New Agrarian Program

Hayden comes to the NAP team from Central Montana where she resides on her husband’s family ranch, learning alongside them both the joys and struggles of ranching. She was born and raised in rural Montana having both an understanding of the agriculture world and a passion for conservation. She received a B.S. in Rangeland Management from Montana State University. She has spent the start of her career working for the Natural Resource Conservation Service (NRCS) as a Range Management Specialist. It was here where she found her greatest joy was working directly with agriculture producers and learning from them on their operation. That is what excites her most about her new role here at the Quivira Coalition. She serves the Quivira Coalition as the New Agrarian Program Northern Plains Coordinator and is excited to work with mentors and apprentices alike and continue learning on the ground how to better the environment around her. In her free time Hayden enjoys spending her days on a horse, gardening, and spending time outdoors around the ranch with her two wild cowdogs and son Jack.

Holly was raised in the mountains outside of Durango, CO.  She was fortunate that her family ran an outdoor education business. She actively participated in backpacking tours, bike tours through the western United States and Canada, and Habitat for Humanity work trips in Mexico. She earned her undergraduate degree at Northern Arizona University and worked with children’s outdoor educational camps that explored native cultures and the landscape of Northern Arizona. She holds an M.Agr. in Agriculture Sciences–Integrated Resource Management and a Graduate Certificate in Applied Global Stability in Agriculture from Colorado State University. Her professional experience includes running a diversified farm that produced pastured broiler chickens, eggs, lamb, and goat meat. She worked as the office and production manager at her local USDA-inspected meat processing facility, where she enjoyed working with local livestock producers and helping to provide healthy, locally raised food for her community. Currently, she lives on a farm in southwestern Colorado with chickens, goats, sheep, guard dogs, cats, and many family members.  She is thankful to be working with Quivira and excited to support mentors and apprentices in Southern Colorado and New Mexico.

Julie Sullivan was born and raised in California. After working as an actor, arts administrator, and starting a private progressive preschool in Seattle, she earned her Master’s in Environmental Education and subsequently taught interdisciplinary environmental education at both undergraduate and graduate levels for the Audubon Expedition Institute at Lesley University. She spent those years challenging students to look beyond surface conflicts between environmentalism and agriculture, and to see the common values and goals shared by both points of view. After over a decade living outside teaching for the Expedition, Julie met and joined George Whitten at the ranch in 2001 on his certified organic, grass-finished cattle ranch. The ranch is committed to restorative practices that result in soil health, functioning grassland ecosystems, and viable small scale ranching. Julie and George and the founding mentors of the Quivira Coalition New Agrarian Program and have been mentors since its inception. Julie also serves as Mentor Support and Training for the New Agrarian Program. She is fiercely dedicated to the next generation of agrarians, fully functioning ecosystems and creative solutions to the interaction of humans with their planet.

Leah comes to Quivira Coalition with over a decade of experience coordinating and managing nonprofit programs at the intersection of sustainable agriculture, environmental education, and community resiliency. After graduating from Bowdoin College with a B.A. in Anthropology and Environmental Studies, she spent five years working at an outdoor science school in California, helping kids build connections to the outdoors through ecology lessons and exploration. In addition to teaching outdoor ed, she’s also taught garden and cooking classes in the Bay Area, and English in northern Chile. More recently, Leah managed California’s Market Match program, one of the nation’s largest SNAP incentive programs. She helped lead the expansion of the program to over 260 farmers’ markets across the state, supporting small scale farmers, low-income families, and a stronger local food system in the process. Outside of work, Leah likes to spend time up in the mountains on long runs, learning about geology, or whipping up a batch of waffles in her kitchen.

Mattie was raised in the Sawtooth Mountains outside of Stanley, Idaho and has had an interest in building relationships with the land and her food since an early age. Gardening, hunting, fly fishing, and foraging were all integral parts of her homeschool education. Her combined interest in ecological systems and food inspired her to study permaculture design at age 18, and continued through college where she helped develop a campus community garden before graduating with a B.A. in Environmental Studies-Geology from Whitman College. After school, she traveled and volunteered on farms across Southeast Asia before returning to the West, where she worked seasonally conducting field studies, wrangling for a hunting outfitter, and tending several small goat farms. In 2018, she moved to Bozeman, MT where she served two years as an Americorps VISTA at a non-profit food bank. Her work involved managing a small volunteer-powered farm that grew fresh food for their customers and creating a new community garden space where visitors can learn about the agricultural histories of the region, Indigenous food systems, and food forestry. When the COVID pandemic struck, she returned to Montana State University to learn more about the systemic barriers and opportunities for strengthening local and regional food systems and earned an M.S. in Sustainable Food Systems. She is excited to support the next generation of agrarians across the Northern Plains, and to continue connecting people with the land to create a more robust and resilient food system. She currently lives in a cabin outside of Bozeman with her cat, Luna. She likes to listen to live music, wander through the mountains, and work with her hands.