BIOS
Kyla Rudnick
Installation and Maintenance Powerhouse / Plant Genius
Kyla grew up in coastal Massachusetts and moved to Seattle after completing a master’s degree in environmental anthropology at Washington State University in 2009. As part of her master’s program Kyla served in the agroforestry sector of the Peace Corps in Ghana, where she worked with traditional shea butter processors, conducted moringa tree educational programing, and on a mango tree nursery. Upon moving to Seattle, Kyla began teaching ESL in South Seattle to elderly East African refugees. It was through working with these individuals that she learned about their desire to grow food in their new home country. This spawned an interest in her combining her passion for agriculture with that of working towards creating a space for meaningful cross-cultural and multi-generational interactions in Seattle. She began volunteering at Seattle Tilth’s Rainier Beach Urban Farm and Wetlands with their East African elder gardening program. She then completed a certificate program in landscape horticulture at South Seattle College, where she broadened her knowledge of fields such as plant identification, soil science, and permaculture.
In 2015 she began working with the urban farming collective Alleycat Acres and is currently their program director. When Kyla is not gardening you can find her cooking or preserving her garden produce, cuddling with her cat Eggs Florentine, or traveling somewhere off the beaten path.
Education: MA in Environmental Anthropology through Washington State University.​
​
Volunteer:
Certifications and Awards:
Leiah Rasmussen
Installation and Maintenance Superstar / Landscape Wizard
Leiah Rasmussen was born and raised in Seattle. She grew up with a deep appreciation and fondness for the nearby mountains and natural spaces. At a young age she explored the cascades and her father taught her how to snowboard. As a teenager she enjoyed sharing her snowboarding knowledge with others. At first teaching friends then accomplishing a certification to instruct which connected her to a job with the Summit Learning Center. Without knowing it at the time, Leiah learned to utilize a key permaculture principle in her teaching methods - small and slow solutions. After Instructing for two full seasons she decided to instead use that time to focus on her high school studies. To this day she continues to ride the mountains and teach loved ones. Fresh out of High School she decided to travel and went to Thailand and Sri Lanka with her best friend. In Sri Lanka they volunteered for the Millenium Elephant Foundation (MEF), engaging with a variety of responsibilities including: assisting the primary caretakers of injured asian elephants, painting a mural, gardening, teaching english to students, and delivering elephant dung to the neighboring paper factory (aka shit shifting). Upon returning home from her travels Leiah felt empowered by her experiences to study something meaningful to her and enrolled into Seattle Central College. She eventually found the SAgE (sustainable agriculture education) program and through SAgE completed a 9 month internship with the Beacon Food Forest. Her volunteer experience at BFF exposed her to growing food security, connecting with and building community, earth care and studying systems of permaculture.
Since graduating from SCC, Leiah continues to participate in her community as a volunteer at BFF and has become a burgeoning gardener.
​
​
Education: SAgE (Sustainable Agriculture Education) Internship
Volunteer: Education Committee of the Beacin Food Forest
Certifications and Awards:
Aaron Armstrong
Asian and English inspired Permaculture Designer
Aaron was raised here in the Pacific Northwest exploring and growing with the forests of the Northern Cascades. By the age of 8 he had a flock of chickens and home garden to care for, and by 12 he was working with neighboring families to create vegetable gardens and urban landscapes. Eventually his interests in plants and culture brought him to Japan where the cultivation of tea kept him busy for several years. Experimenting with a variety of natural soil amendments and growing techniques for tea plants brought his attention to the concept of a potentially permanent, perennial agricultural way. Along with the agriculture of tea came the human culture of tea in the form of the many tea practices of Eastern Asia. During this time Aaron dedicated himself to the Japanese Way of Tea, which includes the in-depth appreciation and creative use of poetry, ceramics, incense, clothing, language, and perhaps most relevantly, the tea garden. The tea garden (roji 露地, lit. 'dewy ground') is a unique style of garden which can be viewed as a permanent horticulture in which annual plants are almost absent and high-maintenance exotic plants are discouraged. After working in the tea profession for several years Aaron came back to his roots and began studying and experimenting with permanent agricultural methods in earnest. Only then did Aaron realize that what he had been practicing for so many years was known as Permaculture, which was formally established in the same year he was born. He then formed a small landscaping company and worked his neighbors in North Seattle to start regenerating Seattle's natural resources.
For the past 10 years Aaron had been focused on experimentation and collection of empirical evidence for permaculture and soil systems and specializes in hugelkultur applications and soil regeneration.
Today Aaron is still drinking, and even growing, tea with his wife and two children at their home in Ballard.​
Education: BA in Japanese Language and Literature with emphasis on cross-cultural linguistics and ancient Japanese through the University of Washington.​
Volunteer: Worked with EarthCorps on a handful of projects from 2013 – 2015. Worked with Sustainable Ballard and volunteered on their Board of Directors (2008 – 2009). Supported community through offering free classes and seminars in sustainable agriculture at Wallingfarm from 2009 – 2014. Established edible food gardens at West Woodland Elementary in 2014. President of the Board of Directors at the Northwest Permaculture Convergence from 2016-2018.​
Certifications and Awards: Received Permaculture Design Certificate from Oregon State University with Andrew Millison and Marisha Auerbach. Given “Sustainability Oasis” award from Seattle Tilth for most sustainably-designed garden in 2014.
Kimberly Leeper
Permaculture-inspired Designer, Gardener, and Educator
Specializes in native plants, wildlife habitat, and food forests/edible forest gardens
​
Background: Born/raised in Pittsburgh area; Moved to Seattle area in 1995.
Education - B.S. in Psychology; M.S. in School Psychology; and Teaching Certificate (K-8) – taught 3rd, 5th, and middle school in public schools and was a Naturalist/Environmental Educator with Seattle Audubon, Seattle Parks, and Wilderness Awareness School which grew my love of native plants/wildlife; and then became a Native Plant Steward (2005) through WA Native Plant Society and learned morehorticulture at South Seattle College. I wanted to inspire people to have some native plants in their gardens and began having native plant sales out of my home (2005) by starting Mariposa Naturescapes -- specializing in native plant landscapes (with some pollinator and wildlife habitat focus – this is more in forefront now). My interests have continued to evolve and focus more on periennial edible food systemsand permaculture (thinking more holistically about a landscape).
​
Volunteer: An education-oriented volunteer and collaborator – currently Organizer for Seattle Permaculture Meetup and member of Beacon Food Forest’s Education Team and instructor in Food Forest Stewards Program (King Conservation District). Lastly, I am a past President of two environmentally-focused Boards of Directors – NW Environmental Education Council (2002 – 2003) and Sustainable West Seattle (2013 – 2014)
​
Certifications: Completed Permaculture Design Certificate with Toby Hemenway (2010); Edible Forest Gardening Certificate with Dave Jacke (2012); and Advanced Permaculture Teacher Training with Jude Hobbs (2015); ecoPRO certified Sustainable Landscape Professional (2014) - https://ecoprocertified.org/about/, former business was an EnviroStars Business (commitment to business practices that protect public health and environment) and Oasis will be soon! - http://www.envirostars.org/, and former member of Seattle Good Business Network - http://www.seattlenetwork.org/.
Education: B.S. in Psychology; M.S. in School Psychology
Volunteer: Organizer for Seattle Permaculture Meetup and member of Beacon Food Forest’s Education Team and instructor in Food Forest Stewards Program (King Conservation District). Lastly, I am a past President of two environmentally-focused Boards of Directors – NW Environmental Education Council (2002 – 2003) and Sustainable West Seattle (2013 – 2014)
Certifications and Awards: Permaculture Design Certificate with Toby Hemenway (2010); Edible Forest Gardening Certificate with Dave Jacke (2012); and Advanced Permaculture Teacher Training with Jude Hobbs (2015); ecoPRO certified Sustainable Landscape Professional (2014)