I was lucky to grow up wild harvesting, fishing, hunting, and immersed in nature. My mentors passed on their knowledge and inspiration to me. Learning seasonal wild foods, observing wildlife patterns, and how to collect firewood were among my early introductions to Permaculture as a kid. When I was 10 my family bought a worn out farm in the Driftless Region of Wisconsin and practiced Aldo Leopold style restoration. This led me to study wildlife ecology and forestry in college. I spent 2 formative years as a Peace Corps Volunteer living with traditional forest farmers in Togo, West Africa. I felt at home with people that provided for themselves by cultivating forest gardens. This drew me to Permaculture.

I took a PDC with Darren Doherty in 2006 and, although it was late November, I immediately got to work turning my urban lot into a food forest. The following year, my wife and I started a 2 acre food forest at my family's farm. Finally, we scaled-up again and bought a 25 acre farm in Almond, Wisconsin to make our home base and a local Permaculture training center.

I make half my living on the farm and half as a consultant for an agroforestry project in Kenya at Nyumbani Village. I started teaching Permaculture in Kenya in collaboration with PRI-Kenya and have been very inspired by teaching with Warren Brush. I have also started Permaculture teaching and consulting for non-profits in the U.S. I’m very interesting in helping start local Permaculture training centers everywhere.