Homegrown City Life Collection

Willoughby Arevalo is a mycologist, artist, kitchen wizard, father, and educator who made friends with mushrooms as a young child and has been showing people how to work with fungi for the last decade. He’s been a presenter and co-organizer of the Radical Mycology Convergences of 2012, 2014, and 2016, taught at The Art and Science of Mycorenewal, Recomposing Life and Walking the Mycelial Web intensive mycology courses, and has led workshops and forays at the New Moon Mycology Summit, Telluride Mushroom Festival, and Sunshine Coast Mushroom Festival. Willoughby regularly teaches community workshops locally and internationally on mushroom cultivation, ecology, identification, foraging, and cooking, and serves on the Education Committee of the Vancouver Mycological Society. He works on an organic vegetable farm, makes art in relation with fungi, and grows mushrooms at his home in Vancouver, BC.

Crystal Stevens is an author, an artist/art teacher, a folk herbalist, a regenerative farmer, and a Permaculturist. She is the author of award-winning Grow Create Inspire, and Worms at Work. She co-founded Flourish, and has written for such publications as Permaculture Magazine, Grit, Mother Earth News Blog, The Healthy Planet Magazine, and Elephant Journal. Crystal is a prominent speaker at conferences and workshops, focusing on a myriad of topics including gardening, small-scale farming, ethical foraging, herbal medicine, natural household, and healthy cooking. She lives with her husband and two children on a 10-acre permaculture-inspired micro farm along the rolling hills of the Mississippi River.

Andrea Potter is a Chef and Registered Holistic Nutritionist. She has a background in Culinary Arts, with Red Seal certification. Since 2009, she has owned and operated Rooted Nutrition, aimed at providing nutrition education to a wide variety of clients. She has taught extensively on topics from whole foods nutrition and alternative baking (including sugar-free, gluten-free, and vegan), to seasonal soups, and fermenting and preserving food. Andrea is passionate about supporting health-motivated cooks to make informed healthy choices that start with vibrant, delicious, practical recipes and culinary techniques.

The Moody family has been making traditional foods, including with grains, for over a decade. John Moody is the founder of Whole Life Services and Whole Life Buying Club and the former executive director of the Farm-to-Consumer Legal Defense Fund. John discovered more than a decade ago that his diet was literally killing him with duodenal ulcers, seasonal allergies, and other health problems, so the family began to transition to real local foods and local food distribution. Involved with farming, food, and homesteading, John is a well-known speaker at conferences, events, and media including Mother Earth News, Wise Traditions, and Hobby Farms/Chicken Magazine. The Moody family of two old-timers and five rambunctious kids farms and homesteads on 35 acres in Kentucky.

Karen McAthy is founder and co-owner of Blue Heron Creamery, a dairy-free, plant-based artisan cheese and vegan foods company in Vancouver, BC, which creates authentic and cultured non-dairy cheeses. McAthy is a sought-after educator in the world of plant-based food and award-winning author. www.blueheroncheese.com

Jeff Lowenfels (Lord of the Roots), is one of the most humorous and entertaining lecturers and writers on the organic gardening circuit. He is a reformed lawyer who went back to his childhood roots to become a leader in the organic gardening movement. He is the author of a series of award-winning and bestselling books, three of which have become bibles for organic growers worldwide, including Teaming with Microbes, Teaming with Nutrients, and Teaming with Fungi. Lowenfels has also penned the longest running garden column in North America and was inducted into the Garden Writers of America hall of fame after serving as President. He is the founder of “Plant A Row for The Hungry,” a program which has resulted in millions of pounds of garden produce being donated to feed the hungry every year. He lives in Anchorage Alaska, where cannabis has been legal since 1975.

Meredith Leigh has worked as a farmer, butcher, chef, teacher, non-profit executive director, consultant, and writer for the past 17 years, all in the pursuit of sustainable food. She has amassed a wealth of experience and perspective in re-imagining mindful foodways, and focuses particularly on supply chain development, whole systems thinking, and the cultural implications of food activism. She is passionate about integrated agriculture that includes plants and animals in dynamic rotation, soil and food microbiology, and food preservation. She is the author of Pure Charcuterie: The Craft & Poetry of Curing Meats at Home, and has written for Mother Earth News, GRIT, Crop Stories, and Edible Asheville. She travels extensively teaching charcuterie and food production and processing to chefs, butchers, home cooks, and farmers. She lives with her partner and four children in Asheville, NC.

D.J. Herda is a professional author, gourmet chef, and master indoor/outdoor gardener. He is a former Challenger Space Center project creator/coordinator, syndicated newspaper and magazine garden writer and columnist, and test grower for Jackson & Perkins and the Rodale Institute, along with other recognized innovators in gardening plants and practices. He has written and published more than 80 books and thousands of short pieces. As an avid chef, D.J. has been cooking with dried and fresh herbs for more than 50 years and has been growing herbs indoors in pots for nearly as long. He lives and works in the Rocky Mountains of the southwestern United States.

Bevin Cohen is an author, herbalist, gardener, seed saver, and educator. He is owner of Small House Farm, a sustainable herb farm, and he offers workshops and lectures nationwide on the benefits of living closer to the land through seeds, herbs, and locally grown food. He has published numerous works on these topics, including From Our Seeds & Their Keepers, Saving Our Seeds, Salvando Nuestras Semillas, and The Artisan Herbalist. He serves on the boards of the International Herb Association and the advisory council for the Community Seed Network, a multinational education and networking platform. He lives in Sanford, Michigan.

Jenni Blackmore is an artist, writer, micro-farmer, and certified Permaculture Design Consultant. She’s an ardent supporter of holistic food production who strives to grow her own vegetables. Her most recent book, Permaculture for the Rest of Us, follows her journey from industrial Manchester to a sustainable island homestead in Nova Scotia.