Words by Sophie Vaughan

What if you could pick blueberries from your local park to make a pie? Or gather chestnuts from your tree lawn to roast in your oven? What if your Sunday afternoon hike led you down a path lined with overgrown kale plants, which you could pluck for your dinner salad? That’s the reality that local permaculture expert and community organizer Beth Vild wants to grow for Akron, Ohio.

Vild is COO and Director of Programming at The Big Love Network, as well as the Founder and CEO of Wild Woman Designs and Consulting, a permaculture and landscaping design business focused on edible urban landscapes. Her decades of experience in urban permaculture and community advocacy are an invaluable asset to the Summit of Sustainability Alliance (SoSA). As a SoSA Biodiversity Team leader, Vild is ramping up for another big year of collaboration and community connection, with plans for several tree plantings, an organization-to-organization plant giveaway, and an abundance of educational outreach opportunities. This year’s activities will be informed by the successes and lessons learned from last year’s pilot projects.