I'm originally from Kentucky, but I am currently living in Maine and working on a PhD in in Environmental History. My thesis research was on the back-to-the-land movement in Maine, and my dissertation research will be on organic farming cooperatives in northern New England during the 1970s and 80s.

I had been interested in permaculture for several years before I finally took a design certification course with Charles and Julia Yelton at the ESTIA Epicenter in Bucksport, Maine during the summer of 2012. Later that same year, I helped found the Permaculture Living and Learning Center at Terrell House, which is a property owned by the University of Maine in Orono. With administrative approval, the other founders and I moved into Terrell House in August of 2012. We founded a Maine Non-Profit, Stillwater SHIFT, Inc., in August of 2013 to build long-term continuity into the project.

In February 2014, we completed our permaculture design for the property and received approval from the Campus Planning Board for the first two years of our design implementation. It will feature a circular community garden (with some wheelchair-accessible gardening space), an outdoor classroom, a wildlife corridor, and a number of fruit-bearing woody perennials.

As of Spring 2014, three project stewards reside at Terrell House.

We will begin implementing Phase One of the project by building community garden beds at a Permablitz scheduled for Sunday, April 27th, 2014.