About
The Agrarian Adventure is a publicly-supported 501(c)3 nonprofit that exists due to the active participation and dedicated support of students, teachers, parents, and community members. We are a grassroots organization growing up from within Tappan Middle School, a large middle school, located in Ann Arbor, MI serving nearly 800 students in grades 6-8.
Our educational programming has been made possible through grassroots efforts and support from the community since 2003.
Our program areas are:
Mission
The Agrarian Adventure partners with K-12 schools to enrich students' connection between the foods they eat, their personal health, and the health of their communities and the environment. Through experiential education in sustainable food and agriculture, local food, and healthy learning in the cafeteria, we connect students to the sources of their food and empower them to transform their lives and the food culture in positive ways.
About our Board
Elissa Trumbull — President
Coming Soon.
Catherine Badgley — Treasurer
Coming Soon.
Monica Patel — Secretary
Coming Soon.
Rodger Bowser
Rodger is a chef at the locally owned and operated Zingerman's Delicatessen. As one of the adult leaders of Tappan Food and Garden Club, he shares his culinary knowledge with youth by teaching them how to prepare healthy foods through hands-on experience. He also organizes and facilitates cooking by the students for our public events. Rodger is a local leader in promoting local foods and the creation of new markets for growers in the last seven years. Rodger is also on the leadership team of South East Michigan's Food System Economic Partnership, and participates on their Farm to School committee.
Nancy Birkmeyer
Nancy is an epidemiologist and Associate Professor in the Department of Surgery at the University of Michigan Medical School and the Associate Director of the Michigan Surgical Collaborative for Outcomes Research and Evaluation (M-SCORE). Her research involves the evaluation of surgical treatments and quality of care in cancer, obesity, and cardiovascular diseases. In her free time, Nancy enjoys running, cooking, and volunteering in the Tappan Garden. She lives in Ann Arbor with her husband and three young children.
Nick Durrie
A long-time member of Agrarian Adventure, Nick is passionate about building infrastructure (greenhouse, shed, fences, gates—anything built). A carpenter and architect, Nick owns Durrie Design Build, specializing in green residential remodeling, energy efficient design, and small homes. His interest in food and gardening developed as a response to the snowballing blandness of corporate food, and also because he wants to recreate, however possible, the experience he had as a young child growing up on a small market garden farm outside of Rome, Italy. His family rented part of the big farmhouse and had the run of the place; trees laden with fruit, wine-making in the cellar, acres of grapes, fresh eggs and vegetables. For a kid from the suburbs it was two years in paradise.
Jeremy Moghtader
Jeremy has been heavily involved with the Agrarian Adventure from the start, helping to run the Tappan Food and Garden Club during its first year, and working with members of the organization on programming, projects, fundraising, and promotion since the fall of 2003. He is a farm manager and instructor at the Michigan State University Student Organic Farm, where he runs a year-round 48 week Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) program and teaches in the Organic Farming Certificate Program. Jeremy also serves on the leadership team of two other non-profit organizations, Slow Food Huron Valley and the Food System Economic Partnership of Southeast Michigan where he is chair of the Farm to School Committee working to increase the consumption of healthy locally produced foods in school meals.
Our History
Coming soon.
Newsletters & Publications
Agrarian Reflections Newsletter
- Winter 2006 (pdf)
