Our People

Little Known Facts
Eldest of four
Makes a mean chocolate phosphate
Loves puzzles
Played the cymbals in high school marching band

Spirit vegetable
Turnip

Volunteer Involvement
The Evolved Network, Board Member
Grayslake School District 127

About Karen
Karen grew up in South Bend, IN and worked at her first educational farm during two college summers in Cincinnati, OH at Gorman Heritage Farm. It was there, teaching kids to make yarn from sheep’s wool that she discovered the fun and possibilities that hands-on learning provides. That experience set her on a path toward environmental and place-based education that grew at Hidden Villa, an educational farm and wilderness in Los Altos Hills, CA. Over her journey there, spanning nearly two decades, she learned that deep and sustainable impact is founded on relationships and partnerships across the public, private, and nonprofit sector. Karen joined the team at Liberty Prairie in May of 2022, and is excited to help realize the vast potential for community health and resilience that land management and experiential education provides.

Little Known Facts
Early tech adopter (and loves to 3D print Christmas gifts!)
Richard Serra is a favorite sculptor
Only drinks locally brewed beer
Competitive puzzler (favorites: Wordle, Connections and NYT crosswords)

Spirit vegetable
Carrot

Board/Volunteer Involvement
Future Farmers of America
Collaborative Regional Alliance of Farmer Training (CRAFT)
Farmer Masterminds Cohort
Grayslake School District 127

About Jeff
Growing up in St. Charles, Illinois, Jeff was an artist at heart with equal parts engineer, creative thinker, and activist. When an opportunity arose to work on an organic farm while at Beloit College, Jeff tapped into his experiences from golf course greens tending days to bring a sense of passion, accuracy, and curiosity to growing food. After college, Jeff received his masters degree in landscape architecture but wanted to find a more tangible way to make a difference. Always taking the road less traveled, Jeff changed career paths to become an apprentice to early organic pioneer farmers from the Midwest. Over the next 18 years of farming and growing, Jeff and wife Jen evolved their skills from a small market farm into large-scale farm business owners, with hundreds of community members by their side. Jeff and Jen serve as the land managers for the 94-acre Prairie Crossing Conservation Farm. Jeff leads the development of the agricultural education pathway for Grayslake High School District 127 after a 30-year hiatus of teaching local students about agriculture.

Little Known Facts
Drinks mango kombucha as a guilty pleasure
Loves being outside (walker, trail and road runner)
Worked in online marketing for 10+ years
Love sunset campfires and being a boys mom

Spirit vegetable
Kohlrabi

Volunteer Involvement
Grayslake Central High School

About Jen
Jen grew up in Madison, Wisconsin, the daughter of a state government official and small business owner. She spent her young days running, volunteering for environmental organizations and working as a waitress. At Beloit College, she studied politics, economics and international relations and met her to-be husband, Jeff. While Jeff attended graduate school, she traveled with the Wharton School of Business to plan and facilitate educational experiences throughout the world for global business leaders. Once reunited, Jen and Jeff bought a home, had a baby and realized they wanted to work together to make a meaningful contribution to the world on a local level. Together, they changed careers, started their first farm business and most importantly, raised their two kind, intelligent and creative sons. Jen’s life lesson imparted to our boys: think global and act local!

Little Known Facts
Grew up in a family of 8 children
Has 5 grandchildren
Has a masters degree in Library Science
Favorite band is the Rolling Stones

Spirit vegetable
Nothing cooked!  Raw veggies only!  Cucumber!

Board/Volunteer Involvement
Docent at the Volo Bog
Prepare reports and take notes for the Liberty Prairie Board

About Nancy
Nancy grew up in Waukegan, Illinois.  She worked for Abbott Laboratories for 22 years in many financial roles.  Also, worked in a library for ten years - first part-time, then full time for a few years.  Nancy and her husband take long motorcycle trips every year - the longest was a 3 week trip out to the California coast and up into Washington.  She is semi-retired and very happy to be a part of Liberty Prairie.

About Bill
Bill has worked at the Liberty Prairie and the former Prairie Holdings Corporation since 2005. His work experience includes manufacturing, consulting, commercial property and liability insurance, heavy steel erection, and organic pesticide analysis. Bill holds a B.A. in Business Administration from George Washington University.

Little Known Facts
Loves the book Hatchet by Gary Paulsen
Prefers standard time over daylight savings
Makes a killer veggie stir fry
Plays double bass in the Peoria Symphony Orchestra

Spirit vegetable
Soybean

Volunteer Involvement
Prairie Crossing Native Ecosystem Management Working Group
Prairie Crossing Environmental Stewardship Committee

About Patrick
Patrick spent years training to be a professional musician before pivoting to focus on conservation and ecology. He nurtures a longstanding affinity for rivers, lakes, wetlands, and woods born of childhood summers spent in northern Minnesota near the Mississippi River headwaters. (You’ll have a hard time convincing him there’s any better playground than a partially submerged wooden sailboat intentionally marooned by your grandfather in the bulrushes.) These days, Patrick is most enthusiastic about the restoration of native prairies, savannas, and forests in the Great Lakes region. He is an avid bird watcher, a middling vegetable gardener, and a reluctant runner.

Little Known Facts
Obsessed with raccoons
Former “techie” in the theatre world
Self-identifies as a mermaid
Favorite wetland ecosystem: bog

Spirit Vegetable
Rhubarb

Volunteer Experience
UIC Students For Animal Liberation
UIC Heritage Garden
McHenry County Conservation District 

About Penny
Penny is a Lake County native with a passion for people, plants, and the planet. She lived in Chicago for four years where she studied Earth and Environmental Sciences & Biology at the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC). Penny’s time at UIC was defined by the connections made to people–via running a student organization, participating in a community gardening internship, and getting involved in various organizing initiatives. She has worked in several plant conservation/horticulture jobs, including those at Lake County Forest Preserves, McHenry County Conservation District, UIC Plant Research Laboratory, and Red Buffalo Nursery. Penny is enthusiastic about science communication and education, and has held this enthusiasm through formal and informal roles.Through reflection, she came to the realization that the highlight of all of her past roles was the interaction with volunteers. A love for the land, plants, food, and animals has been at the core of her being from an early age, but today, Penny celebrates the perfect symphony of passions she exercises through her role at Liberty Prairie. Born into a matriarchy of gardeners and foodies, she is zealous in her exploration of plant-based cooking and cultural cuisines, and she considers herself an amateur forager and herbalist. She loves spending time outdoors–whether that’s gardening, hiking, botanizing, running, swimming, or whatever the day brings!