Drought Tolerant & Native Plantings

Habitat Restoration

Four Season Food Production

Water & Energy Conservation

Edible Landscapes

Jeff Shields - Owner/Operator

Jeff is a self-proclaimed plant DJ. He has spent much of his time on social and environmental logic, coordinating community gardens for the SF Department of Public Works, researching urban forestry with SF Environment, and participating in community efforts to restore open space and local food systems in the bay area. He also spent time learning and constructing with natural building methods at Emerald Earth, teaching environmental education with The Center for Social and Environmental Stewardship, and was co-chair for the Sierra Club Redwood Chapter’s Conservation division. Jeff is focused on sustainable and communal land management, and he learned intentional community development with the Occidental Arts & Ecology Center. He also interned for a year with the SF Board of Supervisors and received his Master’s in Public Administration from SF State.

Paolo Tantarelli- Owner/Operator

Paolo has worked with some of the top gardeners and builders in California, growing food and practicing sustainable building at places like the Solar Living Institute, Occidental Arts and Ecological Center, and Golden Nectar Farms. His garden work and style reflect key principles of Permaculture, the bio-intensive method, and biomimicry. Paolo received his Bachelors Degree from Chico State University in Cultural Anthropology, with a Minor in Italian. He has traveled extensively through Central and South America, following a passion to study human behavior as well as healthy food systems throughout history.

Josho Somine - Lead Designer

Josho grew up in the East Bay, and started studying site-based permaculture in 1997, completing design & teaching certifications in 2001 He has studied, worked, presented and taught at a wide range of sites both nationally and internationally, and developed a long working relationship with the Occidental Arts & Ecology Center locally. Devoted to aesthetics and a stickler for details, he also received a BFA in sculpture & public art from the California College of Arts & Crafts (2002), and further honed his ecological design approaches with a Master's in Landscape Architecture at the University of Washington in Seattle (2010). He likes to connect big-picture thinking with intimate built details, and seeks to cultivate legibility and spatial dynamism in the landscape.

 

Upgrade your environment

 

Now is the time for action!

 

Have you been wondering how you can make your home and landscape more "green"? Or what wonderful things you can grow in place of that dead, dried out lawn? Or how to catch and store all that rainwater that is washing your driveway away? Well we are up for any challenge! Get a FREE INITIAL CONSULT with one of our friendly and experienced team members today!