Andrew Bentley
Andrew Bentley is an herbalist and teacher with a clinical practice in Lexington, Kentucky. Herbal Medicine is the world’s oldest and most widely used form of healthcare. Centuries of experience and study have lead to a complex understanding of which herbs are most useful in which situations. This combines with diagnostic experience and the patience to listen and do a thorough assessment before devising an individualized strategy to help that specific person get better. It’s an herbalist’s goal to assess which structures and functions in the body need support, and to provide help accordingly to improve the body’s health. Andrew crafts medicines from a vast assortment of herbs and has decades of experience helping individuals achieve better health and a better life. https://www.kentuckyherbalist.com/
Courtney Byron
Courtney Byron, a homeschooling mother of eight healthy, vibrant children, is a passionate advocate for nutrient-dense, real food, and a dedicated educator working towards food freedom and holistic farming practices in the United States of America. For decades, Courtney has promoted the importance of wholesome, locally-sourced foods that nourish the body, mind and spirit; and she walks the talk. Courtney has been a member of the Weston A Price Foundation for over 15 years. She has recently moved to Clark County and is beginning her own journey into regenerative farming.
Shane Dobson
Shane owns and operates a small but growing farm in Harrodsburg, KY near the Heritage venue that is building capacity to offer pasture-raised chicken, eggs, and wildflower honey to neighbors. Shane taught beekeeping last year and the guy who stuck to him like a bur is keeping bees himself now. Check out Downhill Farm here.
Irucka Embry
Irucka Ajani Embry is the name of the experiential vehicle that he operates in this Life. Irucka Ajani Embry, M.E. E.I.T. has a Master of Engineering with a concentration in Environmental Engineering from Tennessee State University in Nashville, and a BS in Civil Engineering with Minors in Environmental Engineering and el español from UT Knoxville. He has been the Principal of a consulting business EcoC2S (https://www.ecoccs.com), in Nashville, since 2007. Irucka co-created and co-maintains an edible food ecosystem with his twin brother on 2 acres of formerly fallow land on their maternal family farm. They are doing the work under the collective name of Getting Back to NatureTM. They use an eclectic mixture of biologically-based techniques (agroecology/agroforestry, agrohomeopathy/biodynamic and organic agriculture, companion planting, native vegetation, premaculture and soil food web dynamics) to restore the healthy and vitality of the land.
Obiora Embry
Obiora Embry is not only an author but also a poet, amateur photographer, born again artist, entrepreneur, food grower, and a developer with a love for what is real and natural. He finds beauty in Nature and knows that we must “wake from our collective slumber” to solve the problems we humans have created. Obiora is a lifelong learner and on his journey he has been educating and healing himself, mentoring and educating others, volunteering, growing food and cooking flavorful, colorful, healthy meals, and so much more. https://www.econsultingllc.org/
Reva Russell English
Reva is a farmer, writer, and musician in Lexington, Kentucky, where she and her partner Andrew operate Future Farm, a decentralized food and plant medicine endeavor focused on permaculture practices, sustainable foraging, wildcrafting, and experiments in preservation. She makes fabulous cheese and teaches as well as she crafts. She released her debut novel Two Hearts Two Mouths this summer. Let’s celebrate together!
Dylan Kennedy
Dylan Kennedy has spent over 15 years in diversified farm management, spanning diverse locations, environments, and enterprises. His work is molded by a passion for agroecology and a drive to build sustainable businesses in communities in tandem with regenerating ecosystems. His work in the field is supported by extensive continued education and teaching in agricultural disciplines including permaculture, biodynamics, and Holistic Management through the Savory Global Network. Dylan is most in his element working with land managers as a connector of ideas and resources, or on his own small family farm in Jabez, Kentucky. He makes better lard than cracklins in a cool cast iron cauldron. You can find him on the web via http://fieldspeak.org
Susana Lein
Salamander Springs farm, built up from scratch by the work and guidance of Susana Lein, is renowned for its flavorful, nutrient-dense vegetables, fruits, cornmeal, popcorn and dry beans – and its fertile, living soils of high organic matter. It was built by Susana Lein from a logged ridge-top devoid of any topsoil in 1999, using no-till continuous cover/crop cycles, poultry, farm-made compost, and contour swales. Completely off-grid, she built a tiny house and farm structures with local wood, clay, and straw; and uses only gravity-fed spring water from the forest and rainwater catchments. Learn how permaculture management mimics natural systems for high productivity: http://salamandersprings.wixsite.com/farm/about
Alice Melendez
Alice was born in the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains between Clay City and the rolling fields of central Kentucky. She grew up on the farm, went to small town schools, learned to drive on winding country roads with lots of blind spots. She went away, like a lot of people, and came back. “Away” took her to Dartmouth College, to Philadelphia, and then six or so years in Houston. She studied the way that economies and social agreements and hard physical realities interplay in real actual places (not models). She worked at a delivery business and at a refugee resettlement agency. She ran a handyman business and for a short while a grain elevator. She thought for a while that ‘the climate movement’ might generate political will for a massive transformation in the way that humans relate to the natural world and worked on that. Now, she focuses on regenerative agriculture and food bank commodity distribution logistics in our Ohio River Valley, and on community building with her down-the-block wonderful 1st Presbyterian Church in Paris, KY; to ride through whatever comes our way. She writes at https://aliceem2de3u.substack.com/ and puts cool images on IG.
Andrew Ozinskas
Andrew Ozinskas is a clinical herbalist, sustainable wildcrafter, forest farmer, and apothecary. In practice since 2002, Andrew is passionate about a full-spectrum approach incorporating research-based medical science and analytical chemistry, along with spirit oriented awareness and traditional folk wisdom. Based on 9th generation family land in Owen County, Kentucky, Andrew uses a forest management system that ensures he increases the populations of wild herbs while tending them over time. A graduate of Bastyr University, he taught for the Bastyr Appalachian Herbal Intensive, and has taught around the world at universities, festivals, health food stores, and wildlife centers. Find him at Natura Apothecary.
Irma
Irma has tamale-making and traditional Mexican cooking wisdom of many generations, brought to the present with her own flair and skill. She is back by popular demand, making the Saturday dinner tamale gems in collaboration with festival goers and growers, from true ‘scratch’.
