Years of landscape design experience and running my own landscape design business led to the desire to find sustainable, regenerative and ecologically innovative solutions to land use. Permaculture and food forest design are keys to these solutions. After three years studying these systems and taking my Permaculture Design Certification course, I am co-launching the Food Forest Retreat. The Food Forest Retreat is a synergistic eco- and human health initiative in Austin, Texas. It is designed to offer not only nutritious, sustainably raised food to the community, but to also offer the community a chance to learn from and enjoy an ecologically designed retreat. At the same time, I'm helping Austin develop its first public food forest as a designer and organizer in the East Feast 2022 organization.