My name, Kelly, means "Warrior Maiden, loyal and brave," and I live in Nevada, which is called the "Battle Born" state. These fit me very nicely! I am an oncology nurse and have the solemn privilege of helping my patients face death and fight. Sometimes, we win! Although I have studied and work in a very scientific and clinical arena, I grew up on a wild piece of Arizona desert, full of rattle snakes and adventure, dust storms and flash floods. There were years of attempting to grow things and failing. But, I did learn animal husbandry. I discovered permaculture two years ago while I was renting a home. I wasn't able to really try permaculture out there due to restrictions. So, I bought a home big enough to garden at last year, and have been using permaculture principles to turn my little home in the middle of Las Vegas into a food forest. I already have had remarkable success. I am saving up to go to a Permaculture Design Course next year, and I hope to someday build a Permaculture healing garden for my patients, and use the surplus of food to help the very large homeless population here in Vegas. I already am growing pioneer trees from seed to prepare for this. Once I can see which fruit trees do best in this climate, I'll be cultivating them as well. I also would love to tackle some Greening of the Desert projects in Arizona and Nevada. Deserts are a cancer on our planet. I fight cancer. Simple as that. I'm excited to start a journey of education and growth in this area!