Go Wild Grow Wild

My name is Chris DeVries. I am originally from St.Thomas, but spent 17 years living away studying and working as an electrical engineer. I returned home in 2010 with my wife and 3 kids with the intention to start a farm.  Growing vegetables is a passion and starting a sustainable vegetable farm had been my goal for a decade before moving home.  Our farm is just southwest of St.Thomas and we grow year-round using a greenhouse and un-heated hoophouses.  As well, we store vegetables in a large cooler for sale throughout the winter at the Market at Western Fair.  We also run a 250 member CSA (vegetable subscription box) and go to the Horton farmer’s market in St.Thomas.  Our goal is to provide the best vegetables possible to the local communites while leaving the land better off than we found it.

Heenal Rajani is co-founder of Reimagine Co and organizer of Zero Waste Fest. A community animator and environmental activist, Heenal is on the Board of the London Environmental Network and is a coordinator of Extinction Rebellion London.

Jarmila Becka Lee 

Specialist, Program Advancement, Nature-Connected Communities 

As part of WWF-Canada’s Nature Connected Communities Team, Jarmila manages In the Zone as well as the Go Wild granting programs, both of which strive to increase Canadians’ engagement with nature, especially in urban areas. During her nearly 22 years at WWF-Canada, Jarmila has worked on a variety of conservation initiatives including advising Loblaw on its 100% sustainable seafood commitment, managing WWF’s species at risk work as well as the long-running Endangered Species Recovery Fund, and serving as coordinator for the Marine, International and Toxicology programs. Jarmila holds a Bachelor of Science, Environment and Biology, from the University of Toronto. 

Ryan Godfrey 

Ryan Godfrey is a botanist with a B.Sc. in Ecology and Environmental Biology (University of British Columbia) and a M.Sc. in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology (University of Toronto). His 10 years of experience with native plants spans academia, museum collections, botanical gardens, consulting to the private sector and work with NGOs to engage communities and neighbourhoods for ecological restoration and stewardship. Currently, Ryan's focus is on adding native plants back into the built environment in order to realize the layered benefits of restored ecosystems: climate resilience, carbon drawdown, wildlife habitat and community health.

Brian is the founder and Director of Salthaven Wildlife Rehabilitation and Education Centre. Since its inception, Salthaven has treated and released thousands of animals back into the wild; from foxes to fawns to falcons, and more. Whether it flies, burrows or slithers, there’s a healing hand and open heart waiting at Salthaven from Brian and the clinic volunteers. As well as overseeing the clinic, Brian is active in spreading the word about what people in the community can do to help protect wildlife and the environment.

Lorraine Johnson is the author of numerous books on environmental issues and gardening. Former president of the North American Native Plant Society, her areas of expertise include gardening with native plants, urban agriculture, biodiversity conservation, and urban forest protection. Some of the books she’s written include: The New Ontario Naturalized Garden; Grow Wild!; Green Future; The Real Dirt (which she co-authored with Mark Cullen); Tending the Earth; and City Farmer. A new edition of her book 100 Easy-to-Grow Native Plants for Canadian Gardens was recently published. 

Sara is a Sr. Landscape Architect at Shift Landscape Architecture.  Sara's experience is diverse and includes working for a family-owned nursery and design/build company along with small and large consulting firms and provincial and municipal governments. As a result, she is comfortable working on a broad spectrum of projects. Within Shift, Sara is a planting specialist and lends her expertise of green infrastructure techniques and the needs of plants to projects.  Sara is also a professor at Fanshawe College teaching in the Landscape Design Diploma and Environmental Design & Planning Degree programs. Recently her work has been focusing on how to incorporate native plants into our urban landscapes.

Koral is a strategic leader passionate about addressing diverse challenges through an environmental lens. She supports teams at Carolinian Canada and World Wildlife Fund to accelerate a cultural shift toward values of connectedness to nature, responsible stewardship and energized community. Koral completed her Masters of Science in Conservation and Community Development, specializing in the systematic evaluation of conservation programs with integrated social justice goals.