Site surveys and consultations Garden and landscape designs Garden and landscape installation Soil preparation and remediation Maintenance and plant care Installing in-ground and raised vegetable beds Propagating native & pollinator plants Growing medicinal and culinary herbs Planting fruit trees and berry bushes Spreading mulch Setting up compost bins Workshops and tutorials And a wide variety of other activities
If you are interested in growing your own food, alongside perennial flowers, trees and shrubs, I am happy to help. I work seasonally in the Boston area to provide affordable gardening and landscaping services. My primary interest is in edible landscapes, diversified gardens, and backyard agro-ecology. I have experience working at various regenerative farms, landscaping companies, and home gardens throughout my life, and most recently I'm building on that experience at Comizahual Regeneratve Farm.
I am able to do any kind of yardwork that you need done; however, I specialize in organic and holistic landscape management practices that promote food sovereignty and regenerate the soil food web. I prefer to avoid expensive, ecologically disruptive, high-emission practices such as: mowing lawns, spraying harmful pesticides or installing lots of artificial landscape materials.
Stewardship of the land is my first priority. I do almost all of my work using basic hand tools, and whenever possible I use recycled and locally available materials. I view these gardens as functional, living sculptures where biodiverse ecosystems can flourish and fresh food grows in abundance. The possibilities of what you can do with a plot of land, or even just a small porch, are as vast as your imagination allows. If you are looking for creative ways to bring beauty and nourishing food into the world around you, then look no further than the space where you live, imagine a bountiful garden, and then grow it. I would be happy to help with this process.
I can work independently, or I can work with you if you prefer. I am very flexible and can adapt to your schedule. I can do odd jobs for just a few hours, or projects that last for several weeks.
If any of this is appealing to you, or if you have a friend or family member who would be interested, please contact me via email, phone, or text to schedule a consultation visit.
Useful Apps: Planter: Garden Planner (guide for first time vegetable gardeners) PictureThis (plant ID app) Falling Fruit (interactive map of public fruit trees to forage)
Recommended Reading list: The One Straw Revolution by Masanobu Fukuoka Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer Gathering Moss by Robin Wall Kimmerer Bringing Nature Home by Douglas Tallamy Nature’s Best Hope by Douglas Tallamy Fresh Banana Leaves by Jessica Hernandez The Regenerative Landscaper by Erik Ohlsen Making Love While Farming by Richy Baruch & Deb Habib
Various tips, resources, and ideas:
Any scrap of freshly cut or dead organic matter is free mulch (fuel for healthy soil regeneration). This includes the yard “waste” that people put out on the street. Fallen leaves can be shredded in the fall with a lawnmower & spread as mulch.
Starbucks will give you free spent coffee grounds (Nitrogen) for your compost if you ask, and garden centers often sell ripped topsoil & mulch bags at a discount.
A weed is a subjective term. If a plant is a beautiful medicinal pollinator, like dandelion, then why should we call it a weed?
Spring cleaning is very disruptive to pollinator insect habitats. Please don’t tidy up and rake out your beds until you’ve stopped wearing sweaters yourself (mid-late May).
Answers to any gardening questions you have can be found on the internet.
The discourse around native & non-native plants is incredibly nuanced and does not have one right answer. What I’ve come to is that plants native to a bioregion are generally preferable, but non-native plants are not all bad (edible plants are good!) Do research on each plant and weigh the pros and cons before planting or removing any plant. Also, Garden in the Woods is an excellent native plant nursery in Framingham.
Almost any old container can be repurposed as a planting pot, and almost any fence or existing structure can be used as a trellis.
If your space is limited, but you want to grow an orchard, multiple varieties of fruit can be grafted onto the same tree.
After the initial investment of installation and planting, an ecologically designed landscape is the least expensive yard care approach. A healthy perennial garden with lots of established plants is self-maintaining: less work, less money and more free time to enjoy the fresh air.
If you don’t own land and want to grow edible plants, you can simply plant them in public green spaces and go tend to them. This is called guerrilla gardening. As long as you do this thoughtfully and respectfully, it is a great way to bring good karma into the world.
