Stephanie Syson is the co-founder and Director of Caribbean Agroforestry Institute, spends the days with her hands in the soil and her heart with the plants.  She started down her Permaculture path in 2001 with an internship at Punta Mona in Costa Rica.  After visiting and living at multiple Permaculture communities in Latin America she was hooked!  Stephanie lived within and managed the Central Rocky Mountain Permaculture Institute for 4 years.  In that time she started the Basalt Seed Library and the Basalt Community Food Park as well as opening an herbal Product line called Dynamic Roots.  After many years of farming and running her herbal product business, she decided to devote herself fully to farming medicinal herbs.  Stephanie partnered with Sustainable Settings Ranch in Carbondale Colorado and opened Biodynamic Botanicals in 2015.  She is a full-time farmer and educator.  She has recently started 35 acre farm in Puerto Rico that combines her love of medicinal herbs, agroforestry, subsistence farming,  tropical climates and ocean life with teaching and rural, large scale Permaculture Design. Stephanie is a Certified Permaculture Designer, an educator in the fields of  Greenhouse Management, Seed Saving, Food Forests, Biodynamics, Herbalism and more. She has presented at conferences such as the Boulder Bioneers, the North American Permaculture Convergence, the American Herbalists Guild and the Biodynamic Association. She works with groups of all ages to further their knowledge of these topics through regular public workshops such as CRMPI, Colorado Mountain College, The Grow Network, and the Denver Permaculture Guild  as well as co-hosting the Living Permaculture Show, a monthly radio show on public radio KDNK. Stephanie is committed to community service through education and demonstration of herbal self-care and sustainable farming practices. 

Mike Garcia, owner/operator of Everoak Farm in Orlando, FL,  is a self-taught first-generation farmer with a deep-rooted passion for sustainable agriculture and regenerative farming practices. His journey began in the culinary world, where he honed his skills and expertise through formal training at culinary school and over a decade of experience in the hospitality industry. Driven by a desire to reconnect with the land and foster a more sustainable food system, Mike transitioned from the kitchen to the fields, embracing a holistic approach to farming rooted in agroecology. Drawing inspiration from nature’s wisdom, he practices agroecology, integrating bio-intensive market gardening, agroforestry, pasture poultry, and composting to cultivate healthy, nutrient-rich soil and promote biodiversity on his farm.

Please welcome Kiah one of two yoga teachers we will have for the weekend.

I stepped into my first yoga class back in 2014, I was searching for peace of mind and a way to manage stress and anxiety. What I learned in that first class was how to let go. I was able to breath a little easier, tune out everthing that didn’t matter on the mat and dive into a world of just being present. From that first class I was hooked. I became intrigued by yoga and wanted to learn everything that I could about this ancient practice and deepen my personal practice. I found a 200hr YTT Yin and Vinyasa teacher training program at Guruv in 2019 and quickly knew this was the path I was supposed to take. While in the YTT training, I wanted to broaden my knowledge on other types of yoga and participated in a Prenatal Immersion Course at Guruv Yoga and learned just how incredible the human body can be. Over the years, I have discovered how much peace, joy, community, love and compassion there is in yoga and through the YTT program, I became eager to share this passion of yoga with others. 

So excited that Kelly Reid from @thereidfarm will be sharing some of her amazing knowledge at the convergence. Kelly is well versed in everything from growing production scale food, to sour dough, to rabbit farming, and yoga therapy just to touch on few of her skills. This woman does it all! Having people who live this life & share their successes and mistakes is what the event is all about.

@themadmycologists, is a locally-oriented, small business start-up based in Saint Petersburg, Florida. Our mission as a science-driven company is to produce the highest quality mushroom extracts for people to incorporate functionally into their lifestyle & routine. We plan to infuse our extracts into a line of intentionally-crafted supplements that we plan to release in the near future. Until then and even after, our goal will always be education; by sharing knowledge about integrating mushrooms into people’s lives

Josie will be sharing her incredible wisdom with us. Curandera Remedies is an indie wellness brand created by Josie Castaneda, certified health coach and yoga therapist. Offering artisanal, apothecary remedies for modern times along with a curated selection of service modalities to harmonize your inner being.

Growing & using grains in Florida. Growing grains and staple crops can be difficult in our Florida climate, but there are so many delightful grains, roots and tubers that offer great nutrition and are easy to grow, harvest and process in our humid, changeable climate! Learn when to plant what, and how to properly harvest, thresh, and prepare grains and the best way to store roots and other starchy vegetables. 💚 @angieminno

Meet Lonny from @thereidfarm and Bernie from @the_bernie_journey_ Honestly ask Lonny just about anything! From deep sea fishing to rabbit harvesting, growing food to rare fruit hunting, aquaponics systems to pole barns, fermenting to bone broth he does it all. Lonny & Bernie will be teaching small animal harvesting & cleaning fish, showcasing a back yard aquaponics systems, and doing some primitive fishing on the side. 

Kayla is very excited to be workshopping the funky world that is wild yeast and sourdough! She has taken an interest in food as medicine over the past couple of years, which has led her down many paths, one being the world of ferments! Through curiosity and trial and error she has learned all that goes into making delicious loaves of sourdough bread that are not only yummy but also beneficial for our bodies.
Kayla currently resides near Asheville, NC, after finishing up with a Dance and Art Degree at school in Florida. She has spent many years as a dance teacher, and has spent time working as a teacher at Waldorf-Montessori based nature schools. In her free time, when not baking, she enjoys dancing, creating music, cooking, and foraging.💚

PhD, ATR-BC is a board-certified therapist, certified educational leader and owner of a two-acre, Florida permaculture farm complete with hundreds of species of edible plants, free-roaming chickens and 26 beehives. Dr. Pike serves as Education Chair for the Palm Beach County chapter of the Native Plant Society. As a local 4-H program facilitator, Dr. Pike helps make food forestry an accessible and practical landscaping option for the community. Her food forest currently provides an average of 70% of her family’s daily meals.💚 @florida_food_forests

We are honored to have Johnny Dame at the convergence this year. He is intimately connected with Florida ecosystems and water systems – he ignites and inspires with his wisdom and a vast amount of experience with real Florida. Sharing his passion with us is a true blessing 

David Ahlgren uses a listening and observation of nature model of coaching/consulting. After observation of land and humans in many ecosystems, David believes the most abundance and restoration both in human and land ecosystems comes with most ease when we enter each system with humility and a listening and learning sprit. This practice of befriending and listening to nature has been the recipe for restoration of abundance throughout all of history and across all landscapes.  David along with many other colleges across the world use, modern appropriate technology and research to both gain scientific situational awareness and foster restoration to abundance.

When the patterns are observed and used in humble harmony, abundance becomes a simple task to flow with into an oasis of abundance and peace.

Joseph Pierce aka “Micanopy Joe” has been a permaculture teacher, consultant and designer in Florida since earning a PDC certification in 2009. He currently owns and operates a bakery/coffee shop and permaculture demonstration food forest called Mosswood Farm Store located in Micanopy Fl. He specializes in bananas, bamboos and gingers as well as being knowledgeable in the areas of composting/soil building natural construction and earthworks for water management.

💚 @michelle_deboraw