About

President

Laura grew up in the Lakeville area on a small farmstead south of Lakeville, which her and her husband Michael purchased from her parents. Laura's mom was one of the founding members of the Lakeville Area Garden Club in 1990, and held the role of the first President of the club.

She is a lifelong gardener, first helping her parents on the farm and now growing her own robust vegetable gardens on the same property.  Laura operates a produce farm during growing season and enjoys her homegrown veggies, fruit, and home canned goods under Minnesota's cottage food law.  She is an avid canner and puts up hundreds upon hundreds of jars of canned goods each growing season.

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Outside of the growing season, Laura also teaches band part time.

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Vice President

Deanne grew up in Centennial Colorado and moved to Rosemount in 2005. She became an LAGC member in May 2017. She is married and has a 12 year old son.

Her hobbies are indoor plants, raised bed vegetable gardening, sewing, needlepoint, and Cricket projects.

Deanne has been a Lunch Lady for over 6 years at a Lakeville Elementary School and  loves her job.

In addition to  her job, she also volunteers with  Hospitality and Community service at River Valley Chapter 35 of Minnesota School Nutrition Association. This organization works to insure that children with food insecurity receive the food/meals they need.

Deanne describes her best day as a day she  can get out into her garden to weed or plant something new, just to see if it will make the cold our winter months. 

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Secretary

I’m an Australian living in Minnesota. 

I grew up watching my very frugal grandmother work in her garden, reusing and repurposing everything. She collected rainwater from the gutters in buckets and drums, way before it was trendy. It was her way to save money, but it was also a very smart idea in a country that suffers from drought. 

My mother and I gardened too, lovingly planting anything that provides for the family, fruit trees, herbs, veggies and edible flowers, but I started becoming interested in the details. Zones, climate, specifications, and then fell in love with Australian natives plants and trees. 
Then 20 years ago I married a Minnesotan and moved to Georgia, USA.  I had to start from scratch, learning the zones, soil, climate with the help of a local Garden Club….then after living in Georgia for 8 years we moved to Minnesota. 

And so I’m learning all over again. 

4 years here I find out through a new friend about the local garden Club. Ever since joining LAGC, I have learned so very much that it has been a true gift. 

My garden is looking great and I am honored to have had it displayed for the club garden tour. 

It’s been a wonderful journey and I am now the Secretary of the Lakeville Area Garden Club. 

I am still learning more and more every season. 

Treasurer

​Sandhya grew up in India and moved to Minnesota 15 years ago with her husband. Growing up in a farming family in the rich delta area of River Krishna in the south, she was always interested in crop cycles and organic farming. When she came to the US, she first started to plant indoors and learned many things that could go wrong before they could work right ! Now she has a backyard where she grows a little of everything possible in the summer months. Aside from her day job as an IT worker and parenting her 2 boys, she loves to cook, make friends, relive memories of her childhood home and take short walks on long summer days. For the last 2 years her favorite pastime has been to participate in LAGC activities and meet the many fascinating gardeners.