Our May 2021 event is combining two things we dearly love - wine + plants! We’re going to be heading out to Hazel Witch Farm to seed native plants, drink wine and learn a bit about our local land.

The event is now full, and we’re so excited to get together. Here’s a brief intro to our instructors who will be graciously sharing their expertises with us.

Megan Holland, Women In Wine co-founder
Megan (she/her) started Women In Wine in 2018 while having the opportunity to work in Richmond, Virginia’s growing wine scene. Her jobs have always consisted of jumping between Outdoor Education (for youth) and restaurants. This love of both nature, working with the nuances of plants and the outdoors, and hospitality is what drew her to wine. The best experiences are those shared, and what a better way to do that than great food and beverages.

The goal was to create safe spaces for marginalized genders to experience wine in a welcoming environment. Wine should bring people together, not isolate. It also often brings conversation – something more than just experiences through taste.

Megan will be leading the wine tasting portion of the event.

Joelle Wacker, with @9thgreenhouse, landscape and garden design
Joelle Wacker (she/her) has been an educator since 2013. Her most recent position at Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden reignited her love for a childhood hobby – time spent with plants. Drawing from CVNLA certification class and extensive travels to famous gardens around the world (especially Japan,) she seeks to make landscape design – which is historically inaccessible – accessible for people of all incomes and interest levels. Designing for leisure, pleasure, and food (a main component) will always be meaningfully connecting owners with the land they call home.

At the event, Joelle will be teaching us about ecology, food systems and soil nutrients, and what part they play for wine and other industries, including our own backyards and balconies.

Brittany Lee (she/her), with @la_botanica_farm, focusing on cut flowers and plants for natural dyes
”Being Raised with an emphasis on self sufficiency and family, I realized that farming is a way to sustain the spirit and the body of yourself and your community. After working for Shalom Farms as the farmer in residence during 2020, it became apparent to me that my desire to exist as a provider for myself and family was founded in cooperation with the land and earthwork. I am grateful to farm as a choice. I am passionate about replicating the sustainable practices of my ancestors.

I am a student of Indigo, natural dyes, and flowers, hoping to have a positive impact on Black and brown individuals. La Botanica hopes to reinvigorate and rekindle different forms of expression the land can provide alongside family, friends and community. Being raised with an emphasis on self-sufficiency and family, I realized that farming is a way to sustain the spirit and the body of yourself and your community.”

Brittany will be sharing her expertise in plants with us at the event.

Ash Hobson Carr, founding farmer at Hazel Witch Farm
Ash won’t be instructing this event, but we wanted to recognize the founding farmer of the beautiful land we’ll be on at Hazel Witch Farm.

Ash graduated from VCU School of the Arts with a BFA in 2010 and has been growing her own food + medicine in backyards and pots for years while saving seeds along the way. During the last ten years, she’s run a photography business that took her around the world, and also sometimes tied her up indoors in front of a computer. In response to long flights and countless hours editing in a dark office, she developed a love for using her physical body, being in the sunshine, and a desire for deep roots.

In 2017, she farmed on a small non profit farm, Tricycle, as part of their Urban Ag Certificate program. During that year, she partnered with Hazel Witch Farm’s other founding farmer, Sera Davenport, to dream up the initial plans. In the fall of 2018 they parted ways, and Ash began work on moving the farm to a 6-acre perch above the Chickahominy River, that is currently called Charlotte Acres and is an incubator farm facilitated by Tricycle.

She respectfully acknowledges the land was held and cared for by many people before her, including the Chickahominy and the Powhatan.

Now - vibe time. Check out the playlist we’re listening to as we dream of Saturday.