My interest in nature started early. My father and grandfather, both avid outdoorsmen, took me to some of Missouri’s greatest state parks, where I spent much of my childhood hiking trails and traversing creek beds. While studying early childhood education at Mizzou, a friend’s anecdote about mugwort’s alleged effects on lucid dreaming led me to what now spans close to a decade of herbal study. Over the years I’ve researched thousands of species and their medicinal / holistic properties. I learned how Indigenous cultures across the globe treat certain plants, such as Banisteriopsis caapi and Entada rheedii, as teachers and as bridges between material and immaterial worlds. I spent countless days meditating outdoors, observing the landscape closely and training myself to see it the way that these cultures see their environments; interconnected, evocative worlds wherein transcendent narratives take shape and the limits of human perception reveal themselves.
I began my current career path in March 2024 designing & managing landscapes at some of St. Louis’s most distinguished private estates, including those of Busch family heirs and former executives from Emerson, Missouri’s highest-valued public company. After learning the fundamentals, I transitioned to urban farming under the mentorship of the staff at Confluence Farms. There I helped harvest more than 25,000 pounds of produce, much of it distributed to families in food deserts across St. Louis City and County. In October I reclaimed a distressed property in Bel-Ridge and undertook an intensive restoration effort, after which I began planning my own experimental urban farm operation for the 2025 growing season. I tested how staple crops like tomatoes, beans, and sorghum performed in degraded soil, installed hundreds of native plants as part of an integrated pest management strategy, and trialed new crops and heirloom varieties suited to the St. Louis region.
After handing the property off in early 2026, I pivoted to propagation and retail, bringing many of these varieties I had tested to a wider market. Sales were an immediate success and continue to do well, but I found myself craving something more. Fueled by that sense of longing, I began developing the working process that now defines Misumena: naturalistic planting that is layered and deeply attuned to the needs of not just the client themselves, but the wider ecological connections a client’s property serves. My design work pairs captivating visual impact with structural resilience, often featuring native medicinal and edible plants as pillars of a system that configures human and wildlife benefits at the same scale. This goes beyond familiar landscaping practices by beginning with a question — what would our gardens look like when our diets, lifestyles, and aesthetic preferences become reflective of humility before the land and its constituents?
Today I primarily focus on educational outreach and partnerships with rural communities, as well as supplying seeds and live plants to various clients around St. Louis. While I do not currently accept new bids for landscaping services, I offer consulting in the areas of design, agroecology, and many other disciplines to a wide range of individuals and institutions. Whether you aim to expand pollinator habitat, feed families in need, or revolutionize the way your community thinks about plants, I’m eager to help you achieve your goals.
Email me at misumena@proton.me to request a quote, and I’ll get back to you as soon as I can.
