Our Members

Dave Boehnlein

Originally from Wisconsin, I discovered permaculture working in Central America, and then lived 7 years at the Bullock’s Homestead on Orcas Island becoming a leader in the topic. I have experience in leadership, education, and land management. Along with Doug Bullock and Paul Kearsley, I run www.terraphoenixdesign.com which provides permaculture master planning services. Along with Jessi Bloom, I have also co-authored the book Practical Permaculture and teach permaculture design courses at several institutions. I am passionate about good food (especially fruit), agroforestry, and having fun (games!).

Eduardo Jezierski

I believe we shape our environment with our choices, and that positive things happen when people with shared values work towards long-term goals. This is our life project, for children our own and others’. I am most at home iterative action with thoughtful decisions, surrounding myself with great people, that great design follows nature, and anything worthwhile must surely require a workshop full of great woodworking tools.

I grew up in Argentina, and I like designing, fixing and making things. For 10 years I was the CEO & CTO of a multinational nonprofit that makes technology for health, crisis response and sustainable development called InSTEDD, a TED-prize organization. My background is in physics, engineering, AI/machine learning & evolutionary systems; and have architecture, design, carpentry, and electronic skills; and got my Permaculture Design Certificate a few years ago.

Yuko Miki

I was born and raised in Himeji, Japan. My family has orchards, vegetable gardens, and rice paddies in a suburban context. I came to the US for school in 1996. I worked for 14+ years at a non-profit domestic violence agency (direct service, management, HR, etc.) and launched my own art/illustration business recently (honeyberrystudios.com). I love good food, anything crafty, and cuddly creatures.

Elina Quiroga

I grew up in a small town in Argentina, daughter to a rural doctor and close to family-owned farms and production. I love cooking and teaching and in my immediate family there are restaurant owners and vineyards producing small-scale wine and olive oil. I am a surgeon at Harborview and work mostly on trauma/emergency cases and am on various diversity and leadership councils. With Ed I also run OurPaleBlueDot, an initiative that inspires children to love earth and the cosmos through do-it-yourself space-related projects.

Hilery Avritt

My passions lie in human development, wellness, and nature connection. I enjoy a personal exploration of neuroscience and the science of happiness. I delight in frivolous time in nature and have taken to serious study in primitive skills development and rewilding. I built a chain of Pilates studios in the Seattle area and converted the management of the studio to a democratic organizational model.

I am a forever learner and am currently taking painting, film, and tango classes and am in the process of writing my first screenplay.

I live in Seattle with my cozy and playful family which includes my husband of 18 years, our 15 year old son, our feisty dog Remy and our two squeaky guinea pigs.

Lawrence Tamkin

I love my family deeply. We play a lot of ping-pong. We laugh together much of every day, and we share openly with each other. I also spend much of my time with the employees and clients of my construction company, and it is the nurturing of those relationships that defines much of my affect on the world. I try to model, and encourage, a clarity of purpose, language, and action in the company, and I have also created an informality that tends to engender both self-reliance and team-work, the two complementary pillars of this profession.

I spend time hiking, playing basketball, snowboarding, and reading. As I age toward 50, I have become keenly aware of the brevity of our time and its precious scarcity, and I have re-focused my priorities to enjoy more and to be there more for others.

Karen Cowgill

I grew up in the northeastern US, but have lived and traveled in many parts of the world studying and working in public health. Sustainability and living lightly on the land have always been attractive to me and over the years I’ve dabbled in worm bins, composting toilets, edible yards, and non-PVC solar. I lived in Ithaca at the time the first EcoVillage was founded there, and ever since it’s been a dream to join and work in such a community.

Eric Menninga

I was born and raised in Western Washington and spent almost 30 years writing page-layout software for Adobe and Amazon. Now I’m excited to open the next chapter of my life away from a desk and to focus on building relationships and learning about regenerative design. I love cooking for groups large and small, playing board games with my adult sons, and reading. I’m eager to live in a community that strives for connection with a spirit of gratitude and generosity.

Per Vonge Nielsen

Lived, played, educated and worked in Copenhagen and surroundings till 1987. Software engineering manager till 2008. From 1987 to 1995 in Miami, Nice, Munich. Onward on the North Eastside and enjoy the wooded neighborhood close to St. Edward State Park. I have lived in the area for 25 years part of the time with a mature garden with veggie/berry patches. Travel/ed the world, these days to visit friends and/or family abroad, including son and his family in London, or to explore an area. I regenerate in the mountains on bike, by foot or skis. Curious about human motivation and interactions; the main toolbox has been NLP. Enjoy modern design and art. Have lived in communes and was a founder of Trudeslund cohousing community in Birkerød in 1979-81. However, we sold our townhouse three months before it was finished due to our divorce. My brother was also a founder of Trudeslund and later founded Blikfanget, where he stills live with his wife. My father founded a senior cohousing community, where he lived to his passing. His wife is still living there.

Clare Sherley

Although raised in Eastern Washington, I spent much of my adult life in Boston, Santa Cruz, and the Olympic Peninsula. I moved to Seattle to study midwifery and love how this holistic, person-centered philosophy of human interaction impacts all my relationships. I also spent time visiting an eco-village and resonate with the philosophy of connected living and shared resources found there.

As a white queer-femme midwife and midwifery educator, I work to view our world through an anti-oppression lens and am committed to disrupting power structures that support and enable racism, sexism, ableism, classism, and homophobia. We strive to build a community that lives, works, and plays within that context.

Jack Slowriver

I am serious and silly, hopeful and authentic. I am a non-binary, white queer person who values community and the relationships that have nurtured me into who I am today. I have an unwavering commitment to social justice, health equity, reproductive freedom, and anti-racism and have spent my professional life working towards these goals. I currently work for a Federally Qualified Health Center (FQHC) in the Seattle metro area.
In my spare time I like working with my hands, reading, and sending letters to friends via the USPS.

Susan Atkinson

Professionally, I am a salon and yoga studio owner .
As a volunteer, my calling is to make a difference with climate change, which has led me to an interest in permaculture and regenerative agriculture. Accelerating the sequestering of carbon from the atmosphere down into the soil is how I want to spend my retirement years, as well as connecting with others in a co-housing group. I look forward to participating in a future large Rooted NW community garden!

Tricia Davies Nearn

I am an ambidextrous American expat who’s been living in London since 1998, a single mom of one amazing son who is soon to fly the proverbial coop. I grew up on beautiful Bainbridge Island. After much Covid soul searching I have decided it’s time to go home. I miss seeing mountains!
Professionally I am the Senior Lead for Mental Health at a local state secondary school (that’s high school in UK terms) and have been working with adolescents for the past 15 years. Non-professionally I play bass guitar in my band ‘The Tupelos.’ (My son is surprisingly gracious about this embarrassing detail.)
As an extroverted introvert I need my solitude, but once re-charged will happily cook for a crowd. Things I love: toast, a good sci-fi film, my cats, the morning coffee ritual, listening to classic rock with my son, sharing a bottle of prosecco with friends, singing in a choir, getting my butt kicked playing Scrabble with my sister, going to the theater, learning new things.

Jessica Simonson

Love School. That’s what I’m here for. To offer my life in service to Love. For the Earth, for birth, babies, and children. I’m here to dance, and sing, to laugh and cry, to embrace, and to learn how to let go.

I believe in permaculture, in communities, in beautiful visions and strong missions. I believe in storytelling and Yoga, and in the immense power of a willingness to do the work.

I live in Vancouver, WA with my Husband Peter and our two boys, born gently and ecstatically into our home in 2015 and 2017. We spend much of our time exploring this world together. I have had the immense pleasure of serving pregnant women and their families since 2009 as a Registered Nurse, and Doula since 2012. I now serve as a Doula, Educator, and Consultant with my sister Cassie, and our families, through birth and family support at AMagnificentStory.com.

I am grateful that you are reading this. I hope we get the chance to meet. I wish you Love and Joy!

Peter Simonson

The Pacific Northwest has been my lifelong place of residence. I grew up in Redmond, met my wife in Seattle, got married on Whidbey Island, and my children were born in Vancouver, WA. My professional background includes financial advising, landscaping, yoga instruction, caregiving, and, presently, nursing. I adore things that grow. I believe in the power of small everyday deeds, in simple acts of kindness and love. I enjoy sweating, reading, and all things related to good food. I am happy to be a living thing in the vastness of the cosmos and I rejoice for my time here on earth.

Robert Schanafelt

I have lived in many places throughout the United States, but I feel most at home in the Pacific Northwest with my lovely wife Dawn and two wonderful children. While my career has largely been centered on technology as a Software Developer and Engineering Director, I’ve long held a soft spot for permaculture and intentional communities. Along with family and work, I look forward to sharing my knack for building things as well as my love of the outdoors with the Rooted NW community.

Dawn Schanafelt

I was born and raised in the California Bay Area, but have been gradually moving northward over the years. My career is in technical publishing, where I’m passionate about helping authors convey information that can help others. These days I’m a full-time mom of two young kiddos. I love the idea of raising them in a supportive community of folks who care about each other and the land. My husband and I have spent years searching for community, and I feel very fortunate that we found Rooted NW; we’re thrilled to contribute to making it a reality.

In the rare moments when I’m not busy chasing our two little ones around, I enjoy gardening, beading, hiking, playing Scrabble, baking, and reading—though not simultaneously.