Meet the team

Patti Ragsdale

Founder and Executive Director

• Home base: Happy Apple’s Farm, Tonganoxie, KS
• Day job: You’re looking at it!
• Favorite native plant: Lady’s tresses orchids (Spiranthes sp.)
• Favorite book: Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer

Jenni Baxter

Grower

• Home base: Linwood, Kansas
• Day job: Growing native plants for Botanical Belonging
• Favorite native plant: Leadplant (Amorpha canescens)

Anna Funk

Board President

• Home base: Kansas City, MO
• Day job: Freelance science journalism, content marketing, and consulting
• Favorite native plant: Prairie dropseed (Sporobolus heterolepis)

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Courtney Masterson

Board Secretary

• Home base: Lawrence, KS
• Day job: Ecologist and owner/operator, Native Lands LLC
• Favorite native plant: All of them!
• Favorite smell: Gray-headed coneflower (Ratibida pinnata) seeds.

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Teri Burchett

Board Treasurer

• Home base: Tonganoxie, KS
• Day job: Grandparent, retired accountant, volunteer
• Favorite native plant: Butterflyweed (Asclepias tuberosa)
• Favorite event: Botanical Brewfest, Overland Park Arboretum & Botanical Gardens

Connie Chapman

Board Member

• Home base: Stilwell, KS
• Day job: Water quality education with Friends of the KAW and small business manager
• Favorite native plant: Blue sage (Salvia azurea)

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Brent Ragsdale

Board Member

• Home base: Happy Apple’s Farm, Tonganoxie, KS
• Day job: Business Development Manager with Willdan
• Favorite native plant: Solomon’s Seal (because the Latin name brings out my junior high sense of humor.)
• Favorite beer: Crank Case IPA from Blue Skye Brewery (Salina, KS). It’s made from Kernza perennial wheat developed by the Land Institute (and it’s darn good too.)