I am a 5th generation minister/activist who advocates the pursuit of inner peace as a means for world peace. As an entrepreneurial manager, I have designed and developed agencies and non profits for the last 36 years. My life roles also include grandmother, cultural artist, special education teacher and social weaver...

I learned organic gardening in the student community garden plots at UC-Riverside from 1976-1980. My study of medicinal herbs also began at that time and continues today with the Southside Virginia Herb Society. My permaculture initiation occurred during my ministry’s Katrina response work with a bio remediation project. In 2010 I earned a certificate in permaculture design and began teaching permaculture in 2011. I believes all human beings are called to “serve the land and preserve it”.

I now have the privilege of restoring 13 acres of woodlands in South Central Virginia into a self regenerating ecosystem. Nature's Friends is evolving from a social network into a national training cooperative. We have developed a permaculture apprenticeship which can grant 3 undergraduate credits to college students. Our intent is to train environmental stewards who can go on environmental missions to remediate toxic soil and plant food systems in underserved areas.

{ the sankofa bird admonishes us to "go back and fetch...." whatever we have misplaced or misused.}