Born and raised in southern New Mexico, I began working with plants and landscapes at 14 years old. After graduating from college with a degree in Horticulture, my husband and I spent 10 years living in the rainy Pacific NW. I worked as a landscape designer for 6 years, and as a part of the management team for a video game studio for another 4. In February of 2012 we made good our escape from the rainy cold and relocated to Tucson and the beautiful Sonoran Desert.

Despite a continued love of plants and a desire to create beautiful places, I could not go back into traditional ornamental landscaping...it felt wrong somehow. Feeling directionless, I began looking for answers and inspiration. Six months into my search, I stumbled across Jack Spirko's Survival Podcast, and he introduced me to Permaculture. Finally! A truly healthy and meaningful way to create landscapes of value to both nature and mankind. I was lucky enough to be one the students in Geoff Lawton's first online PDC, and life has never been the same.

Tucson and the areas surrounding it present some tremendous opportunities: a massive amount of biodiversity, relatively predictable monsoon rainfall patterns, and a strong local food movement. There is a lot of grazing land, and the ability to grow food year-round has resulted in strong, year-round farmers markets. Interest in greywater usage and rainwater harvesting is exploding, along with strawbale/earthbag/rammed earth structures and solar power. I feel blessed to have ended up in this region.

I am slowly building a permaculture consultancy, paired with a plant propagation business. We are purchasing a 10 acre property in a small town nearby, and intend to create a permaculture paradise that will not only support us but also set a highly visible example of a better way to live on this big blue rock called Earth.