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.

Kendrick Henry, also known as ‘The Father of Farmitecture’ completed his Master’s Degree in Architecture from USF. He went on to start planting moringa trees on Other Peoples Properties in the year 2015, which served as a foundation for his Moringa Empire and Agricultural Collective. Kendrick’s dedication and passion for the moringa tree have led to the creation of ‘The Grow Moringa Collective’ that now boasts over 400 Members scattered across the United States and other countries.
We are so fortunate to have such passion and expertise shared by Kendrick in both the business of growing and the medicinal properties and uses of moringa. You are sure to be inspired! @wegrowmoringa @kendrickhenry28

Johana was born and raised in Colombia, and is the sole person behind Mama
Tortuga.org, a multicultural, eco-conscious, and mindful bilingual website for
parents and community that want to raise and support global citizens for the last
nine years. She is an avid urban gardener and just finished creating a
sustainable medicine garden at her home in Lake Worth Beach, Florida, USA,
where she supports BIPOC herbalist circles and medicine making. Right now she
is receiving a year long apprenticeship of natural Muisca traditional Gynecology
with Escuela de Sabiduría y Salud Femenina from Colombia, South America.
She is also working with traditional teachers in developing ceramics that support
spiritual knowledge and work with ancient emphasis for Pachamama service,
with traditional ceramic instructors from Ecuador, Lila Vasquez and Laura
Vergara.
Lover of nature, culture, and languages, backyard gardener, traditional herbalist
has a background of anthropology and nursing studies. Has served as a parent
advocate in her local school board, and had participated in several community
events around Florida (Florida Herbal Conference, Día de Muertos Lake Worth
Beach, Spanish Conversational Groups and Spanish Nature Playgroups) and in
North Carolina (Firefly Gathering). She has collaborated with different websites
(Multicultural Kids Blogs, Spanish Mama, Raising World Children, Barefoot
cards, etc)  and projects around her city of West Palm Beach, Florida and till this
day keeps supporting community building efforts in her community through
advocacy, education and gardening. She released her collaboration book
"Raising The Global Mindset" with a true multicultural global collaboration of
women on how to raise conscious, multicultural and inclusive perspectives. She
believes that “we need to be the change we want to see in the world” and that
our mission as parents and educators is to empower others to offer their unique
gifts for the common good of all in their community. She offers classes in English
and Spanish, creates cohorts for herbalists that want to learn Spanish, speak at
conferences and support and organize events that are mindful, eco-conscious
and look to bring justice and awareness to our multicultural connections and
relationships. She also organizes focus Spanish learning groups online or on site

to develop herbalism, sustainability and gardening culture. She served as one of
the main organizers last year at the Culture Camp at Firefly Gathering in North
Carolina, where she supported a very diverse view on traditional and cultural
knowledge. You can always reach out to her via her website
www.mamatortuga.org.

dive deep into the business of permaculture with Laura. She is going to share her wisdom on prosperity as well as facilitate a forum focussing on “Making Your Permaculture Entrepreneurship Dreams a Reality” Laura Oldanie is a green living & money coach and founder of Rich & Resilient Living. Since receiving her permaculture design certificate in 2009 she’s been exploring ways to earn, spend, invest, and manage her money (and lifestyle) to bring about the change she wants to see in the world – and teaching others to do the same. Laura is co-author of the permaculture lifestyle design book Growing FREE (Financially Resilient & Economically Empowered): Building the Life of Your Dreams Without Losing Your Soul or Destroying the Planet. @rich_resilient 

I’m a Central FL-based sculptor who works primarily in metal and clay. My inspiration comes from the divinity of nature and honoring the experiences of deep connection. I’m also passionate about health & fitness. I’m a group fitness instructor at Orange Theory and an assistant instructor at Sanduguan Kali (a Filipino Martial Arts School) with my husband Kayan Cajudo. Together we have been transforming our humble urban property into “Featherfoot Homestead,” our little garden oasis.

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

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

It is a privilege to introduce Omaka from @yeschefvillage an organization committed to health and education with St Petersburg’s youth,

Chef Omaka looks to bring a comprehensive educational program to his local community, a born St Pete native, Omaka has seen the effects of what poor food choices in underserved black communities can have on the learning abilities of St Pete’s youth.

Omaka teaches holistic health education to help take part in the global epidemic of Child Hunger,

with 3 million children who die each year from hunger and 45 million who will suffer from malnutrition; YES CHEF aims to provide answers and solutions to solve these issues children face.

Kristofer Edler is the Founder of PermacultureFX and has been practicing regenerative agriculture for 15+ years.  Edler has lived in multiple growing zones from the snowy winters of Northern Michigan to the extreme seasons of Kansas City.  He was a founding teacher of a private school in Kansas City, which taught permaculture to K-12 students on an 18-acre property.  As a business owner, his former wedding venue also practiced permaculture with community garden connection and compost production from post-event food waste.  Currently, Edler is actively practicing and teaching permaculture in Central Florida.  He is a certified instructor and was trained by Geoff Lawton (and other permaculture patriarchs).  He is especially passionate about making permaculture principles palatable for those in suburban settings and enjoys finding ways to integrate sustainable practices into many diverse scenarios.  Over the last few years, he conducted hundreds of property consultations in Central Florida to help new homesteaders get started on their land.  All this to say – Edler is a nerdy dirt ninja with a passion for humans and food forests.

Keri Evjy facilitates healing for people and the planet through nature-inspired land and life design. For more than 20 years, she has been an educator and designer observing natural patterns and demystifing holistic life design practices to cultivate abundant and resilient lives and landscapes for individuals and organizations. Her transformative programs include group curriculum and one-on-one coaching experiences through Regenerative Life Design. Her book, Regenerative Life Design Playbook, an earth-inspired multimedia toolkit to flourish in life, career and relationships, was released July, 2022. Keri is also the founder of Healing Roots Design, an edible and medicinal landscape design, install and maintenance company. For more information on programs, services, events and info, please visit: www.regenerativetraining.com
She thrives in Asheville, NC.

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.

Sharing wisdom in the form of play! She will also be providing acupuncture services throughout the weekend as a vendor – very exciting.
Paikea is an acupuncturist, regenerative medicine practitioner, and wild foods educator. Prior to acupuncture, Paikea obtained a Masters degree in Computer Science, a Masters in Electrical Engineering, and fellowship training in Genomics. Her advanced knowledge, combined with a compassionate nature, makes her an effective healer. Moreover, Paikea helps modern individuals to reconnect to three things, to be fully healed and fully alive: 1) Intimacy with the natural world. 2) Intimacy with the “inner wilderness.” meaning curiously explore the childhood, societal, and ancestral trauma that we all carry, to recover Wholeness within. 3) A community to recover and play with. So Paikea organizes Earthskills gatherings, practices the latest regenerative medicine with a holistic heart. And she actively teaches, learns and grows with the community, to stay happy and fully alive, to walk the Earth like our good ancestors did. You can find her work in Kentucky and around the country at www.Paikea.Love/events @logicalgirls

Lonny is a wealth of information on everything from natural building to growing just about anything. He has inspired and taught so many people to grow food one plant at a time, and we are excited to have him back in a whole new area – cooking with fire. Join us and take your skills to the next level! 💚 @thereidfarm

A huge thank you to Brielle Aguila for sharing multiple gifts with us. She will be teaching several kids classes on Saturday as well as facilitating our kids program. On Saturday she will be sharing her music with us at a dinner concert. Brielle is a permaculturist, medicine musician, forager, intentional mother , Waldorf gardening teacher and Earth guardian who resides in South Florida on Tequesta Land. Brielle also helps people in their commUnity turn their yards to “ yardens “ through designing and installing food. She facilitates an event monthly in Florida called “ Permaculture Paradise “ where people can come learn and take action together to help create a regenerative culture in different lands around Florida. She also host nature children’s classes, foraging walks, composting classes, cacao medicine music ceremonies, and a vegan market in her backyard. She and her partner offer wild -foraged fresh coconuts and locally crafted herbal medicine to their commUnity and will at our event as well! Their organization is called “ Everything Earth Tribe” Follow their offerings and stay connected at @remembering_source and @tree_standing 

 Michelle Ott. Michelle has gifted her time previously to helping organize and facilitate the convergence and we are so fortunate to have her sharing her wisdom at this year’s event. Learn the top 20 methods of transforming your wild foraged foods into medicines, foods, flours and more.
Okay so you’ve collected your harvest…now what? Nature, unlike a grocery store, isn’t pre-packaging your food ready to eat. If you don’t take a few extra steps to preserve your pickings, you find a pile of dried up mess and all your efforts frustratingly wasted! Learn exactly what methods you can use to capture the power of mother nature for your pantry and apothecary in “Preserving Your Wild Harvests”.

Teacher: Michelle Ott
Michelle is a self taught forager and nature lover. After going to school in the Appalachian mountains she descovered the power of plants as she healed from a plant rich diet. It was game on from there as she self study educated herself on what nature has always offered us: bounty, medicines, shelter, food, and richness. Michelle moved to St. Pete in 2019 and enjoys the heat, tropics, beaches, and community of her city. Find her in the kitchen making healing foods for others, making kombucha, working in her urban organic food forest, or out and about St. Pete finding the next tropical fruit harvest. 💚 @michelle_deboraw

Bamboo bio-char let me count the ways of your uses! Paul is back showing you how easy it is to make bio-char at your homestead and why you should. From carbon sequestration to building healthy soils bio-char does it all. Join us for fast tracked learning and fun! @paulkrolljr 

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 

A landrace is a domesticated, locally adapted, often traditional variety of a species of animal or plant that has developed over time, through adaptation to its natural and cultural environment of agriculture and pastoralism, and due to isolation from other populations of the species. @seedthestars is going to take you way past heirloom and organic to the use of plants adapted specifically to our local growing conditions. 

We are talking natural, treatment free bee keeping with live bees! Want to incorporate bees into your homestead? This is your opportunity to learn from the best. Grateful to the bees and our lovely wrangler.