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About Kinship Landscapes llc
Kinship Landscapes LLC serves the greater Madison, WI area in full landscape design, installation and maintenance.
A bit about Michele, Lead designer and Proprietor
Growing up, Sunday afternoons were spent learning how to draw with dad. From there, I just never stopped creating: Painting, sculpting, and design have directed my path.
After I finished a Permaculture Design Course with the wonderful Scott Pittman of 'Permaculture Institute Inc.', I knew that translating my artistic talents into planting design would be my solution to mitigating climate change. After years of hands on experience at a herb/vegetable farm, landscaping, as a farm manager for an urban farming non-profit, as an education program manager for agroforestry and a Master's degree in Horticulture from the University of Minnesota; I began Kinship Landscapes LLC edible landscaping company. As a steward for the Earth, I am passionate about designing ways to live more sustainably and truly enjoy working with clients to help them do the same.
What is climate smart landscaping?
Why edible landscaping?
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Learning to grow your own food is an act of power. You control how it gets to your plate
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If you understand how to grow food within your own landscape, this translates to food security for your family and community
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Saving seeds from plants you've grown mean that over time they'll adapt to your specific area creating resiliency in times of change
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Much of our food travels thousands of miles contributing to greenhouse gases. Consuming local food addresses this issue
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Planting trees and other perennials in your landscape capture carbon
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Plants will retain stormwater, filter it and reduce polluting run-off
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Converting your lawn to functional plants and flowers supports local ecology with habitat and food sources
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Thoughtful landscape design can reduce your energy bill by shading your house in summer and warming your house in winter
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It's fun, exercise and important for mental health
There are many reasons to adopt climate smart landscaping tactics. These are just a few!
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Compost. When food decomposes in a landfill, it release methane. Composting your food waste not only reduces this green house gas, but when added to a landscape it builds carbon sequestering soil, eliminates the need for chemical inputs and holds more water for longer
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According to the EPA, agriculture accounts for nine percent of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions, part of which are generated by food processing and transportation. By growing some of your own fruits and veggies in a climate-smart garden, you can reduce the amount of fossil fuels consumed
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Water-smart landscaping utilizes different methods of water retention and capture to ensure your yard is resilient during increasing times of drought / too much rain
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Converting your lawn to cover crops or perennial ground cover (bonus points if it's edible) help your site retain moisture, supports local ecology, reduces the need to mow and feeds the soil microbes that in turn feed your plants.
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Keeping your soil healthy helps reduce pest / insect pressure
Why the name 'Kinship Landscapes?'
The idea for 'Kinship Landscapes' came from reading the inspirational, 'Braiding Sweetgrass' by Robin Wall Kimmerer (bookmark this page, visit your local bookstore and go read it now if you haven't yet). I was searching for a name that would reflect how I wanted to interact with the land- in a reciprocal, respectful and loving way. Once Kinship popped into my mind it simultaneously became both the name and the mission.
"Kinship makes us feel part of this collective “we,” and many of the social—and certainly economic—institutions in which we are embedded depend on alienation. They depend on isolation. If we are alienated from the living world, then we can commodify the heck out of it. We can extract everything and make it all into property, make it into natural resources, not the gifts of our relatives. So kinning is a very real antidote to saying that the world is just stuff and all this stuff belongs to us. Kinning with Grandmother Moon, with salamanders, with lichens on our rooftop—all of those are acts of resistance to the objectification and commodification of the world." - Excerpt from an interview with Robin Wall Kimmerer, found here.
Food forest design & installation at the Chicago Street Garden: Minneapolis, MN.
Watch my 3 part educational series on youtube:
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