Maayan Chelsea Greenheart
co-founder & lead instructor
pronouns: she/they ancestors: Poland, Italy, England and Scotland
Maayan is a mother, Earth steward, Flower worshipper and belly feeder. She has spent the last decade of her life dedicated to feeding the people in nourishing ways. She lives in community at SunSong where she collaboratively tends an abundant garden, sings to the Flowers and hugs the Grandmother Trees. She values peaceful communication, rites of passage and initiation, song sharing and spiritual reciprocity. Full of aliveness and connected to her emotions, Maayan embodies and inspires celebration of the life’s miracles while holding space for the grief that comes with honoring the tragedies of the state of humanity & Planet Earth.
Maayan has been studying traditional food cultures for over a decade. Her curious mind has taken her all over the Americas, learning about indigenous and post-colonial food traditions. Upon realizing that she didn’t know anything about how food is grown, Maayan Chelsea dove into the soil to get to know the source of her nourishment. She first got her hands dirty on organic farms in South America in 2012 and then attended the Allegheny Mountain Institute’s 18-month fellowship program. It was there on an isolated mountain in Highland County, Virginia that Maayan got her first experience living in community and learned to care for a garden, ferment and preserve food, tend to chickens and goats, forage mushrooms, and identify plants and trees. Since then, she helped start the Newtown Community Garden in Staunton, VA and worked as the garden manager for the Virginia School for Deaf and Blind and the creative director for Farmstead Ferments. She is a self-taught kitchen witch and catering queen with 10 years of experience transforming the Earth’s abundance into delicious nourishment.
With her awe-inspiring appreciation for the Earth’s gifts, Maayan loves sharing the medicine of the garden and mindful eating with humans of all ages. She facilitates and hosts mindful eating meditations and blind dinners. Her passion for making beauty and celebrating life is expressed through Earth mandala practice, song catching and her unique body altar flower blessings.
In December 2016 Maayan gave birth to Esben Reishi Fox, a vibrantly alive fire child. She is passionate about raising the next generation to know themselves & protect our Planet. Maayan is choosing to parent in a community-centered way, raising her child with her co-parent Fox and their SunSong family.
Maayan co-founded Soul Gardens to help people reconnect with the Earth, learn how to grow food and be in community. Her heart carries the prayer for all humans to be fed and in love and she aims to walk in beauty carrying that prayer. Connecting people to the Earth and Her magnificent beauty is part of Maayan’s sacred service to the world and she is honored to be a facilitator for Soul Gardens.
Maayan has been studying traditional food cultures for over a decade. Her curious mind has taken her all over the Americas, learning about indigenous and post-colonial food traditions. Upon realizing that she didn’t know anything about how food is grown, Maayan Chelsea dove into the soil to get to know the source of her nourishment. She first got her hands dirty on organic farms in South America in 2012 and then attended the Allegheny Mountain Institute’s 18-month fellowship program. It was there on an isolated mountain in Highland County, Virginia that Maayan got her first experience living in community and learned to care for a garden, ferment and preserve food, tend to chickens and goats, forage mushrooms, and identify plants and trees. Since then, she helped start the Newtown Community Garden in Staunton, VA and worked as the garden manager for the Virginia School for Deaf and Blind and the creative director for Farmstead Ferments. She is a self-taught kitchen witch and catering queen with 10 years of experience transforming the Earth’s abundance into delicious nourishment.
With her awe-inspiring appreciation for the Earth’s gifts, Maayan loves sharing the medicine of the garden and mindful eating with humans of all ages. She facilitates and hosts mindful eating meditations and blind dinners. Her passion for making beauty and celebrating life is expressed through Earth mandala practice, song catching and her unique body altar flower blessings.
In December 2016 Maayan gave birth to Esben Reishi Fox, a vibrantly alive fire child. She is passionate about raising the next generation to know themselves & protect our Planet. Maayan is choosing to parent in a community-centered way, raising her child with her co-parent Fox and their SunSong family.
Maayan co-founded Soul Gardens to help people reconnect with the Earth, learn how to grow food and be in community. Her heart carries the prayer for all humans to be fed and in love and she aims to walk in beauty carrying that prayer. Connecting people to the Earth and Her magnificent beauty is part of Maayan’s sacred service to the world and she is honored to be a facilitator for Soul Gardens.
Scotty Greenheart
co-founder & lead instructor
pronouns: he/him ancestors: Greece, England, Italy
Scotty is the co-founder of Soul Gardens. He believes that everyone has a unique and special soul purpose and wants to mentor those people whose purpose involves tending and caring for our sweet Mother Earth. Scotty grew up gardening with his Momma and has kept his own garden since 2010, soaking up all the experiential knowledge that comes through tending plants through the seasons. Scotty has a passion for biology and loves teaching composting, holistic orchard care, soil science and remineralization, compost tea, and other biological practices. He teaches workshops on these topics at Earthskills gatherings and other local establishments.
After completing his degree in engineering in 2007, Scotty began studying permaculture, sustainability, herbalism, yoga, wild foods, and primitive skills. He has never looked back. He has his Permaculture Design Certification with Living Routes in Massachusetts and completed a 450-hour herbal medicine program with the Chestnut School of Herbal Medicine. Over the last years, Scotty has immersed himself in nature awareness and naturalist studies through the self-study Kamana Program offered by the Wilderness Awareness School. Scotty has shared his deep nature connection practices with children over the last 6 years, teaching for Forest Floor Wilderness Programs and Earth Path Education.
Movement, health and wellness are important parts of Scotty’s routine and practice. Scotty has completed a 200-hour yoga teacher training from the Asheville Yoga Center. He loves to share his practices of Yoga, Qi Gong, and Thai Yoga Massage to promote health and healing in his community.
One of Scotty’s biggest passions is rites of passage. He works for Mountain Wisdom, an organization that facilitates young men’s rites of passage . He has “gone up on the mountain” twice for his own vision quest and is in the process of completing a 4-year commitment with his teacher in New York. He believes that ceremony, ritual, and deeply committing to finding one’s soul purpose will help each individual share their gifts with the world, bringing healing to all beings.
Community is a huge value for Scotty. He manages the 1/2 acre garden at SunSong. He also created and co-manages the Unity Garden at the Big Ivy Community Center, a project that brings together community for workdays and grows food to give away to the food pantry. Scotty believes that our human nature is to live, work, play and pray together and by doing so we are bringing a interconnected and healing way of life for future generations. Embodying the spirit of generosity, Scotty strives to uplift and serve his friends and allies.
After completing his degree in engineering in 2007, Scotty began studying permaculture, sustainability, herbalism, yoga, wild foods, and primitive skills. He has never looked back. He has his Permaculture Design Certification with Living Routes in Massachusetts and completed a 450-hour herbal medicine program with the Chestnut School of Herbal Medicine. Over the last years, Scotty has immersed himself in nature awareness and naturalist studies through the self-study Kamana Program offered by the Wilderness Awareness School. Scotty has shared his deep nature connection practices with children over the last 6 years, teaching for Forest Floor Wilderness Programs and Earth Path Education.
Movement, health and wellness are important parts of Scotty’s routine and practice. Scotty has completed a 200-hour yoga teacher training from the Asheville Yoga Center. He loves to share his practices of Yoga, Qi Gong, and Thai Yoga Massage to promote health and healing in his community.
One of Scotty’s biggest passions is rites of passage. He works for Mountain Wisdom, an organization that facilitates young men’s rites of passage . He has “gone up on the mountain” twice for his own vision quest and is in the process of completing a 4-year commitment with his teacher in New York. He believes that ceremony, ritual, and deeply committing to finding one’s soul purpose will help each individual share their gifts with the world, bringing healing to all beings.
Community is a huge value for Scotty. He manages the 1/2 acre garden at SunSong. He also created and co-manages the Unity Garden at the Big Ivy Community Center, a project that brings together community for workdays and grows food to give away to the food pantry. Scotty believes that our human nature is to live, work, play and pray together and by doing so we are bringing a interconnected and healing way of life for future generations. Embodying the spirit of generosity, Scotty strives to uplift and serve his friends and allies.
Tyson Sampson
Soul Gardens facilitator on Cherokee days
pronouns: they/them/he/him ancestors: Cherokee
Tyson Sampson is a two-hearted and two-spirited individual who has descended from the local indigenous matriarchy called the ᎠᏂᎩᎶᎯ (A-ni-gi-lo-hi). Their home is referred to as The Beautiful Painted Earth. This family is based here in their aboriginal territory most commonly known as the Great Smoky Mountainsides. Tyson has a background in the healing arts and communications. They have been of service to connective circles/family for 19+ years. In multi-faceted contributions, they have worked on everything from documenting endangered language, holding mindful awareness/presence, to sharing wild food practices and cultural sensibilities about Cherokee cuisine. They have contributed to efforts for residents of the Qualla Indian Boundary to have more intimate and legally protective relationships to plants/wild foods in this indigenous bio-region. Currently, Tyson is cultivating an apothecary for ethnobotanical accessibility, called Bigwitch Botanicals. They are also developing a broader collective to support traditional ecological knowledge for their fellow tribesfolk, called the Big Witch Indian Wisdom Initiative.
Amy Walker
gardener and wisdom keeper
pronouns: she/her ancestors: Cherokee & Sioux
Amy Walker is a member of the Deer Clan, is a great grandmother, and is 78 years old. Her parents, one Cherokee and one South Dakota Sioux, were both herbalists. She grew up eating out of the Appalachian forests; a wildcrafter and a farmer, she focuses her farming on traditional Cherokee food preferences, mostly growing traditional medicine, corn, beans, and squash. She is a retired social worker, and an indigenous traditionalist. Amy is a pipe carrier and a Sundancer in South Dakota.
Josh Fox
SunSong community member and Soul Gardens facilitator
pronouns: he/him ancestors: Russia, Poland, Ukraine
Fox has built a life around the healing powers of plants, people, and community. He weaves herbs, song, and acupuncture into his private healing practice, and writes music that uplifts the heart, honors his plant allies, and tickles the human spirit. With the same gentle, grounded nature he receives patients, he holds group ceremony space for Soul Gardens around grief, heart-healing, song-sharing and herbalism. Learn more about Fox at his website: www.foxhealing.com, and listen to his music at Fox songs' Bandcamp page.
Jon Handelman
SunSong community member
pronouns: he/him ancestors: Ukraine, Russia, Poland
For over a decade, Jon has coached, taught, and inspired people all around the world. With a passionate presence, a variety of exciting tools and methods, and a deep understanding of the science of attaining success and the art of fulfillment, he teams with you to energize your life and soar to your full potential.
Jon teaches classes and workshops on empowerment, goal setting, forgiveness, emotional mastery, intimacy and trauma for Soul Gardens at various festivals, gatherings and institutions around the world.
Jon has a business degree from Concordia University, and has studied Coaching for Transformation, non-violent communication, and Robbins-Madanes training, among many other disciplines. He co-created Awakening Harmony, a musical connection retreat that promotes emotional empowerment and vulnerability. Jon has been coaching and counseling for more than 10 years and enjoys yoga, authentic relating, music, acrobatics, gardening and woodworking. He is a co-founder of SunSong Community. Learn more about Jon at his website: www.jonhandelman.com
Jon teaches classes and workshops on empowerment, goal setting, forgiveness, emotional mastery, intimacy and trauma for Soul Gardens at various festivals, gatherings and institutions around the world.
Jon has a business degree from Concordia University, and has studied Coaching for Transformation, non-violent communication, and Robbins-Madanes training, among many other disciplines. He co-created Awakening Harmony, a musical connection retreat that promotes emotional empowerment and vulnerability. Jon has been coaching and counseling for more than 10 years and enjoys yoga, authentic relating, music, acrobatics, gardening and woodworking. He is a co-founder of SunSong Community. Learn more about Jon at his website: www.jonhandelman.com