After studying ecology & working as a scientist in the environmental conservation field for several years, I was burnt out and discouraged with the state of the world. With so many environmental crises happening simultaneously – from overflowing landfills to deforestation to mass extinctions to climate change – how could anything I do make an impact?

Not only that, but after 10 years of working in the mainstream environmental conservation field, I realized that there was an underlying belief driving much of the work. The belief was: humans are separate from nature and have a negative impact on nature, so we need to reduce our impact & minimize our footprint in order to ‘fix’ and ‘save’ the earth.

I don’t know about you, but for me, that underlying belief didn’t make me feel motivated or excited, it made me feel guilty and depressed and like I needed to shrink myself for being a ‘bad’ human.

And so at the end of the work day, when I was tired and sad, I would go to my vegetable garden, and I would put my hands in the soil and water the plants and harvest something for dinner…

I didn’t realize it at the time but these simple acts were so healing for my fried nervous system.

And I pretty quickly got hooked – not just on gardening but how gardening actually intersects with ecology. I started taking permaculture classes, reading regenerative agriculture books, gobbling up everything I could on the subject.

And I realized that within the regenerative movement, there is a different underlying belief system. That belief is: humans are a part of nature. We are interconnected and deeply dependent on nature. And so why not take a step back and really observe how nature works, and then design our gardens, homes, and communities in alignment with that? 

How can we plant more trees, grow more food, support more biodiversity, sequester more carbon, harvest more rain in the soil? So much potential to support life!

Now that was something I could get behind.

(Especially since I also came from a family of Italian foodies so if gardening = caring for earth + the freshest tomatoes ever? Yes please!)

So with dirt under my nails and a grin on my face, I reignited the spark of earth-love that drew me into environmental science over 15 years ago. I got my Permaculture Design Certificate, and switched gears from working as a researcher to sharing and teaching the simple, life-giving skills of growing food in a regenerative way.

Because as the extractive, destructive systems of our society crumble, new systems will need to take their place. And regenerative is the way forward.

I created this course to share with you everything I have learned on this journey, from over a decade of growing food, composting, and practicing regenerative design in my garden & my clients’ gardens. I weave together science & ecology with the magic & mystery that comes from being in co-creation with nature. And I teach you how to grow more abundant, delicious food than you’ll know what to do with.

So let’s dig in!