Salem Willard (a simple story)
...was born and raised in Atlanta, GA, and attended the University of Georgia from 2002~2006 where he graduated with a BS in Psychology with Highest Honors. After spending 3 years teaching English in Japan on the JET Program and one summer leading the BEE (Bicycle for Everyone’s Earth) Japan 2009 Ride across the country he returned to Georgia. In December of 2009 he completed a Permaculture Certification Design Course, and continued his studies with mentors Chuck Marsh and Patricia Allison of Earthaven and Bob Burns of the Georgia Permaculture Institute. He spent 2010 working for Hungry Gnome Gardenscapes as an Edible Landscape & Permaculture Designer, but decided to move to Monroe County Indiana to be with his partner, Katie Middendorf (doctoral student at IU), and spread his other love of useful & edible plants.
While his background is not in formal landscape design, his expertise is in making things grow. His knowledge of and commitment to (and success in) growing plants for mutual human and environmental benefit far outweighs that of a conventional landscape designer, making him somewhat of a maverick in the field – but what can you expect from an Edible Landscape & Permaculture Designer?
While his background is not in formal landscape design, his expertise is in making things grow. His knowledge of and commitment to (and success in) growing plants for mutual human and environmental benefit far outweighs that of a conventional landscape designer, making him somewhat of a maverick in the field – but what can you expect from an Edible Landscape & Permaculture Designer?
Saleem the Dream (an epic history)
...founded Bread & Roses in the cold months of 2011. A native Atlantan and therefore accustomed to sweltering, sticky summers where the ground rarely freezes in tepid winters, he drove up to Bloomington amidst a Mid-West January snowstorm and suffered vicious frostbite at first sight of the snow. With the warmth of his love and fellow Georgian, Katie Middendorf, and 4 cats (Sami, Apollo, Camille, & Aiden!), he recovered with all of his branches in tact, and set roots in the foreign, deep, pH neutral topsoils thirteen miles outside Bloomington.
During his pre-adult life Salem wandered the world looking for sense in human Psychology & Literature (which resulted in a BS from the University of Georgia), but found little evidence of rationality. From there he followed love abroad, and after three years of teaching English and playing music part-time in Japan, and a a year of trying to raise awareness about environmental issues as leader of the BEE Japan 2009 Ride, he finally returned home to find it in the same place he’d left it--except with more gadgets and fewer trees.
Then Salem discovered hope, not in a campaign slogan, but in finally learning a common sense way of living that agreed with Salem in a gutteral sense – this was the way of Permaculture. Through it he discovered an alternative to destructive depression that closely follows our Indo-European divide and conquer mentality. He learned to listen to people and plants and animals better, and found they all have equally meaningful things to say. He realized there is no such thing as “out of sight, out of mind”, and that our actions brand our collective conscience whether or not we are aware of its impact. He started learning skills that would allow him to prosper without disrespecting other forms of life.
And the doors of this new world opened wide – within months he began working for Hungry Gnome Gardenscapes in Athens, GA as an Edible Landscape & Permaculture Designer. He had the great fortune of designing and installing a number of new annual & herb gardens, orchards, and forest gardens for clients, and today is in the process of creating his own Eden-at-home just off Lake Monroe surrounded by Hoosier National Forest.
Salem loves his work, and can’t believe he’s blessed to do it for “a living”. Hopefully that will turn out to be an accurate statement. In addition to Edible Landscaping, his eventual hopes include creating edible commercial offices, parking lots, campuses (hello IU), rooves, shoes, cars, well, everything. He believes that if we’re blessed with so much beauty on this planet, why are we driven by a fear of lack, of death, and the unknown? Economics of scarcity, gobbling up and privatizing our remaining rights to clean water and air, terrorize people daily. In the world Salem envisons, there would be no need for separation of church and state, or private and public lands, because we would all have more than we need without fear of running out. And while he’s a dreamer, he acknowledges that best laid plans are usually compromised by stardust, and that human emotions are more complicated than reason can estimate. At the very least he is working to create a Permaculture homestead that uses renewable energy and regenerative ecological design to provide for his loved ones.
During his pre-adult life Salem wandered the world looking for sense in human Psychology & Literature (which resulted in a BS from the University of Georgia), but found little evidence of rationality. From there he followed love abroad, and after three years of teaching English and playing music part-time in Japan, and a a year of trying to raise awareness about environmental issues as leader of the BEE Japan 2009 Ride, he finally returned home to find it in the same place he’d left it--except with more gadgets and fewer trees.
Then Salem discovered hope, not in a campaign slogan, but in finally learning a common sense way of living that agreed with Salem in a gutteral sense – this was the way of Permaculture. Through it he discovered an alternative to destructive depression that closely follows our Indo-European divide and conquer mentality. He learned to listen to people and plants and animals better, and found they all have equally meaningful things to say. He realized there is no such thing as “out of sight, out of mind”, and that our actions brand our collective conscience whether or not we are aware of its impact. He started learning skills that would allow him to prosper without disrespecting other forms of life.
And the doors of this new world opened wide – within months he began working for Hungry Gnome Gardenscapes in Athens, GA as an Edible Landscape & Permaculture Designer. He had the great fortune of designing and installing a number of new annual & herb gardens, orchards, and forest gardens for clients, and today is in the process of creating his own Eden-at-home just off Lake Monroe surrounded by Hoosier National Forest.
Salem loves his work, and can’t believe he’s blessed to do it for “a living”. Hopefully that will turn out to be an accurate statement. In addition to Edible Landscaping, his eventual hopes include creating edible commercial offices, parking lots, campuses (hello IU), rooves, shoes, cars, well, everything. He believes that if we’re blessed with so much beauty on this planet, why are we driven by a fear of lack, of death, and the unknown? Economics of scarcity, gobbling up and privatizing our remaining rights to clean water and air, terrorize people daily. In the world Salem envisons, there would be no need for separation of church and state, or private and public lands, because we would all have more than we need without fear of running out. And while he’s a dreamer, he acknowledges that best laid plans are usually compromised by stardust, and that human emotions are more complicated than reason can estimate. At the very least he is working to create a Permaculture homestead that uses renewable energy and regenerative ecological design to provide for his loved ones.
