Tara Rae, born and raised in Wisconsin, garden-farms on the Front Range of Colorado. Over the last 20 years, she has worked in a variety of roles including at the Wisconsin DNR, several university laboratories, wildlife science, water quality monitoring, authored a nature center field guidebook, and conducted community ecological studies in several countries. She has managed numerous greenhouses, USDA-organic, organic, and permaculture farms with experience in 3 climate zones – cool and wet; cool and dry; and warm and wet.
She began studying Permaculture in 2003, receiving her first certificate in 2010 and a Permaculture Teachers Certificate in 2012. As a practicing permaculturalist, she has earned numerous Advanced Permaculture Design Certificates (2011-2016) including a teaching certificate (2012) and has studied under noted permaculturalists including Sandy Cruz, Becky Elder, Peter Bane, Adam Brock, Jason Gerhardt, Eric Toensmeier, Brad Lancaster, and Mark Shepard.
In 2005, she received her Master’s degree in Freshwater Ecology while studying nutrient dynamics in experimental aquatic ecosystems, and currently works as an environmental ecologist in the consulting world as well as taking on a couple permaculture design clients every year. Additionally, she teaches throughout the state of Colorado for various permaculture and urban farming courses, schools, and festivals. Her passion for sustainable living has led her to volunteer for the Sustain Arvada Advisory Board to City Council.