Meet our Gardeners in the Denver, Colorado Area
Zanna Ceesay
Head Gardener & Reinhabit Manager
Follow me on instagram at garden.bee.well
I cultivate and nourish – soil, plants, children, community. I teach homeowners to cycle their yard waste on site to regenerate their soil.
I’ve been a gardener for a solid 25 years and have always lived my life with an awareness of my impact—good and bad—on Mama Earth. It wasn’t until 2018 however, that I began to learn of a more harmonious way of gardening, which has many names: no-till, lasagna, sheet mulch, Deep Bed Farming, Hugelkultur, and now the catch term I love: Regenerative Agriculture. Using the methods learned from David Braden and Living Systems Institute, I rebuilt nearly all the beds on my property and then built some more on others’ properties! I love to see two simple natural materials that are often heading to the landfill instead turn into a healthy ecosystem: wood and manure. These two magical resources are the answer to keeping our earth’s surface happy and able to produce food, flowers, trees, and ultimately support all forms of life. They are the building blocks to making soil and healing the bare spots.
In 2019 I started working with David in launching what is now the Reinhabit Co-op. I took what I had learned and brought it to homeowners who wanted to heal their soils, create outdoor spaces they loved, and have a relationship with the ecosystem that is their little plot of land on this earth. I find myself in the happiest of spaces when transforming a grassy, weedy, barren landscape into what will ultimately be a lush garden teaming with life smaller than the eye can see, all the while teaching others how to do it too. I am a mother of five and care deeply about preserving and healing the earth for generations to come. The only way we can sustain our species is to take care of the planet we all live on. The issue of climate change comes from global warming; taking care of the soil can lead to global cooling and as it starts in one backyard, and then another and another, it grows exponentially and makes a BIG impact. Join us in this effort!
Jai Reese
Certified Gardener
(he, him, they, them)
I am passionate about how we engage and relate to the natural world who we are and are of. This passion of mine is embodied via work creating regenerative permaculture gardens with the Living Systems Institute, caring for animals, and offering supported cannabis and psilocybin medicine sessions. As a child I was very connected to nature and so naturally connected in work settings such as Wilderness Therapy and what is modern landscaping as an adult. I loved being outdoors but had to learn that I did not hold the same values as most modern landscaping companies. I felt at odds when bosses and co-workers would approach a space with superficial aesthetics in mind — overly watering, using excess energy to care for lawn monocultures, and throwing away Autumn leaves and “weeds” that were perfect for adding nutrition to soil or my belly, or starting a compost or hugel bed. Today I am grateful to be part of LSI and to also get to tend to a veggie and native plant garden of my own. I look forward to connecting with you and your natural settings as well as the bugs, mycelium, birds, and beings of them.