N.C. Cooperative Extension, Henderson County Center is pleased to announce the addition of Leigh Siracusano to our staff as of October 14, 2024. Leigh replaces Isaac Wyatt as our Agricultural Program Assistant.

Leigh is originally from New Jersey but completed her bachelor’s degree in biology at Appalachian State University. She most recently worked with the Southern Appalachian Highlands Conservancy in Asheville. She served there as an AmeriCorps member affiliated with Project Conserve, a program focused on building the capacity of local conservation and natural resource management organizations in Western North Carolina.

Prior to that Leigh worked in California for the East Stanislaus Resource Conservation District as a Watershed Coordinator. In that position, she cultivated partnerships between watershed stakeholders to work on salmonid habitat restoration on the main tributaries of the San Joaquin River basin.

In her role with N.C. Cooperative Extension, Henderson County Center, Leigh will be working with our applied research efforts as well as our Master Gardener and Master Pomology programs. She will also be available for homeowner questions on lawns and gardens.

During her time at Appalachian State, Leigh co-managed three public community garden spaces, cultivated heirloom southern Appalachian plant varieties, and explored a variety of regenerative agricultural practices to maximize ecological health, garden diversity and food productivity. She has experience in seed saving, permaculture and forest gardening. This is all experience that will serve her well in her new role.

We are excited to have Leigh as part of our team. We invite you to come by and meet Leigh. She will be a great asset to our office and the community. In the meantime, if you would like to reach out to her via email, her address is lasiracu@ncsu.edu.