This Spring, I transitioned from a 20 year-long career with the Cornell Small Farms Program to bring my  vision, energy and skills to Web of Life Regenerative Landcare.  I first encountered the joy of tending a garden at 11 years old.  Every year since I have treasured being in community with the garden life - the rooted, the slithering, the winged and the legged - in our ever evolving complex collaborations to create beauty and nourishment.  I am especially passionate about growing flowers, and I also care deeply about contributing to the flowering of humanity. For the past 6 years, I have curated retreats and programs for gardeners, farmers, earth-workers and change-makers from many cultures and backgrounds that bring us closer to connection, healing, purpose, stillness and reverence. As I begin this new family partnership, I am drawn to connecting more closely with our local community. I know that true wealth arises from our ability to trust and care for one another, especially during these volatile, fragile times of rapid change.

Joshua Stone: Deep Soil Builder, Microworld Explorer

Seven years ago I listened to a founder of Kiss the Ground share the FAO projection that we have maybe 60 harvests left before the remainder of the world's arable topsoil could be gone.  And he described regenerative agriculture as forms of land stewardship that lead to healthier soil at the end of the growing season than you started with. I reflected deeply on how I could contribute.  Within a year I was training in Elaine Ingham's Soil Food Web School learning how to assess and regenerate soil biology.  Three years later I had launched a business based on this functional approach to soil regeneration.   

But.. underneath it all, I sensed the growing realization that there is an even more primary part of the world's solution:  that is for us humans to recover reverence, gratitude, and the feeling of connectedness with all life, and the sacredness within it.  We could not but begin the healing of the Earth and her soils if we recover these qualities—qualities my ancient ancestors had, then perhaps gradually lost, or lost through conquest and colonization.. resulting in a centuries-long legacy of mechanical, then chemical, disruption of soils.  So now, our vision….