A Des Moines native, she has called this city home her entire life. Growing up on the East Side and in Pleasant Hill, she has known small living to large properties. Throughout her 20’s, she rented homes all over Des Moines; always growing food where she landed. She has had everything from just a couple kitchen herbs to a pandemic jungle garden. Each garden has had a different shape depending on the season of life.

Sustainable Agriculture became important to Shelby during an Environmental Science class she took at DMACC in 2011. She learned about organic farming vs conventional farming, which sparked the interest of a new food journey. She worked at a local organic farm that summer, turning to volunteer work for a couple following summers.

The Iowa Food Cooperative became another consistent food passion. Shelby started volunteering her time which led to learning to purchase food from local farmers. Through this journey she realized she was not just supporting families in her community, she was also depleting the length of travel to her plate.

Business wise, she has worked for multiple small businesses over the past decade. Dabbling in about all of it. From their day to day operations, selling products/services, managing teams, working hundreds of different types of events, and helping start businesses from the ground up, she has done it all. Becoming a mom, her passion pivoted towards her families needs and starting a business helping others in the garden just made sense! With all the knowledge she has gained in garden and farm work she looks forward to sharing it with others. She believes everyone can grow food for themselves and/or a family, they just might need some help along the way. 

Gardening has been apart of her life forever. Her family always had a garden growing up. She's a nurturer, a harvester and a preserver. She sees the importance of working the soil in the spring to see it abundantly feed the garden all year. There’s seasons to gardening just like we have in Iowa weather. The planning, the nurturing, the harvesting and the preserving. It’s a lifestyle that has been ingrained in her from the start.