Secretary: Currently vacant + actively recruiting
President: Currently vacant + actively recruiting
Executive Director: Currently Vacant
Blanche Chymycz - Vice President + Volunteer Coordinator
Blanche grew up outside Tomahawk, AB on a small acreage where her parents maintained a huge garden. Blanche and her brother Lance were expected to weed and otherwise contribute to the maintenance of the garden plot. Unfortunately, being a tomboy, Blanche was more interested in climbing trees and hanging out with her dogs.
Fast forward a few decades and Blanche is now the proud owner of a house whose yard is entirely Permaculture. Over the past twelve years, Blanche has worked hard to install her yard using Permaculture principles. Initially designed by Karla Cox, a Permaculture designer, Blanche learned along the way with considerable help. Her yard is now a beautiful oasis from the world where swallows return every year to raise their babies. Bees, butterflies, and other creatures also call the yard home and Blanche grows a considerable amount of food, decreasing her grocery bills while eating food grown without chemicals.
Outside of gardening, Blanche is a Recreation Therapist with Alberta Health Services. She supports her patients in a love of everything nature, encouraging walks and explorations of the outdoor world. Blanche still has dogs (currently 5) plus an albino hedgehog, and does a significant amount of volunteering in Cochrane.
Dave Fallavollita - Director
Dave is a new Cochranite with an amateur green thumb. He moved to Cochrane in 2023 with his wife and children. His gardening claim to fame: yielding cherry tomato plants on his condo balcony in Toronto, at the bustling intersection of King and Bathurst.
He comes from a long line of urban gardeners, having grown up in an Italian immigrant household where backyard plantings ensured bosc pears were fresh, peas were ample, the apple tree was spliced with multiple varieties and the green house had a giant fig tree its tenant. In fact, the lemon tree his Grandparents brought to Canada from Italy still to this day provides an annual yield. He was allowed to play hockey as a kid SOLELY to ensure the shafts of broken sticks provided spikes for tomato plants.
His grandparents put him to work at a very young age, from tilling, to seeding, to picking, the best part being the eating. This reward is what he loves about Cultivate Cochrane’s mandate, and the reason he wanted to help the Society teach people about how amazing it is to grow and eat your own food, in Cochrane, one of the hardest places to grow fruits and vegetables.
Carrie Corbin – Treasurer
Carrie was introduced to gardening and greenhouse growing by her mom and Oma in Edmonton area as a preschooler. Since then, she has become passionate about growing, harvesting, and cooking with all kinds of things: veggies, fruit, flowers. She even makes regular trips to the coast to harvest wild thorny blackberries – an adrenaline sport. She has tried, failed and sometimes succeeded at gardening in BC, Alberta, and Colombia. Carrie has lives in Cochrane with her elementary school daughter and various sometimes bizarre ecosystems of pets and plants. She looks forward to applying her engineering, business and education background to such a worthwhile community connection hub.
Glen Smith - Director
Glen Smith is the co-founder of Eco-Growth Environmental Inc. and a certified permaculture designer. With a passion for sustainable agriculture and ecological practices, Glen focuses on integrating permaculture principles into community projects. His expertise in environmental science and commitment to regenerative solutions help promote sustainable living and empower communities to thrive in harmony with nature.
Julie Fisher - Director
Julie first joined Cultivate Cochrane in 2019 and has returned after a brief hiatus in London, England. She grew up in Calgary, but has aspirations of flower farming and creating community learning and demonstration spaces for farmers and consumers alike. She received her B Sc. in agriculture from the university of Alberta and spent her early career developing and delivering agriculture education programs for k-12 students and teachers. She is currently a full time mom to a busy toddler and looks forward to further supporting the incredible work Cultivate Cochrane does!