about us
We’re a highly collaborative and supportive team of expert Garden Educators. We are passionate about the connections, growth and learning that takes place in nature.
Our Mission
We will create a space for school staff and students to make connections with themselves, the earth and each other while learning and growing. We will establish thriving school gardens and continue to be the number one school garden expert in the North-West Houston area.
Our Values
We strive to build unique, long-lasting and organic school learning gardens that produce abounding harvests. We aim to deliver the very best Garden Day experience each and every time with highly-qualified Garden Educators, hands-on student experiences and dedicated gardening support.
“The Ready to Grow Gardens staff is always prepared, knowledgeable and flexible.”
Elizabeth Franklin
Teacher, CFISD
Meet the Ready to Grow Gardens Team
Stephanie Baker (Founder and Owner)
Stephanie earned her Texas Master Gardener Certification from the Texas Cooperative Extensive and Harris County Master Gardener Association in June of 2003.
She was named Outstanding Volunteer for the fall class of 2002 in recognition of her outstanding service of over 220 volunteer hours. Her volunteer work was primarily spent with students at Sheridan Elementary where two days a week she taught two hundred third graders how to grow a variety of vegetables out of 70 individual container gardens.
Since that time, she has worked to design and build over 40 other elementary school gardens.
Kara Wolf (Garden Educator and Assistant Garden Day Coordinator)
My first love was flowers. As a child I remember collecting fists full of flowers on neighborhood walks, drawing them in my sketch book as a tween and eventually learning to grow and arrange them as an adult in Conroe, TX where I reside with my husband. The garden quickly became the first and last place that I found myself each day.
Becoming a Garden Educator with RTGG was a natural progression as I have taught in the traditional school setting as a certified Spanish teacher for 4 years and I love students. I have taught Spanish to PreK through Seniors in high school and I love every age. 2022-23 is my third year working as a Garden Educator.
I am incredibly excited to get into your school learning gardens and help your students discover the joys of a garden. Planting seeds, discovering critters and harvesting carrots with children, truly, never gets old.
I grew up in New Orleans with my parents and 3 sisters. Our Dad always had a garden in the backyard where we harvested food for our meals. I can still remember my first taste of fresh broccoli. It was so much better than the frozen broccoli we were used to out of a box. I loved spending time outside with my dad and watching him in the garden. He loved gardening so much that as he grew older he installed grab bars on the fence so that he could continue gardening.
I joined the Ready To Grow Gardens team after retiring from my 34 year teaching career. I have taught the majority of my career in the elementary grades. I spent a few years teaching deaf and hearing impaired students and then moved to regular education. Most of my career was spent in CFISD in 2nd, 4th and 5th grades. I spent 11 years teaching in central Pennsylvania where I was the Gifted Support coordinator K-12 in the Bald Eagle Area School District.
This job allows me to continue to teach, but in an outside garden classroom. I love teaching the students about growing their own food and watching nature in action in our butterfly/veggie gardens. I like to watch the students be able to see the progression from seed to table. This will be my fourth year to have the awesome opportunity to bring the Science classroom outside!!
Alysse LeGrand (Garden Educator)
I grew up in Kentucky absolutely loving all things nature. From a young age, I always had to plant my own garden and loved every minute of it! I recently graduated from the University of Alabama with a dual Bachelor degree and a minor in Spanish. I found a passion for outdoor education while working with students in Costa Rica. I am very enthusiastic about environmental conservation and want to inspire students to learn more about the importance of organic gardening and the nature around us.
I love sharing my passion and hope to inspire young minds to love gardening as well! Watching students discover new things is truly magical and I am so excited to grow with students this year!
Celise Hamann (Garden Educator)
I have always had a love for the outdoors. I grew up camping most weekends and truly enjoyed being out in nature. Today you can find me in my own yard tending to my flower beds or looking for a new plant to add to my collection.
I retired in 2022 after 27 years of being an elementary classroom educator in Cypress Fairbanks ISD. My career was split between Lieder Elementary and A. Robison Elementary. Even after 27 years, I can say that I still have a passion for teaching. God has blessed me with this opportunity to share my love for gardening with my love of children. I look forward to all the fun garden experiences I will share with them!