Andrika Kuhle, President

Andrika Kuhle joined the Moscow Food Co-op board in August 2009 and is excited to be a board member. Andrika was a geologist in her former life (she especially likes water-related issues and geologic mapping) and in recent years has devoted her time to raising her two young boys. Before joining the board, she served as the Tuesday Growers' Market coordinator for two years.

Andrika's interests lie particularly in encouraging ever-greater sustainable food practices. She is a novice gardener with aspirations to “grow” her urban gardening skills. She enjoys living in the Moscow community, and also likes backpacking with her family, backcountry skiing, and running.

Sheryl Hagen-Zakarison, Vice President

I came to WSU in 1979 to become an agronomist, fell in love with the Palouse, and never looked back. Over the last 30 years I have farmed with my husband Eric and raised three children, numerous lambs, calves, chickens, crops, and gardens. After earning a few university degrees and putting in several stints at both Washington State University and University of Idaho , I am back on the farm full time.

The abiding purpose of my life is to offer delicious, nutritious, responsibly raised food to my family, friends, and the community. I want to be one of those who feeds the Palouse and, perhaps, nurtures a thriving community through food. It is a most creative and difficult endeavor. The most gratifying part of farming and living in the Palouse is that I continue to learn from the earth and the people who live and work here.

So here's to good food and a lifetime of learning. Here's to the Moscow Food Co-op, the growers, and the eaters of the Palouse! Bon appetit !

Jamie Bentley, Secretary

Jamie Bentley comes to Idaho form Northern New York, where she worked as a Nutrition Educator for the St. Lawrence County Health Initiative and also served as a board member for the Potsdam Food Co-op.  Before that, she earned a Masters of Public Health from Indiana University in Bloomington, IN. She currently works at WSU coordinating Green Bike, a bike share program and works collaborating with other departments to bring green initiatives/events to campus.  In her free time, she can be found telemark skiing, mountain biking, white water rafting, and climbing, although she has not yet figured out how to do all of these at once.

Kimberly Vincent

I have been a member of the Moscow Food Co-op since I moved to Moscow in November 1987. A bit of history: I went to graduate school at the University of Idaho and worked on two PhDs. I completed the course work toward a PhD in pure theoretical mathematics, then switched to a PhD in mathematics education in order to research ways to improve how we teach mathematics.

I want people to understand mathematics, rather than just memorize rules that they forget a week later. I have been teaching mathematics and mathematics education courses in the math department at Washington State University since 1998. I work with future teachers of mathematics and also teach workshops for in-service teachers around Washington . I am politically active on many state education initiatives in Washington by serving on the Math Panel for the State Board of Education and have worked with the Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction in Washington .

On a personal note, my husband Peter and I adopt abused malamutes from the Washington Alaskan Malamute Adoption League. Our latest adoptee is Pogo (not in the picture). He is a bouncy puppy who is quite curious. In the picture with me is Ilean—so named because she likes to lean—who weighs 105 pounds and is 12 ½ years old. Our son Nathan lives in Lacey, Washington and is a graduate of Evergreen State College.

Mark Mumford

I was born in Bielsko , Poland in 1953 and emigrated to the United States with my parents in 1959.  In 1957, my grandfather (who had been in the Polish army in World War II, had fought throughout the Middle East and up the Italian peninsula at Monte Casino and through Europe, landed in England at the end of the War, and then came to Chicago) sought to sponsor his daughter (my mother), my father, and me in the United States.   Poland was locked down by the Communists in   1957, and the Polish government refused.

Israel had won its independence, and in 1957 Jews were allowed to leave Poland to resettle in Israel .  My father is Jewish, and so, with American dollars sent by my grandfather, we manipulated our ethnic identities in order to emigrate to Israel as a stepping stone to America . We lived in Israel for two years on a Kibbutz in the Negev Desert .

When we came to the United States in 1959, we settled in a Polish neighborhood in Chicago .  My parents spoke not a word of English.  I started the first grade and learned the language with ease, as children do.  Eventually, we became Americans.  The rest, as they say, is history.   I am delighted to be a member of the Co-op Board.  The Co-op is a wonderful organization, focused on great people and great food. What could be better?

Donal Wilkinson

Donal Wilkinson was born in Providence , Rhode Island in 1964. He started his ambitious career early as a cook in a Mexican restaurant. In his spare time in high school he followed the Grateful Dead around the country. After high school, he joined the Navy (1983 to 1989) and traveled the world as a cryptologist. Upon leaving the Navy he moved to the west coast and managed a vegetarian restaurant for a couple of years, then managed a youth hostel in Saratoga , California , while he completed bachelor's degrees in both biology and environmental education, with a minor in Native American studies.

His subsequent career included work as a biologist for The Nature Conservancy, managing a preserve in Sonoma California ; assistant director of a city tree-planting organization in San Jose , California ; owner of a landscape construction business in Portland , Oregon ; and a classroom teacher in Oregon City , Oregon .

Having moved to Moscow in 2004 to live near friends and family, Donal is fully engaged by the community. All his “work” revolves around children. He is co-coordinator of the Moscow Mentor Program, which matches adults in the community with children K-6 who need another adult in their corner. He also coordinates a group of drug- and alcohol-free junior-high-school students called Insomnia Outbreak. His other passion is a non-profit he helped to found, Adventure Learning Camps. In this job he takes children and families on wilderness trips all over the western U.S.

Donal's hobbies include anything that gets him into the wilderness, such as long-distance backpacking, canoeing, mountain climbing, kayaking, and cross-country skiing, as well as gardening and coaching junior-high football, just to name a few.