Hello! My name is River Ostrow and I am so thrilled and honored to be starting as a Program Educator with Midwest Food connection this school year. I’d like to share a little bit about my adventures in food and education so far. I graduated from the University of Minnesota, Morris with degrees in environmental studies and English and have always considered my three biggest passions to be teaching, the natural world, and food. I am lucky to have had opportunities before, during, and after college to explore how these three passions often come together in my work and volunteer life. I spent a year working at environmental education camps where I taught ecology, geology, plant identification, and a bit of soil science. I spent a year in Vermont serving through AmeriCorps with a non-profit called Green Mountain Farm-to-School, where I maintained and harvested school gardens with children, taught nutrition classes, and cooked taste tests with classes. 

Making pasta with one of my students at Children’s Country Day School

 After a year in Vermont, I returned to Minnesota, and was lucky to find my next big adventure: preschool! I worked for two and a half years as a preschool teacher at a nature-based preschool with gardens and a hobby farm called Children’s Country Day School. I was still able to cook with kids and spent most of my time with my students outside exploring nature. When I saw the opening for Program Educator with Midwest Food Connection, I knew I had found my dream! I am beyond excited to be working with Midwest Food Connection to bring the power of a deep relationship with food to as many children as possible. I live in St. Paul with my two parakeets Lawrence and Gilbert. In my free time, I volunteer on the board of the Minnesota Association for Environmental Education (MAEE), work at the Mill City Farmers Market, and teach healthy snacks lessons at the Midway YMCA. I love to cook, knit, write poetry, and play music, and my favorite local foods are carrots, tomatoes, and kimchi.