About - Brunette Gardens

What is Brunette Gardens?

A garden of healing 🌱 from the trauma of our lives and times ❤️‍🩹.

My essays often come from a place of contention in me, and I write them in order to integrate: To take the threads that don’t seem to belong together, or to belong anywhere at all, and weave them through and into each other until they form a picture.

*Ptilothrix bombiformis* on *Hibiscus lasiocarpos*, taken in my old backyard for the Shutterbee citizen-science program.

I could tell you how I got here, to a place where gardening is a balm from the trauma of my early life and then the times we live in adding layers on top of that.

And I will, in my newsletters to you, which will come to you as an email or as part of the Substack app. Yeah, there’s an app for that.

Available for iOS and Android

But right now, I want to talk about you—because you’re here for a reason.

💀 Maybe like me, you’ve sometimes struggled with thoughts of suicide. If these spirals often happen in the wee hours of the night when you’re beset with insomnia, you’re not alone! Nope, not even if deep pain (and shame) from childhood trauma seems to be at the root of your dark nights of the soul.
✴️ Speaking of your soul, perhaps you were drawn here by my openness on the subject of Christianity. I’m admittedly new to writing about my walk with God, but if that’s you, too, then let’s discover our faiths together. If you’re a longtime believer, I’m here to learn from you, and maybe you can see God anew with me.
🥗 My whole-foods take on eating might’ve brought you here, from the archive of nearly 250 posts going back four years. I’ve shared many a recipe, and paid members get a whole book of them. You’ll like Brunette Gardens if you’re a huge fan of vegetables, but you don’t think going without meat and grain is healthy.

Free, paid, and founding memberships

Free:

✅ 1 post per month, free chats, + my companion-planting guide

Paying members get:

✅ 2 posts per month, all chats, + my companion-planting guide

✅ Archive content (~250 posts) since the 2022 launch

✅ Whole foods recipes as printable PDFs individually and as a 36-page booklet

Founding members receive this additional perk:

✅ A PRINT copy of any of my books (US) or an ebook boxed set (international)

With your paid membership to Brunette Gardens, you’re showing you value and understand the time and effort spent on research, image creation, and writing for this publication. You’re also acknowledging the many years my guests and I have put into cultivating our soil, as well as our talents.

Memberships cost just $6.99 per month, and you can cancel anytime.

My background

Through a lifetime of frequent moves—a military brat childhood and nomadic adulthood—gardening has been one of my few constants. Whether working a community tomato patch in the inner city or accepting a platinum award for wildlife gardening, my love affair with growing things has been lifelong… and complicated. A wordsmith by trade, I’ve published journalism, books, and games, often winning awards.