Board Members

Hans Rosch - Hans is the Board’s longest serving member, Hans acts as Sunnivue Farm’s structural engineer, mechanic, and maintenance director.  Hans is committed to Bio-dynamic Farming practices and has been a student of Rudolph Steiner for many years.  

Jens Sticklings - Jens Stickling has been involved with the Sunnivue Farm for almost ten years.  He is a real estate investor who brings a wealth of knowledge to the business and investment side of the farm. Jens is committed to the triple bottom line: “Community supported agriculture (CSA) was pioneered by biodynamic farmers.  Over 5,000 farms encompassing more than 400,000 acres certified in 60 countries around the globe work in creative partnerships with schools, medical and wellness facilities, restaurants, hotels, homes for social therapy, and other organizations. Biodynamics brings new thinking and practices into financial circles.”  

Mary Simpson -   Mary Simpson, MES, York U, is a farmer who has had a career in rural community development.  She recently joined the ROSE Board, bringing her skills in governance, planning, and project management.  She and her husband operate the 200-acre Old River Farm, also a community farm committed to regenerative farming, education, and research.   “A farm trust like ROSE will demonstrate how we can keep farm ownership in the community for the next seven generations.” 

Katherine Lawless - Kate Lawless is a professor of global studies at Huron University in London, ON. Her research focuses on social and ecological justice, material cultures, agroecology, and the relationship between subjectivity and place. Kate leads a team of soil scientists, social scientists, artists, and curators on the federally-funded research project “Soil as a Relational Medium,” which reframes soil as a living body and set of social and material relations rather than an object or resource and examines human-soil relations in regenerative agriculture. She is also a dedicated educator whose teaching spans the fields of human geography, cultural anthropology, political economy and ecology, and critical and cultural theory and places a high value on community-engaged and active learning. Kate has a strong record of community engagement, working with the City of London and local non-profits, including Life*Spin and Urban Roots London, on experiential learning opportunities. Currently, Kate is a member of ROSE A Land Care Association board of directors, and she is on the Science Advisory Committee for the Ontario Woodlot Association’s application to the AAFC Living Labs Initiative.

Dagmar Wendt - Dagmar Wendt is an entrepreneur who owned and operated an iconic restaurant in London, ON for over 30 years.  Dagmar became interested in ROSE in 2016 and truly believes in the principles of Biodynamic agriculture. To honour her commitment, Dagmar leads a biodynamic reading circle on behalf of ROSE  Land Care Association.  She is also the Board treasurer.   “I am passionate about healthy soil and regenerative growing methods.  Since 1991, Sunnivue Farm has been farmed by passionate people. We are in a transition now, and the IRP will help our farm community attract investors who are also committed to a holistic, ecological, and ethical approach to farming, gardening, food, and nutrition.”  

Kristina Courey - Kristina is the education and community programming lead for New Moon Community Homestead. Kristina has a Masters degree in the Sociology of Education and has a background in alternative educational models and has worked with a variety of client populations including children, mothers, and people with disabilities. Kristina leads the Forest School at the farm. Kristina is a Farm Board member of ROSE Land Care Association.  

Josh Laurence - The efforts to build community through sustainable agricultural practice and education have been part of my doing and thinking for some time. When I discovered the work of ROSE, I was impressed and inspired to get involved. I have enjoyed lending a hand at New Moon Community Homestead, the vehicular expression of biodynamic farming with which I am most familiar. 

I would like to see more opportunities for apprenticeships and educational/youth group involvement. That usually brings along older folks (parents and the like) who are usually caught up in the day-to-day of survival, until young ones bring them along with a bit of hope and enthusiasm for making a difference. That will lead to diversification of involvement and broader community impact.

Administrative Support

Aimee Challis - Aimee has been the administrative coordinator for ROSE Land Care Association for 4 years. She is intimately familiar with the business and farm dynamics of the association and is dependable and organized with her administrative duties.

Operations

Mike Courey is the Director of Operations for ROSE and the operator of New Moon Community Homestead along with his wife Kristina Courey and four children. Mike brings to the team a strong background in community development, inclusive economic development, research, and agriculture. Mike has a diploma in agriculture and a PhD in Sociology. He has led a project called Inclusive Economy London and Region over the past three years. He is a lead farmer in New Moon Community Homestead and teaches courses at King’s University College’s department of sociology. He has specialized in community economies over the past three years leading teams on social procurement, community and cooperative ownership of businesses, and decent work. He is familiar with the social finance community in southwestern Ontario. 

Sunnivue Farmers

O’Neil and Peters Organic Dairy and Cropping:

Jason O’Neil and Twan Peters have rented the fields and barn since 2016.  Jason operates an organic dairy herd in the Sunnivue barn and Twan focuses on the crops. 

New Moon Community Homestead:

A new project launched on Sunnivue with a focus on supporting the objects of ROSE, New Moon Community Homestead is a mixed meat, egg and produce operation with a community building focus. Mike and Kristina Courey are the lead farmers on the project, which invites households to participate in the production of their own food, and also offers community programming including Farm and Forest School (in collaboration with At Last Forest Schools).