Welcome to The Foodscaper
The online continuing ed network for edible landscaping professionals
Thanks for joining our professional community.
There are plenty of garden education sites on the internet - but what makes us different is that we provide education to professionals who design, install and maintain ecological edible landscapes for clients.
That's a mouthful, we know!
We find the common dream among our community members is to regenerate outdoor spaces with elements like native fruit tress, annual veg gardens, water-catching rain gardens, or pollinator-attracting natives...all designed with a whole systems approach.
That can look like school food forests, hospital wellness gardens, and suburban homesteads.
If you're a landscaper, contractor, permaculture designer or just a green thumb who wants to transform underutilized spaces into gardens overflowing with food, you've come to the right place.
We've got plenty of resources to help you grow as a foodscaping practitioner at any level.
Welcome to The Foodscaper!
We provide free continuing ed through...
- webinars and office hours
- The Foodscaper Podcast
- a free professional community
We help foodscapers thrive with...
- a seasonal foodscaping mentorship course
- courses
- the leading annual conference for edible landscaping pros, The Foodscaper Conference
- business coaching
Check out our coverage in Modern Farmer!
The spotlight shines on the edible landscaping movement
Read here
Introducing the Field of Foodscaping
Foodscaping is:
- an industry aimed at transforming ordinary urban and suburban spaces into abundant and delicious food-producing landscapes
- a social enterprise solution for lessening our dependence on distant sources of energy, food and materials
- an emerging field destined to be household term in the next 5-10 years - and it starts with you!
A foodscaper is:
-
a professional who designs, installs and maintains ecological food-producing landscapes for clients
Write for The Foodscaper
The Foodscaper is actively accepting submissions! We are looking to publish boots-on-the-ground-practical and wanna-grab-your-shovel-inspirational stories about foodscaping, ecological design, permaculture and other creative ideas you may have within this scope.
To pitch a story idea or an article you’d like to republish on The Foodscaper, email info@thefoodscaper. We look forward to reading it!
Foodscapes — Not Lawns - for a Healthier Planet
-
“Homeowners use up to ten times more chemical pesticides per acre on their lawns than farmers use on crops.” (deep-roots-project.org)
-
“Of the 30 most commonly used lawn pesticides, 17 are possible and/or known carcinogens, 18 have the potential to disrupt the endocrine (hormonal) system, 19 are linked to reproductive effects and sexual dysfunction, 11 have been linked to birth defects, 14 are neurotoxic, 24 can cause kidney or liver damage, and 25 are sensitizers and/or irritants.” (beyondpesticides.org)
-
Mowing for an hour generates as much pollution as driving 100 miles. (yardmap.org)
-
“It is estimated that the meals in the United States travel about 1,500 miles to get from farm to plate. We put almost almost 10 kcal of fossil fuel energy into our food system for every 1 kcal of energy we get as food.” (CUESA)
-
“Each year more than 17 million gallons of fuel are spilled during the refilling of lawn and garden equipment—more than the oil that the Exxon Valdez spilled.” (columbia.edu)
Stay in touch!
Reach out to [email protected]-- we'd love to hear from you! And sign up for our newsletter to keep up with the whole Foodscaping industry.
Meet The Foodscaper Team
Matt Lebon, Founder
Matt is most passionate about creating magical food moments. He is driven by the belief that food connects us all. By cultivating food crops with a reverence for Mother Earth he believes we can begin to heal our bodies and the land. Matt got his start with farming as a Peace Corps volunteer in Paraguay, where he was initially bit by the gardening bug. He went on to study ecological design and work on several farms. For five seasons Matt worked at the EarthDance Organic Farm School until he left his role of farm manager in 2017. Now with Custom Foodscaping, Matt is a practitioner and designer of edible landscapes and gardens.
You can reach him at [email protected].
Lindsay Wolff, Programs + Conference Manager
Lindsay has worked as a writer, marketer, and publicist for over ten years. The connection between healthy bodies and healthy soil drew her to a love for organic agriculture. Lindsay is passionate about inspiring more people to grow their own food and connect with nature. Lindsay worked on an organic vegetable and pastured pig farm outside of Seattle, and now spends most of her free time rehabbing a 1918 farmhouse outside of St. Louis where she and her husband Nate love to host community events. She earned her permaculture design certification through the Women’s Permaculture Guild.
Jessica Gazzola, Administrative Associate
Jessica found grounding in sun, soil, and food as a young mother. Her past tracks through spiritual communities, but ordinary life in a blended family and tending relationships with backyard chickens and fruit trees illuminated her path. She loves her community orchard (The Orchard on Virginia) where she grows pawpaws, june berries, community, and stories. Jessica is thrilled that these tendrils of passion have a place to grow with Custom Foodscaping, supporting the foodscaping movement and sharing stories of everyday magic in the garden. She also likes to share her gluten-free baking.
