Rose Tocke is owner and Chief Mover-Shaker at Full Circle Collaborative. Rose is most inspired by three things: the resilience of the human spirit, the elegance of nature, and the community building capacity of food. She sees these as interconnected elements of the same story that have the potential to either work with or against each other; her personal and professional passion is to help them work with each other.

Rose has been using a systems-based approach to address various social and environmental problems since 2003. Her professional career in sustainability began in 2005 while working for the Montana based consultancy The Biomimicry Guild, where she became grounded in the principles and practice of biomimicry. In 2008 she received a certificate in permaculture design and is currently pursuing a diploma in permaculture design under the mentorship of Toby Hemenway. Today, she combines the problem solving power of biomimicry and permaculture into a united approach called Holistic Design. She also operates an edible landscaping business in Gunnison, Colorado, where she enjoys the challenge of designing forest gardens that can survive and thrive in a challenging high-altitude, short-season climate.

As a volunteer, Rose is co-founder/co-director of the Mountain Roots Community Gardens Project, serves on the board of the Gunnison Farmer’s Market and the Central Rocky Mountain Permaculture Institute, and also works with EDAPO Uganda, an orphanage in Kampala, Uganda that cares for children orphaned by the HIV/AIDS epidemic and warfare.

Rose’s education and training are based in the sciences and span molecular biology to landscape ecology. She has an undergraduate degree in Cell and Molecular Biology from Western State College and is currently pursuing a Certificate in Restoration Ecology from the University of Idaho, en route to a Master’s degree in Natural Resources.

She is trained in Non-Violent Communication and has completed the Colorado Master Gardener training.

Rose lives in Gunnison, Colorado with her husband and cats and soaks up life by gardening, cooking elaborate meals, and goofing around in the woods.