Bri Barton
Garden Educator, Curriculum Development
Bri Barton has been an early childhood educator since 2005, and a garden manager and nature educator since 2012. In those years, she has developed a style of teaching that combines play, ecology, nutrition, history, and social justice. Bri loves helping kids of all ages fall in love with bugs, and leafy green vegetables. She is currently attending Rider University earning her Masters in Teaching, and her teaching certificate specializing in early childhood education.
Eric Blasco
Project Coordinator, Garden Designer
Eric is passionate about plants, people, and the connection between the two. He grew up on a family farm and explored teaching, organic seed growing, and cheffing, before starting a gardening business 10 years ago. Since then, his business Erb Food and Garden, installed private, educational, and public gardens specializing in edible and native plant landscapes. The goal of the business has been to create gardens where people can learn and harvest from their surroundings, deepening their connection to the natural world.
Anne Preston
Anne a lover of learning and a student of nature. She has spent the last 10 years farming and gardening in Philadelphia, building and tending to children’s gardens, community gardens, community green spaces, home and school landscapes, and an urban farm. Working with nonprofits and local government agencies, she has coordinated a variety of inter-generational gardening programs to connect people with the earth and grow food and habitat where they are. She has collaborated with a wide range of community and organizational partners to strengthen gardening projects, and advocate for city policies and resources to support growers. She understands learning and growing as collaborative processes where everyone has valuable knowledge to bring to the table, and gardens as an ideal classroom where people of all learning styles and skill levels can engage with their environment and find their niche.