About Brunette Gardens
About Brunette Gardens
While we could sit here on our thumbs and lament habitat loss and environmental degradation, we prefer to take action where we have control, and that starts with our own backyard.
We put forth the theory that instead of waiting until you can take off for the hinterlands, the best way to become a true steward of the Earth is to homestead-in-place. For us, that means the Midwestern suburbs. For you, it could be anywhere!
We’re convinced that creating a wildlife- and pollinator-friendly habitat and becoming more self-sufficient as homesteaders go hand-in-hand.
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Who’s the Brunette?
I’m often accused of being too literal, but yeah, Lisa Brunette is my real, legal name. I also used to really be a brunette…before nature thought better of that hue. I’ve been at this writing thing more or less full-time for three decades, publishing across a wide variety of media, from newsprint to online and both books and games, as well as museum exhibits. I’ve won a fair share of awards, including three indieBRAG medallions and a Michener Fellowship. Through a lifetime of frequent moves—a military brat childhood and nomadic adulthood—gardening has been my one constant. Though entirely self-taught, I won a platinum award from the St. Louis Audubon Society for my garden design, and the 1/4-acre garden my husband, Anthony, and I cultivate together has also been named a Monarch Way Station and Wild Ones native plant habitat.
Speaking of Anthony…
The other person with his hands in the dirt here is also known to bang out a few stories at his keyboard. While Anthony Valterra keeps insisting he’s not a writer, the readers who love his helpful hand with hugelkulturs and cool cast-iron tips beg to differ. He grew up with fond memories of visiting his grandfather’s Oregon dairy farm, and Anthony’s father is a never-seems-to-retire landscaper in the Walla Walla Valley. From him, he learned how to make a ‘mere circle of plant parts on a door.’
I also tend to bring other writers into the fold, whether new people I meet here via Substack or drawing on my former freelance stables. You’ll love them all, I promise!
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