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I grew up in the city in a two family house that we shared with my Grandmother. She along with my parents would spend their free moment in the Summers planting and nurturing  every available space that surrounded our house. I learned about composing by watching my Nana dump coffee grounds, tea leaves and egg shells out the back door. As kids we were assigned the tasks of weeding and seed collecting which we did happily.

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When I was about 8 my Mom ask me if I would like to have a small space to myself to grow some flowers. She gave me a handful of nasturtium seeds and we went to work. When I came home from school one warm June afternoon she said she had a surprise for me.  "You bought us a piano!", I said. She looked at me oddly considering I had never asked for one and no one in our house played.  "No", she said. "But go look out in your flower bed." My seeds had indeed spouted and I was hooked on growing ever since.

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Later, as I was preparing to go off to college My dad and I had a conversation about what path I wanted to take.  I was attending UMass Amherst and told him I wanted to apply to Stockbridge (The School of Agriculture).  Again, the same odd look my mother had given me years ago. "You want to be a Farmer", he said, as he chuckled in amusement.  Needless to say he convinced me that a career in Education would be far more practical and so I went on to get a Masters degree in Education and taught young children for the many years that followed. But farming seemed to flow through my Irish Blood and about 9 years ago I found myself gravitating towards outdoor education which lead me to local farm and forest programs.  Most recently, I have decided to turn in my teaching shoes for work boots and dedicate myself solely to growing!