Hello Yarducopians! My name is Lara Ruegg, and I am one of the new Alaska Community Action on Toxics interns. I am so excited to get down in the dirt this summer with the Michelle and all of the Yarducopia gardeners.

I grew up in the Bay Area in California, and I just finished up my third year at Whitman College, in Walla Walla, Washington, where I am completing a degree in Environmental Studies with a focus on Sociology, and a minor in Geology. I am a runner and backpacker, and one of my life goals is to pet as many dogs as I can (Anchorage is making this goal so easy!) This last April I worked at a school garden in New South Wales, Australia, where I got to engage with three of my passions, education, the outdoors, and veggies. I hope to continue with this combination here in Alaska by helping to develop organic gardening in the Anchorage Community.

This is me in my natural habitat, on a mountaintop in Oregon:

Happy gardening!

Lara