is an educator, farmer and naturalist based in Greenfield Massachusetts.

She is currently the assistant manager at Big River Chestnuts: a diversified chestnut agroforestry farm along the Connecticut River in Sunderland MA.

Ellena has experience managing farm operations, volunteer programs, building teams, and leading hands-on educational opportunities with farms and land-based organizations.

Over the last decade she has combined her love of land and people by engaging youth and adults on the farm and in the woods with Grow Food Northampton, Hitchcock Center for the Environment, and Leapfrog Programs. She was most recently co-manager of Yellowbud Farm: a tree crops nursery growing resilient trees to strengthen our future food systems.

Since 2009 she has participated in numerous training programs in permaculture and community-based ecological design which have informed her holistic approach to land management and education.

Ellena is currently a Climate Adaptation and Mitigation Fellow with the USDA Northeast Climate Hub and is continually learning best practices for adapting agriculture for greater resilience in a changing world.

She serves on the Board of Directors of Rich Earth Institute, an organization engaging in research, education and technological innovation to advance the use of human waste as a vital resource.