Since fall of 2007, I have the privilege of being the Land Steward and Volunteer Coordinator at The Ojai Foundation.  I live and breathe life here on the oak woodland ridge of upper Ojai.  I am learning to live in community and experience work as a lifestyle, not separate from, but a part of who I am.  I find myself thriving by living simply with the earth and giving others the experience to do the same.

What I enjoy most about The Ojai Foundation is that it is close enough to Los Angeles to provide the opportunity for people from that mega metropolis to step outside of city life for a minute and reconnect with the quietness inside.  The facilities here are rustic enough to be challenging and modern enough to be comforting.  It is one of those "edges" so well spoken of in permaculture.

For eight years before I moved here, I worked with TreePeople in Los Angeles as their Campus Forestry Manager.  (You can view a couple of videos on www.treepeople.org)   I supported community-based tree planting projects by providing site analysis, landscape design, team building and project guidance to the greater Los Angeles school communities. I facilitated over 100 planting projects from Long Beach, to Compton to Woodland Hills and everywhere in-between.  With those plantings, over 6500 trees got planted and over half a million square feet of asphalt got removed with the help of over 10,000 volunteers! It was a very rewarding way to get to know and love L.A.

While in Los Angeles, I took part in Larry Santoyo's Urban Permaculture Design Course and deepened my relationship to the natural world.  I desire to live as sustainably as possible and to close the loops of waste and wants.

On the spiritual side of things (which all really goes hand in hand), I have been ordained in Ariel Spilsbury's 13 Moon Priestess Ordination, honoring the phases of the moon and the alchemical and archetypal relationships of each.  Currently, I am in my final advanced classes of shamanic work in the Third Road faerie tradition.  I have begun to step into my role as ceremonialist at The Ojai Foundation by leading new moon ceremonies, rituals and medicine wheel teachings along with our bi-annual work retreat.

I have a strong desire to be a part of this world and help to make it a world that is beautiful and thriving.  I have been pulled to social justice and environmental issues since graduating from college.  With my degree in Theater, I moved from my home of Southern Louisiana to Berkeley, CA and joined forces with the Cannabis Action Network.  I lived in the communal house and organized and facilitated the first National Medical Marijuana Tour in 1994.  We toured 34 states with 3 medical patients, meeting likeminded groups along the way.  At each stop, we did teach-ins, rallies, speeches and radio interviews.  At the completion of the tour, 20 states had initiatives to recognize cannabis as medicine and California was well on its way to decriminalization.

After that tour, I moved to Washington D.C. to be a part of the sales team of a burgeoning wholesale hemp company called Ecolution.  They were the first producers of 100% hemp jeans and very proud of the fact that they were not made in China.  Not only did we educate the world on the benefits of hemp at trade shows in New York, Las Vegas, Dallas and Amsterdam, but we also raised awareness on the social atrocities of Chinese business practices and the environmental catastrophes of cotton.  I experienced hemp products move from a novelty item to a mainstay in our culture.  Perhaps with the hope of President Obama will come the ability to grow our own hemp fields once again and become a nation of producers with a resilient social economy! 

In the words of a fine musician and poet: "Power to the Peaceful!"

 - the ever delightful Michael Franti