CURRENT MISSION

I enjoy meeting new people, gaining new experiences, and sharing abundance. Traveling to Croatia and the UK in September 2024. Definitely interested in your favorite adventure spots, food, and local insights.
Recently traveled by caravan around Portugal in late 2022 with my bestie, Melissa, to check out places where she would like to move.

ABOUT ME

Our home is a model of shared housing for end-of-life care. Please click the "Read more" link under the "Maybe Accepting Guests" section. Without referencing our unconventional home environment, I'll assume you've overlooked it and decline your request.

My husband and I live just a few blocks from "downtown" West Asheville in the mountains of Western North Carolina. We share our home with two cats, four housemates, and folks facing the end of life and their caregivers. We are in the process of renovating our 100 year old home room by room. When space and situations allow, we may be inclined to open our home to you as well. We cultivate a large organic garden that we eat from and share its excess food and flowers through our side project, the Little Free Gardenstand. You can learn more about our projects by exploring holdingspaceasheville.org and searching @littlefreegardenstand on insta.

My partner is a RN at the VA Hospital in their inpatient hospice. I'm an on-call grave digger for a green burial cemetery, and I'm growing as much of our food as time, effort, and critters allow.

PHILOSOPHY

Be shareful out there!
Closet extrovert, local food advocate, innovator.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

I have friends far and wide and often stay with them during travels, but I prefer to fill in the gaps in new cities with Couchsurfing. I've used the Hangouts feature a few times and had a great time. I look forward to many more great adventures!

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

Have hosted through CS since 2012, and surfed several times. I was an active Airbnb host from 2011-2021.

Interests

Sustainability, permaculture, creativity, working with my hands, gardening, community building, worktrades, end-of-life care, foraging, aquaponics, fermentation, and mountain biking.

• cats
• dining
• cocktails
• coffee
• gardening
• cycling
• backpacking
• canoeing
• mountains

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

I took an old bread truck and turned it into a self-contained mobile commercial kitchen. When I retired from catering, I sold it on ebay to a guy in Alaska and used the proceeds for a down payment on my house.

Teach, Learn, Share

I love to dabble in new and interesting things. I am a jack of all trades and a master of few. I have light carpentry and construction skills, organic gardener, former aquaponics farmer, novice fermenter, and soapmaker. I enjoy nature and have relatively extensive knowledge of wild edibles in the southern Appalachian mountains.

What I Can Share with Hosts

I'm happy to pull together a delightful meal from the pantry and the garden, mix up a well-crafted cocktail, show you how to make soap or ferment various foods, or take a look at that thing that needs fixing. Recent fixes for hosts include: changing a shorted-out light switch, repairing a garage door opener, installing a chandelier, realigning a doorknob latch, and repairing a mis-aligned dryer door. If time permits and tools are available, I'm pleased to tackle a thing or two from the honey-do list. If I'm traveling abroad or by plane, I'll need to borrow tools.

Countries I’ve Visited

Colombia, Costa Rica, England, France, Guatemala, Italy, Mexico, Nicaragua, Peru, Philippines, Portugal, Singapore, Turkey

Countries I’ve Lived In

United States