First Community Adviser for The Cherry Orchard Project

I have been spending the last few weeks getting a list together for my community advisory board. I felt it was important since I no longer live year-round in my hometown and haven't for almost nine years that I have a group of people from various sections of the community who can advise me as the project develops and who know things about the community that I do not. The first community adviser I approached was Gail Jenner--who has known me since I was little-- and she agreed to help!

" History is more than the past…it connects us to who we are today."

Gail Jenner, of Etna, CA, is a writer, teacher, and wife of fourth-generation cattle rancher Doug Jenner. She graduated from California State University at Chico with a degree in Anthropology and minors in English and Social Science. It was at CSUC that she also met her cowboy husband.

She taught English and history for 20 years while also writing.  She has authored two historical novels and co-authored four local histories, three of which celebrate the "mythical, magical State of Jefferson," in which Etna and Scott Valley are located. A fifth travel guide, Historic Inns & Eateries in the State of Jefferson, features 30 locations in Northern California and Southern Oregon and a chapter of recipes from those locations. She has written for a number of Christian publishers and writes for Jefferson Backroads as well as for NPR/JPR's historical "As It Was" series. Her most recent release is a collection of memoirs about women in the rural west called Ankle High and Knee Deep.  Her first novel, Across Sweet Grass Hills, won the 2002 Willa Literary Award for Best Original Fiction by Women Writing the West.  

Gail and her husband Doug have three married children and seven grandchildren and live on the original Jenner homestead. A gardener and cook, she has sold recipes to Better Homes & Gardens, Everyday with Rachel Ray, Country Woman Magazine, and A Taste of Home. In addition to writing, she enjoys time on the ranch, working cows on horseback, or being with family and friends. She is a past president of Siskiyou County CattleWomen and 2011 Siskiyou County CattleWoman of the Year; she works as a volunteer librarian and museum curator and believes history is “more than the past…it connects us to who we are today.”  She and her family operates Jenner Family Beef which sell healthy select-cut beef to people all over the region.

You can check out her website here: http://www.gailjenner.com/