Vera Johnson BIO

My bio and community involvements...this is hard to do! 

About me...

 I'm a plant nerd. Really. 

I have a long story about how I came to Village Green, but will leave that for a blog post.

 I'm a spring born baby, an Earth sign, Taurus if you must know...  Growing plants keeps me grounded.  My mom had the GREENEST Thumb ever... and we consistently had roughly a million plants indoors and out- so I have been gardening all my life in one way or another. 

 I don't claim to know everything about plants or know all the Latin names, but I'm pretty good/intuitive with almost all things green and growing. 

   My way of learning has always been by way of doing. I've killed many a plant to get where I am. Some plants are just harder than others. Period. 

 What I hope to achieve here is teach others how to grow plants and have success AND FUN doing it. I want to encourage early/new gardeners to experiment, but also answer questions and trouble shoot about what, how and why things do and do not work. 

  So, I am here. 

 I want to be involved in my community. I want to educate and provide a place for students - therefore we host classes and workshops-taught by the many qualified educators we have around the Puget Sound.

We host

• Rose experts (antique roses as well as modern)
• Rain garden experts, Permaculture experts, Sustainable living experts, 
• Urban Farmers, 
• Organic gardening experts, 
• Perennial experts, 
• NW Natives experts,
• Wildlife Restoration experts,
• Beekeepers,
• Foodies, 
• Chefs...the list is endless- so we invite them to come and share their knowledge...and they do. 

 I love music, Art, wine, food and all things that are experienced and created through the use of our senses. 

 These things must be felt. 

I love my life.  I want to share these joys and pleasures.  We host live music in the garden throughout the summer and feature local artists to show their hand crafted items. 

  I am a resident and HUGE supporter of White Center. As a member of a community, I believe it is important to know my neighbors and fellow business owners.    I  want to participate in helping my neighborhood be even better than it already is, not just wait for it to happen. I have been a resident in West Seattle (multiple areas) for over 15 years and WC (DubSea) is my favorite neighborhood- hands down. 

 I work with the White Center Community Development Association every year to help with the WC spring clean up, leading groups of volunteers as well as making plant donations. I am involved with NHUAC, I am a member of the WC Chamber of Commerce, the Business owners association. I maintain a close connection to the White Center Sheriff deputy. I am my neighborhood Block watch captain and I occasionally write for the White Center Blog. 

   

  I work with many area schools to provide plants for Garden installations to attract wildlife, as well as many Donations for fundraisers including Community School of West Seattle, West Seattle Montessori, Alki Elementary, Schmidtz Park (funds raised for 2 of my custom sculptures was $4700)   I'm also a founding member of the Family learning center program at SWCC. 

 I am a homeschooling parent-over 8 years now, and as a homeschooling parent I want to teach my kids the impact we can have on our lives and the lives of others by simply showing up to do our part, but also by the choices we make and the huge impact they have on the lives of others as well. I am a very strong believer of sustainable living and supporting local businesses. That is why I make the choices I make about the plants I carry and grow. I make very effort to buy only from local independent growers. Smaller operations. Keeping the money local. Chain stores can drive little busineeses out very quickly if we aren't thoughful and intentional. 

 Organic is very, very important to me. I have very strong convictions/opinions about the use of pesticides and chemicals.

 I'll save that for another Blog post-but feel free to ask me sometime.

  I know the positive impact gardens can have on our environment, our health and well being and our food systems.

 I know the impact our choices make.

 I want to 'be part of the change I want to see...'