Beth Saunders became a community gardener when her big plans for a large home garden were disrupted by moving into a house with a shady yard. Since then, she and her spouse have enjoyed taking their young kids along for the ride as they experiment with what gardening methods work for their low-key lifestyle.

After graduating from Boston College with a degree in English, she has been in nonprofit marketing communications since 2004, with a focus on social justice. She focuses on the KidsGardening social media strategy, website, newsletter, and blog to expand garden-based learning throughout the country.

Beth grew up in Western Pennsylvania, in the unceded territory of the Osage, where she was scared to go in her mother’s garden because once a snake was spotted there. She did, however, eat from the garden and her mother’s prolific peach tree.

Beth lives in Burlington, VT, the land of the Abenaki, is passionate about social justice, equal opportunity in sports, and pickling anything that comes from her garden. She serves on a few local nonprofit boards, coaches a youth soccer team, sews most of her own clothing, and plays hockey.