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Hi!  I'm Vanessa Harmony.  I am a treehugger, horticulturist, arborist, edible plant enthusiast, and mulch fanatic. My parents are from Texas and Oklahoma but I grew up in Jakarta, Indonesia.  Each summer break, I would spend time in the Colorado Rockies hiking with my dad, and camping and backpacking with National Wildlife Federation's Wildlife Camp and Teen Adventure programs.  Those summers in Colorado forged my love for the Rocky Mountains, my desire to nurture nature, and my zest for foraging wild strawberries and raspberries along trailsides.  I earned my Bachelors degree in Environmental Studies in 2004 from University of Colorado at Boulder then moved to the East Coast where I spent 8 years outside Philadelphia, and 2 years outside New York City.  My first career was in the pharmaceutical industry (in a cubicle!) where I gained invaluable project management, business, and technology skills.  Meanwhile, I discovered and studied permaculture design and forest gardening, and came to realize my passion for edible, perennial plants.  There was one problem: I had zero experience working with plants!  In 2013 quit my cubicle job and accepted a Forest Gardening apprenticeship at Stone Barns Center for Food and Agriculture in Sleepy Hollow, NY - learning, tending, and harvesting edible perennial plants, and solidifying my new identity as a plant nerd.  I spent two more years on the East Coast working at a tree care company, and later a tree nursery, before coming to the realization it was time to transplant myself, for good, to the Rocky Mountains.  I came to the Roaring Fork Valley in 2016 with the mission of expanding the edible landscape nursery at Central Rocky Mountain Permaculture Institute (CRMPI), learning my trade from Jerome Osentowski.  After three treasured years living on Basalt Mountain I decided to move my nursery in 2019 to a more expansive and accessible location at Rivendell Farms in Spring Valley of Glenwood Springs, where my co-farmers and I benefit from a "big team farm" model of support, infrastructure, and mentorship.  Come visit me at the nursery! I look forward to serving your edible perennial plant needs.

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My mission is to grow food, build soil, and nurture nature.

My vision is Colorado Edible Forest.

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