Rachel grew up on a nine-generation family farm on the rugged coast of Cobscook Bay, traditional homeland of the Passamaquoddy. She was the first woman of her lineage to stay on the land, and her strong relationship to place and community have informed much of her work. Rachel was a founding member of the Cobscook Institute, a three-nation (Passamaquoddy, American, and Canadian) nonprofit dedicated to educational opportunities that strengthen community wellness, and also served on the grant-making panel of the Haymarket People’s Fund. Rachel is a trained mediator and has experience in teaching, facilitation, fundraising, grant-writing, and marketing. For the last decade, she has dedicated herself to running an organic farm and award-winning cheese-making business. She is passionate about the preservation of traditional and indigenous food systems and issues of land access. She believes there is a strong correlation between protecting cultural diversity and sustaining biodiversity, and that the health of the land and the health of people are inextricably intertwined. In her free time, Rachel is a poet, dancer, and singer-songwriter who performs with two bands. She is currently studying to become a clinical herbalist. She hopes to dedicate her life to the work of healing and believes this begins with tending to the deepest roots of our collective wounds.