How to Become a Gardener

Ashlie Thomas is a food security and home gardening advocate known on social media as The Mocha Gardener. Several years ago, Ashlie began her gardening journey with her husband on their one-acre North Carolina homestead. Through gardening, she has become more conscientious of local food systems and the health of the environment. Ashlie's love for wellness and the environment fueled her passion to grow food and bring awareness through practice to growing issues of food insecurity in vulnerable communities around the country.
After spending her childhood in a rural community that lacked sufficient access to nutritious foods, she understood that one way to address this barrier is through learning how to grow food and educating others on what quality foods consists of and from where it originates. Ashlie not only believes that her garden may serve as a spiritually enlightening place to ground and regenerate, but also as an opportunity to deeply connect and give reverence to what she feeds herself, her family, and her friends. It is her hope and mission to empower others to take control of their well-being through growing the very thing that sustains them…good, nutritious food.