Joan Stevens continues to be humbled and awed by the power of permaculture design. Permaculture combines her appreciation of practicality with her love of nature and design.
Joan’s permaculture skill set is informed by her academic training in ethnobotany and ecology, and microbiology. In permaculture she has studied with the best designers and teachers on the West Coast and has been teaching and studying with Larry Santoyo for many years. She has dedicated her life to transforming the relationship that people have to the planet. A high school science teacher by day, Joan teaches yoga and permaculture as well. All of this is inside of her mission is to build an Eden on earth for future generations.
Joan is excited to see the world around her as it could be: renewable home-scale energy systems, rainwater catchment from every roof, edible trees lining our streets, gardens throughout peoples yards, and neighbors sharing the fruits of the harvest with each other. She is excited to have just the right team of allies coming together to make it happen!
Joan Stevens will be teaching THE GARDEN IN SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA with David King at 1:00 PM at the HomeGrown event.
Transplanted from a mid-west farming community to California, David King has been the Gardenmaster for The Learning Garden at Venice High School since they broke ground in 2002. His articles and stories on gardening, always filled with humor and insight have appeared in magazines from Coast to Coast and he has been featured in film, television and radio sharing his witty observations on all things connected to gardening. His book, Growing Food in Southern California will be published very soon.
David King will be teaching THE GARDEN IN SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA with Joan Stevens at 1:00 PM at the HomeGrown event.
Across the country, people are discovering the pleasures of living more self-sufficiently and sustainably, from edible gardening and urban foraging to food preserving, cleaning without chemicals, and community bartering. As the new economy urges us all toward more resourceful ways of living, join the authors of Process bestselling Self-reliance series to inspire you with new ways to save money, have fun, and gain a more mindful relationship to your food, your community, and the planet.
Erik Knutzen will be teaching HOMEGROWN EVOLUTION at 2:00 PM at the HomeGrown event.
Director and co-founder of the reDiscover Center Mary Beth Trautwein received her MFA in Museum Exhibition Planning from the University of the Arts in Philadelphia. Before moving to Los Angeles she was a designer at the Central Park Zoo and the Philadelphia Museum of Art. She was part of the J. Paul Getty Museum exhibition design team that created the permanent and opening exhibitions for the museum opening in 1997. She has served on the boards of the Western Museums Association and the National Association of Museum Exhibition.
Under her leadership reDiscover established its current location, initiated efforts with more than a dozen civic and non-profit organizations, and developed a field trip program to reach elementary school students, which was approved for meeting State educational standards by LA County Arts Commission. She has led hands-on programs for educators, parents and children with the themes of creativity, design, community and resource conservation since 2005. Through her initiatives with the environmental community reDiscover was awarded a 2007 Sustainable Quality Award from the City of Santa Monica. In 2009 Mary Beth completed the Los Angeles County Arts Commission Teaching Artists Training Program. In 2010 she completed a fellowship with the Institute for the Study of Knowledge Management in Education by participating in the online community of arts educators, submitting arts lessons and presenting at the “Art + Open = Change” Conference held in San Francisco March 6, 2010.
Mary Beth Trautwein will be teaching KIDS: REDISCOVER WORKSHOP/CRAFTS WITH RECYCLABLE MATERIALS at 11:00 AM at the HomeGrown event.
Orchid Black is a garden designer and owner of Pitcher Sage Design, which offers native plant consulting, habitat creation and sustainable design services to the greater Los Angeles area. Orchid writes and lectures about native plants, water-saving strategies, and sustainable gardening, and has taught Sustainable Garden Practice for UCLA Extension.
Orchid Black will be teaching WATER STRATEGIES FOR DRY CLIMATE with at 11:00 AM at the HomeGrown event.
Growing up in Northern California, I had a garden with my dad each and every year from the time I was 8. We would plot and plan and go get seed at the GroRite Nursery and spend hours and hours together working the soil in our back lot. We were lucky enough to have a large plot of land behind my parents formal Japanese Style gardens to work with and everything from Tomatoes to Pumpkins graced our funny little edible plot.
Educated in Sociology and Landscape Architecture has made me appreciate both the Science and Psychology behind why people love to be close to the land. My journey to Ardenwoods Edibles has taken me from owning my own design office, working in Themed Entertainment to designing high end residential plots all over our fair City. Spurred by a love of food, and knowing where it comes from Ardenwoods Edibles was born. A small wholesale culinary nursery in Pasadena, California. We are open to Landscape Professionals and Chefs. Our monthly events are open to Garden Enthusiasts where I live with my gorgeous and supportive husband, my adorable daughter, a noble German Shepherd Dog, and a feisty Shorty Irish Jack Terrier!
Nysha Dahlgren from Ardenwoods Edibles will be giving kid’s workshops from the Ardenwoods Edibles booth at the HomeGrown event.
Catherine Allison (Madame Chocolat) studied classical acting at Dartington College of Arts in England and then went on to take advanced classes in physical theatre and clowning with Jacques Lecoq, in Paris…clowning was the thing that she found the most challenging…and funnily enough it has been the thing that has ‘stuck’, that she fully devoted herself to and which comes quite naturally to her now!
Before becoming a mother Catherine toured Internationally in ensemble physical theatre productions and clown shows. Since then she has turned her attention to working with children—initially with the creation of her own quirky clown character ‘Madame Chocolat‘ who began as (and continues to be) a fabulous children’s party entertainer and has now developed into new areas such as the environmental show that you will witness today ‘Madame Chocolat Goes Green’. Madame Chocolat was recently awarded the Nickelodeon Parent Picks Best Children’s Entertainer for 2009.
Another string to Catherine’s bow is ‘Dramabee Acting Workshops for Kids’—here she uses the playful techniques that she learned in Paris to teach children the joy of acting. She harnesses their innate creativity and encourages them to trust their instincts, thus producing exciting, original productions which bring out the best in them. Each show is built from a series of stories that the children have told and choreographies that they have made—the kids cast themselves, and are not afraid to make ‘mistakes’…which makes for confident, riveting, spontaneous performances.
Catherine Allison will be at KIDS THEATRE at 12:00 PM and 3:00 PM at the HomeGrown event.
I live in Eagle Rock with my wife and 9-year-old daughter where we experiment with urban homesteading. We’ve got an open-air coop set up for our 7 chickens, a free-roaming rabbit, bee hive and vegetable gardens tucked into just about every corner of available sunny space. Eagle Rock Backyard Farms is my company and outlet for sharing my passion for gardening and backyard farming with others.
I started Eagle Rock Backyard Farms because I love vegetable gardening and wanted to share my knowledge and experience with others interested in cultivating their own little slices of land. Growing local is the future and it’s something that everyone can do in their own backyards once they’ve been armed with the right setup and a little know-how.
Michael Scott will be teaching ORGANIC GARDENING & RAISED BEDS with John Lyons at 10:00 AM at the HomeGrown event.
I design and install raised bed edible gardens. Every job starts with an in-person consultation; I come to your yard and help you pick the ideal space for your garden and design a custom-bed that fits your exact needs and aesthetic. My services include building and installing the garden bed, adding rich organic soil—and most importantly, helping you pick the crops that are right for the season and teaching you how to make them flourish.
Drip irrigation is critical for our climate. I highly recommend automated drip irrigation systems for vegetable and landscape gardening; it’s water-wise and takes the chore out of keeping your plants beautiful and healthy. I’ll install an easy-to-use system that works with your existing plumbing and will teach you how to use it too.
For those interested in fresh backyard eggs, I also consult on chicken care and specialize in building and installing custom-designed, open-air chicken coops for happy hens.
I’m experienced in composting and vermicomposting (that’s worm fertilizer—ahem, poop—for you city folk) and can teach you how to easily integrate these practices into your everyday life.
Born and raised on a farm in western Ireland I trained in Hotel Management in Ireland, England, Switzerland, finishing up at Cornell University for one year. Moved to the U.S. permanently in 1990 and founded Daedalus, an Irish contemporary theater company, in New York. It has since morphed into The Origin Theatre Co. that is doing really well. I keep my hand in this world by serving on its Advisory Board.
Re-located to Los Angeles in 1998 and within one year I opened The Austin Agency with a view to representing well trained theater actors for stage and screen. I made a living at that for 8 years. At all points and places along this journey I have gardened, be it a window box on the Bahnhof Strasse in Zurich, a rooftop garden in Brooklyn or a ¼ acre in Chatsworth, CA. In 2006 I made the leap to edible landscaping with The Woven Garden and this year I added a second facet to my gardening world by opening a gardening school for urbanites in Silverlake, Earthmatters.biz.
John Lyons will be teaching ORGANIC GARDENING & RAISED BEDS with Michael Scott at 10:00 AM at the HomeGrown event.
Life long teacher at Sequoyah School for 17 years, Westland, Pasadena Alternative, 5 Acres and others for the last 8 years, I am currently Artist in Residence at the LA County Arboretum. I have done programs with children around the world and look forward to working with kids for as long as there are kids who want to learn. I work primarily in glass and garden design but also enjoy a vast variety of folk arts with children of all ages.
Leigh Adams will be teaching HOW TO MAKE & USE SEEDBALLS with Kyra Saegusa at 1:00 PM & FUN MAKING MOSAIC ART with Davey, Chuck at 2:00 PM at the HomeGrown event.
