Today we’d like to introduce you to Jessy Woodke.
Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
I was a punk rocker who learned about the PELL grant in my mid-twenties. I used it to try and escape the drunk/punk pipeline. It worked! I took an ecology class early on and became infuriated when I learned what our society has done to the earth. I focused my energy on sustainable agriculture and horticulture degrees. I emerged from college with a diversified education and the drive to cause change. I began my conservation landscaping business with a tiny investment of 3k which I used to buy an old dented up truck. I found my passion in the decolonial work of lawn reclamation, food forests, regenerative land use practices and stormwater management. The business took off because I was not alone in outrage. Now instead of simply throwing out seed bombs like a common anarchist, I pay for my family’s life and well-being through sharing conservation practices with my community.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Because I am led by passion, the rough spots that come with doing something new and grand like I was turned out to be fun and complex. I am led by my own moral compass so the small setbacks along the way only served to strengthen my resolve to be better at whatever I was being challenged with.
As you know, we’re big fans of Undoing Ruin Conservation Ladscaping. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about the brand?
We are a full-service conservation landscaping company. We don’t mow lawns. I design from energetic flow mapping and natural processes. We deconstruct the antiquated suburban landscape plan and reconstruct vivid living and sustainable landscapes through hand crafted labor. We viciously annihilate turf grasses and invasive species and replace them with some or all best management practices, some of which are ancient and just being rediscovered by society. Some examples include: food forests, raingardens, wildflower meadows, hugelkultur, berm and swale, simple to complex composting, rainwater harvesting, and native plant agriculture. We will help maintain these systems if the client requests, but usually we hope that they catch the sustainability “bug” and take on the space they occupy as a family member rather than a plot to dominate with cash flow. We are unashamed at blasting the status quo and loudly vocalizing the need for systemic change in land-use practices across the board. We have fun with our gardening anarchism because fun is sexy and people like being fun and sexy, so the ideas spread. As the main steward of this business, I am proud to be as successful as I have been through ONLY doing what I like. I want the readers to know that they can do it too. Learn a native plant, fall in love and then let it make you crazy.
Before we go, is there anything else you can share with us?
Undoing Ruin doesn’t want to tell you what to do. We want to give the leg up to the uninitiated so they can find their joy themselves and then share that joy with all the life surrounding them.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.undoingruin.com
- Instagram: @undoingruinrva
