amorylovinsesalen2007

Born and raised in the Fox River watershed of Northeast Wisconsin, I earned my BS in Soil Science from UW-Madison in 1997.  From 1998 – 2000, I served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Guatemala which was an amazing life-changing experience. I relocated to the San Francisco Bay watershed for three years.  As a planting manager, I facilitated the planting of over 2,500 street trees for Friends of the Urban Forest in San Francisco.

Since 2003, my wife and I have lived in the Laguna de Santa Rosa watershed. I completed the Green Building Professional Certificate through Sonoma State University and am currently working towards my Masters in the Action for a Viable Future program through the Hutchins Institute at Sonoma State University.  My Master's Program is a combination of Environmental Planning, Landscape Architecture and Geographic Information Science (GIS).  My Master's focus is Low Impact Developmet and my project title is "Storm Water as a Resource through Value-Added Design."  

Since October of 2004, I began my own landscape business, serving clients in Marin and Sonoma Counties.  The name is Yard*core: Earth-friendly Landscapes.  My business is client based and I focus on projects involving landscape management, maintenance and renovations.  I also provide landscape designs and plant lists for residences and my specialty includes erosion control & water harvesting, home composting, gourmet pruning and backyard orchards, planted and maintained utilizing methods in harmony with nature.  Yard*core emphasizes native plants that are adapted to the Mediterranean climate of Sonoma County.  








In the course of my studies in Green Building and Permaculture, I have come to realize the opportunity which exists for the decentralized introduction of water into the landscape through innovative rehydration design techniques - contour infiltration trenches, bioswales, rain gardens, etc.  I believe we can increase soil fertility and capacity by transforming our landscapes.

Ours is a world of finite resources with a population expanding exponentially.  The population has been supported because of the success of the Industrial and Agricultural revolutions in their ability to harness mechanical power, extract resources from the Earth and supplement the plant nutrient cycle through chemical inputs – producing greater outputs. The capitalist system externalizes the detrimental effects of production onto the natural systems, whose ability to sink, store and convert the effects of pollution depends upon the health, diversity and regeneration of the ecosystem. 

Our world faces transportation, health, population, food security, global warming and poverty issues in the coming century. While our society is in the midst of an Information revolution, I advocate for an integrated environmental, social and economic system based on principles of sustainability.   The digitization of information allows for us to gather and collect data from multiple sources (including Geographic Information Science), which in turn allows for a diversity of approaches to solve new and old problems. Our society has placed great faith in the technologies; however, little has been done to assure a quality of life similar to ours for the generations that follow.  For the past thirty years, restoration ecologists have worked to ensure that future generations will have protected natural resources like air, soil and water.  The ecological restoration movement represents that we are a society in transition – a transition towards sustainability in our economy, ecology and social equity. 

Our actions of today have implications and consequences upon the quality of life for future generations. The work of restoration practitioners is to prevent energy from leaving the system before basic needs of the whole system are satisfied.  This involves care of the earth, care of people, distribution of surplus and setting limits on consumption and population.  Cooperation, not competition is the very basis of future survival and of existing life systems.  I am an artist, a musician, a writer, a student, a composter, a music selector, a husband, a son, a brother and an uncle with hopes to be a dad. 
























------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Below you will find some more photos depicting Yard*core Projects:








Here is a structure that Kylan Hoover and I designed and built at the Occidental Arts and Ecology Center in Occidental, CA.  It is housing the main valve of the irrigation system, situated halfway between the pond and the North Mother garden.  The posts were harvested from the site, a bird house was incorporated into the roof and the front bamboo screen can be removed to allow for maintenance access. 
----------------------------------------









Built from a 16 inch wide pine laminate, the 33rpm record furniture can hold plenty of beats due to the dado joinery implemented throughout.  The design was my wife's inspiration and many, many thanks to Yeti the Barefoot Gardener and James Pelican.  Their help and guidance was invaluable in the construction of this piece.  It is a solid and heavy riddum collector! 

------------------------------------











Backyard orchards are a particular favorite for me - fruit trees can bring real value to your landscape.  The Yard*core collective has performed gourmet pruning on hundreds of apple, pear, persimmon, peach, nectarine, and cherry trees in Sonoma County.  The photo show bare root trees that were planted for a new orchard at a residence in Occidental, CA.  There were 30 trees that were put into the ground with soil amendments, organic mulch & compost as well as gopher baskets.  We strive to prepare the tree for the first five years of growth through soil preparation and planting techniques. 

---------------------------------------








We look forward to many more Yard*core projects!

For more information please visit:  Http://www.yard-core.com