Meet Your Design Instructor

Hello! My name is Rachel.  I'm a mother, wife, gardener, landscape designer, hiker, camper, herbalist, and our family's main chef.  I graduated from the University of Minnesota in 2003 with a B.S. in Horticulture and Landscape Design.  I opened a business designing, installing, and maintaining ornamental landscapes for clients in and around Minneapolis, MN. 

I loved my business but something was missing.  I wanted to give back to the world in a meaningful way.  I closed my business to join the Peace Corps and spent the next couple years in Mali, West Africa.  That experience changed my life. 

I returned home (married to another volunteer) and we settled down in Portland, OR where we lived for the next 8.5 years.  While there, I completed a Permaculture Design Consultant's Course and an herbalism course.  We bought our first house and my unique design style emerged and took over our entire yard (in a good way). 

I became a mother and decided to leave my part time job to focus on my daughter and passion for meaningful landscape design (which I'd been doing on the side).  I created Daily Harvest Designs, LLC where I offered edible, medicinal, and permaculture-based landscape designs for clients in the Portland area. 

We moved back to my home state of Wisconsin and bought our current home in January 2018.  I brought my business with me and am currently designing edible landscapes for clients, running this DIY course, raising my two girls, and transforming our 1/2 acre lot into an edible and medicinal wonderland.  I want to help you with your edible landscape, too!