KARA: Kara Crissey is owner of Good Earth Gardeners. She has designed gardens for twenty years. Using a blended aesthetic of modern and traditional, she creates landscape designs integrating human and wild communities.
Kara studied landscape design at the University of Maryland, the Community College of Baltimore County and at Jardin d'Art et D'Essais in Normandy, France.
Fun Fact: Kara still owns her first work truck - a 25 year-old Ford F150 with 297,000 miles on the odometer
Fav. Native Plant: American Hornbeam - Carpinus carolineana
Certifications: CPH, CBLP II
ZAC: In 2020, Zac had a vision of his hands covered in dirt and his heart joyfully beating. He decided to leave his career as an art teacher to pursue a path that would have him surrounded by soil and plants more frequently. The lessons of patience, pre-planning, problem solving, and nurturing others from the teaching field come into play daily as he works with his colleagues, clients, and their gardens at Good Earth Gardeners.
Zac studied teaching, drawing, painting, sculpture, and installation art at the Maryland Institute, College of Art, and graduated with his Masters in Teaching in 2012. He became a video, photography, and yearbook teacher after that, and later an elementary school art teacher. In 2018, he also became a Baltimore City Master Gardener, which launched him on this new path of making gardening a deeper part of his career. I’m 2021 he earned a certificate in permaculture design.
He is most interested in using native plants to develop beautiful spaces that pollinators love, and in creating food forest spaces that are also aesthetically pleasing. His current mission in life is to share knowledge of art and the natural world to help people tend their communities, see the magic of both human and non-human beings, and create a world of mutual respect, sustained balance, and an ability for all creatures to thrive on this wonderful planet.
Favorite native plant: blueberries, vaccinium angustifolium and vaccinium corymbosum. They are gorgeous, delicious, and support 400 species of native animal.
CATIE: Catie’s career in Agriculture really started with her love of animals. She always hung out with her mom in their garden when she was a kid but a few years ago, she tried her hand at animal husbandry on a local farm and it was all downhill (actually, more like uphill) from there! She now has dozens of chickens, turkeys, ducks, geese, and a few goats, sheep, and peacocks.
When Catie isn’t tending to her animals, she loves to spend time in her ever-growing garden at home with her dog, Ham. She’s constantly adding plants to her garden because she falls in love with a new one every day while at work. When not gardening, Catie enjoys long drives, traveling, exploring new plant nurseries and antique stores, or spending time with her friends at her farm.
Catie enjoys the challenge of plant disease & pest diagnostics and coming up with new and organic ways to maintain a healthy garden. She’s learned a great amount about creating a biodiverse environment from her coworkers and loves to trade ideas/experiences with her team.
Favorite native plant: Baptisia Australis
ELLA: With an appreciation of both art and nature, Ella understands how to develop a garden from its beginning to completion. Working toward a career in landscape design and environmental stewardship, she continues to learn about plant culture from vegetables to shade trees. With Ella's artistic flair and landscape knowledge, each garden she nutures is left well tended and more beautiful.
Favorite plant: Hardy banana trees
MIKE - Operations Manager: Bio Coming Soon
HANNAH, LINDSEY, JULES, THOMAS, NA'AVAH, GAIL & BROOKE: Bios Coming Soon