the past 27 years.  At the beginning of 2006, he began a career with the Washington State Department of Agriculture as the Small Farm Program Coordinator. In addition to the 21 Acres Advisory Board, Fred currently serves on the Board of the Northwest Agricultural Business Center, the Advisory Board of the Sustainable Connections Food and Farming Program, the Community Food Co-op Farm Fund, the WSU Small Farm Team, the WSU CSANR Advisory and the NARF Organic Committee.