Worthy Brewing announced their Garden Club in March, a 501(c)(3) non-profit dedicated to promoting and protecting the environment. The Garden Club operates two arms, the Worthy green house and hop yard and the Hopservatory. Through those two outlets they hold regular events, activities, classes, seminars etc. Yesterday, the Garden Club announced the appointment of Kody Osborne and David Blair to the organization staff and more about their mission and advocacy.

More from a press release:

Kody Osborne will serve as Director of Environmental Affairs.  Mr. Osborne served as Lead Naturalist of the Sunriver Nature Center and Observatory for just shy of a decade. As leader of Nature Center environmental education programs, Kody is a regionally acknowledged expert in High Desert and Pacific Northwest wildlife and ecosystems, as well as wild raptor rehabilitation. He recently led the successful relocation of a wild swan from Seattle to Sunriver, to replace the swan that was poached last year.   

David Blair will serve as the Club’s Executive Director.   A graduate of the University of Montana Forestry School, Mr. Blair served as natural resources policy advisor to members of Congress from Montana, Colorado, and Oregon prior to relocating to Bend to cover regional matters for Senator Ron Wyden.   Since 2012 Mr. Blair has worked in the drone / data management industry, and as a government affairs consultant for Epic Aircraft and CiES, Inc.

“It’s been a major goal of the board to increase the capacity of Worthy Garden Club, allowing us to expand and improve our work,” said Mr. Worthington.  “We’ve got a lot on our plate, and a lot of work in front of us. I think David and Kody, with their complementary skill sets, will bring our game to the next level in fulfilling the club’s mission.”    

Worthy Garden Club is a 501(c)3 non-profit housed at Worthy Brewing Company.  With an overall mission of improving appreciation for the natural environment, and calling attention to the environmental threats to our planet, the Club’s specific efforts include:

• Managing the Hopservatory telescope and its educational programs;
• Managing the Worthy greenhouse program, aimed at hops and native landscape education;  
• convening public forums involving national stature university environmental scientists, and policy makers, to discuss the threats to earth ecosystems, and the measures we can take to address them; and
• In concert with Oregon State University scientist Bill Ripple and allied non-profits, restoration of 63 acres of club-owned land along Tenmile Creek, about 10 miles South of Yachats, to a fully functional, native coast range ecosystem.   

Mr. Blair and Mr. Osborne join current staffers Horticulturist, Lisa Sanco, manager of Worthy Gardens, and Grant Tandy, manager of the Worthy Hopservatory.  

Worthy Garden Club is a 501 (c) 3 non-profit housed at Worthy Brewing Company.  The organization works to promote appreciation of the cosmos through the Hopservatory; the importance of hops and native landscaping at the Worthy Gardens; growing public awareness of the threats to earth ecosystems; and re-wilding of timberlands along tenmile creek near Yachats.