hhc = lauren

My love for the natural world began as a child, when I spent all of my free hours outside exploring and learning about the environment outside of my home. My backyard was a local park, so the awe and wonder of nature surrounded me throughout all of my formative years.

In 2011, I was laid off from my job as a therapist. Since I had a bit of extra time, I took up gardening while finishing up my master's degree. You see, I come from a long line of gardeners and I felt the itch growing within. Gardening led to vermicomposting (composting with worms), which led to keeping chickens and ducks and only a year later, I was building a 5-acre homestead and self-sustaining earthship home with my ex-partner and our children (our journey was captured in a docu-series called My So Called Simple Life). Now that I had more space to cultivate, I felt the desire to ensure that we worked with our land; fostering local ecology as well as working toward self-sufficiency as a family. 

These goals led me to permaculture. Permaculture helped me see our acreage with new eyes. Where I once saw nothing but hurdles and challenges, I saw opportunity and bounty! 

I've always had a profound love of and connection with animals, and so animal husbandry accompanied our move to the farm as well. During that time, I raised and bred Nigerian Dwarf goats, Kunekune pigs, turkeys, ducks, and chickens (for meat and eggs). Some of my happiest moments have taken place in concert with animals.

After leaving the farm due to separation, I took up residence in the city and quickly got to work creating an urban homestead with edible landscaping in the front yard and a perennial food forest, annual food production space, and chicken coop + run in the backyard. It was bountiful, beautiful, and provided the urban oasis I was yearning for!

After living in the city nearly a year, I went out on a sunny, spring Monday, in search of a pitchfork to turn compost with, and came across my current 1-acre residence in Xenia, OH. Six months after moving to the property, I converted our grass-covered front yard to a magical food forest as a living example of what's feasible for a single person to accomplish should they desire a quick, bountiful turnaround on creating such a space! 

To build on the love I've developed for permaculture over the years, I obtained my Professional Permaculture Design Certification from Oregon State University through the Permaculture Institute of North America in June 2022. My passion for sustainability led me to pursue this career and I so look forward to sharing my excitement and knowledge with you and assisting you in designing the garden space of your dreams!