August 2024
Join us to hear Judy Speer as she presents the story of 15 years of growth in a (mostly) native food forest in northern Illinois. Inspired by permaculture and ecological restoration practices, she and her husband Jack have been transforming a patch of woody invasives into a diverse multilayered perennial habitat that also provides some food and medicine for humans.
Learn how their observations and experimentation are deepening their relationship with the land, and what they have discovered about growing pawpaws, chokeberries, butternuts, sochan and other indigenous foods.
Judy Speer lives in an oak savanna near the headwaters of the Nippersink Creek in McHenry County. As one of the founders and directors of Small Waters Education, (https://smallwaters.org) she promotes mutually beneficial relationships between humans and the rest of the natural world. Through experiences in ecological restoration, permaculture, and deep ecology, Judy loves to share the joy of supporting the web of life and finding one’s place in the ecosystem.