This foundation in nature has kept me outdoors throughout my life. In my early years, I followed generally acceptable paths in office management and corporate retail. During this time, I spent recreational time at the beach in southern CA, where I lived for ten years. I moved to Washington State where I embarked upon learning the machine shop environment. During this time, I was spending my weekends as a white-water river guide, camping out every Friday and Saturday night and running the Rivers every Saturday and Sunday. Outdoors is my first Love. I eventually returned to TN and continued to struggle with indoor ‘careers’. I returned to college and obtained 2 Masters Degrees, one in Physics, and the other in Interdisciplinary Material Scienceor what’s happening at the quantum level with materials. As such, I have a few scientific publications and many scientific presentations. It was during my time at Vanderbilt that my Mother spent her last years on the planet, a loss that was rather difficult to process.

I came out of college and tried teaching high school at a socially disadvantaged school. From there, I joined the agriculture department at TN State University, first working in organic agriculture and then in extension, where I organized and conducted outreach workshops, the Small Farm Expo, research that advanced Hemp in the state and established hydroponics in some of the metropolitan schools around Nashville. Our partnership with the local schools included summer camp for the kids and Professional Development for the teachers. Before I retired, I was able to establish the college student chapter of NWIAA and work the TN Dept. of Agriculture to train farmers on the rules, regulations and best practices for growing Hemp in TN.

Retired life is the best! I am the current owner of 7 acres in rural Tennessee, which I am expanding to include a nature trail through the woods (in planning stage-2021) for educational herb
walks. It has the added benefit of leading to my spring house, which furnishes all my water needs. My current plans include the addition of a hoop house (2021) for germination of various vegetables and herbs. My current vegetable production is about 1800 square feet. Future plans also include establishing walk-through gardens along the creek bank, along with horseshoes and corn-ho game areas. I am developing partnerships at the time of this writing, with local school teachers to provide educational field trips aimed at introducing children to the medicinal value of vegetables and herbs, flowering plants for pollinators, and creek habitats (crawdads, minnows, fish, snakes, turtles, rocks and erosion). I also have a small wetland and pond on the property, which offers other insight into frogs, tadpoles, snakes, and wetland plants. I am also working with NWIAA Chairwoman, Vivian Williams, Knoxville, TN to develop partnerships with University of TN extension and TN State
University Extension. Together, we are working to reestablish the NWIAA Student Chapter at TN State Univ. and develop projects at the college as well as visits to the farm. My main interest is in
lifestyle. As an elder, I want to teach the young people how to view food as medicine, how to identify and use herbs and respect wildlife habitats and coexist with wildlife and wild plants. We are all healers - self healers. Our bodies are wise and we must learn to appreciate, respect and listen to our bodies, a lost art in modern society. Nature has everything we need. Sadly, we have forgotten much of the wisdom once known to humans. Yet, nature awaits our willingness to coexist and experience
true love, found in harmony. Although I am not USDA certified organic, all my practices are aimed at sustainable, best practices for living in harmony with nature.I utilize herbs to produce value-added products such as herbal creams, salves, vinegars and oils. My sales include seeds, seedlings, some vegetables and herbs. I also offer workshops on the farm and herb walks through the forest.