Laurie wears many hats in the CCE Essex Office. Most of her hours are spent as the Senior Administrator for CCE and the Administrator for the Adirondack Harvest program. She was originally hired in 2006 to coordinate Adirondack Harvest and still continues to be greatly involved in the program, but happily took the office manager position when it opened up. When needs arise, she also has IT, HR, Communications and Safety responsibilities. She enjoys being a part of all the programming CCE offers, through her administrative work. Laurie has a B.A. in Biology from Wheaton College (Mass.) and an M.S. in Botany from the University of Vermont. Laurie and her husband, Mike, moved to Willsboro, NY in 1993 to establish a market garden and support themselves by selling fresh vegetables, fruit, herbs, flowers, baked goods and meats to their community. As more young farmers came to Essex County and established their own niche farming operations and Mike's and Laurie's three sons occupied more of their time, they scaled back their farm and took jobs with the Cornell Willsboro Research Farm (Mike) and Essex County CCE (Laurie). Their business, Harvest Hill Farm, has gone through many iterations: market garden, CSA, on-site farmstand, off-site farmstand and mail order. But the passion to work the land, feed the soil and contribute to the community remains strong. Laurie's interests beyond farming include old farmhouse renovation, cooking, knitting, quilting and grandparenting.
