I was born to garden.

My great grandparents had their own small farms and I think I inherited my green thumb from them. I was fortunate to have one of my great grandfathers in my life when I was a young child.

My parents didn't farm, but they loved to grow a bed of roses. We usually had an apple, walnut, or cherry tree in the backyard. In the summer, we would pick wild blackberries out in the countryside. Vegetables, however, came from cans or the store and I had no connection to how they were grown.

When I was 21, an old farming woman named Lyda Ruffin, took me under her wing and taught me all about gardening. She loved to call me a "city slicker" because I didn't know that potatoes grew under the ground! From spring to fall, we traveled to local farms, harvesting and canning everything that was available. She stored her jars in a shed outside the kitchen door of her old farmhouse. They could not be eaten "until the snow flies", she tried to teach me. How she scoffed at me when I couldn't resist eating some of mine before then!

Lyda awakened my gardening soul and I started harvesting from my own small gardens. A few years later, I worked as a cook and nutritionist at a cutting edge holistic healing center which had planted a large Biodynamic garden. The introduction to the spiritual dimension of gardening led to co-authoring the “Light and Life Cookbook”. As my passion for gardening grew, I created a business called “Magical Gardens”, where I began teaching adults and children to garden.

The joy of empowering children blossomed into pioneering work in the schoolyard gardening movement, where I championed schoolyard habitats in urban and inner city schools and witnessed the transforming power of gardens.

When I settled on Orcas Island, I experienced an unusually tasty “late harvest” as the Dragonfly Garden unexpectedly transformed my life. Now registered as a “Sanctuary for Nature and Peace”, it has attracted hundreds of visitors, and has become a place for ceremonies, talks, weddings, and retreats. Now, DVDs, audio CDs of the summer “Sunrise Talks in the Garden”, and Calendula Cream may be purchased through this website.

THE LATEST NEWS!!!

In 2009 I will be opening my new Heaven on Earth gardening business as a means to teach people how to garden in ways that will bring greater health to their body, mind and spirit. I will be available for individual consulting, customized sacred space designs, workshops, and facilitating retreats here at the Dragonfly Garden or in other locations. Please contact me for more information.