The Garden Mentorship

a season-long journey designed to build your skills

and deepen your connection with Earth

March 21st - September 21st

what does it mean to be connected to land?

we are creatures of our environment, the earth beneath our feet, the watershed we drink from, and the light codes of our place.

modern living has drawn us inside away from all that we were designed to live in harmony with, the seasons and cycles of life and death, connected to the origin of the human experience.

although we have drifted, we are not lost and many of us feel the innate calling us back.

welcome, Im honored to have you here, where we reconnect to ourselves and guide our families back into reciprocity with the land.

What if we could remember it all through our food?

organized by minerals of the soil, light waves of your localized sun, textures of wind and geometry of water, food communicates with us on an atomic level via protons and electrons.

when we consistently calibrate our bodies to our place through food and the tending of it, we remember who we are, why we are here, and what matters most.

from overstimulated, desensitized, fatigued, and confused to knowing who you are, where you belong and how to move through life with connection.

The garden brings us and our family home to the SIMPLICITY of it all.

eating from the land weaves us into the rhythms of the sun and moon and attunes us into our living ecosystems

This is a deep exploration of how the garden is an extension of your truest nature, designed to invite you into seeing yourself as part of your ecosystem, through your connection to your food.

We will explore together the how-tos of successful gardening with fool proof organic methods and uncover together your unique and essential way of relating to Earth through sowing, tending and harvesting your own food.

The Transformation

  • Greater understanding of how to meet the needs of your garden through the rhythms of sun and moon

  • Connection to the why and HOW to meet your perceived challenges; pests, weeds, ect.

  • Deeper contextual experiences in your garden equipped with the science of soil, plants, and seasonal changes

  • Confidence in identifying how you and your garden can thrive together as a lifestyle

Most importantly, you’ll learn to listen, adjust, and act in alignment, so you can reach your garden outcomes with resilience, season after season.

The Journey

Early Season: Foundations & Preparation

(March – Early April)

  • Reading your garden site after winter

  • Soil health assessment and interpretation

  • Building and protecting living soil

  • Compost use and timing

  • Bed preparation without over-disturbance

  • Understanding seasonal timing vs. calendar dates

  • Planning layouts with flexibility and flow

  • Developing observational skills before planting

Planting & Establishment

(Mid-April – May)

  • Seed starting and transplanting principles

  • Plant selection based on soil, season, and goals

  • Spacing, succession, and realistic expectations

  • Root health and early growth support

  • Irrigation fundamentals and adjustments

  • Identifying early stress signals in plants

  • Knowing when to intervene — and when not to

Growth, Maintenance & Mid-Season Calibration

(June – Early July)

  • Supporting steady growth without over-input

  • Mulching strategies and soil moisture balance

  • Nutrient cycling and gentle feeding

  • Interpreting leaf color, growth patterns, and vigor

  • Pest and disease signals as information, not failure

  • Calibrating care based on weather and conditions

  • Adjusting plans without losing momentum

Resilience, Challenges & Course Correction

(Mid-July – August)

  • Working with heat, drought, or stress periods

  • Strengthening plant resilience

  • Understanding cause and effect in garden challenges

  • Refining watering and shade strategies

  • Responding to pests and disease with discernment

  • Letting go of what’s not working — and learning from it

  • Maintaining relationship with the garden during challenges

Harvest, Integration & Seasonal Reflection

(Late August – September)

  • Harvest timing and decision-making

  • Evaluating outcomes without judgment

  • What your garden taught you this season

  • Integrating skills of observation and response

  • Identifying what to carry forward into the next season

  • Building confidence through reflection and clarity

Ongoing Themes Throughout the Mentorship

These threads are woven through every call:

  • Developing skills of observation and listening

  • Learning to identify the real challenge beneath surface symptoms

  • Practicing aligned, timely action

  • Building trust in yourself as a gardener

  • Holding consistency without rigidity

  • Turning experience into embodied knowledge

The Investment

This is a six-month, season-long mentorship designed to support real skill-building through consistency, observation, and guided practice.

Your investment includes:

  • 12 bi-weekly live group calls aligned with the seasonal flow of the garden

  • Live Q&A, troubleshooting, and calibration around real challenges and wins

  • Step-by-step guidance through the gardening process, as it unfolds

  • A supportive container with around the clock group chat that holds accountability and continuity over time

  • One personalized 1-1 call

What you’re really investing in is:

  • Embodiment in your relationship to the garden

  • Confidence in your ability to expand your quantity and quality of growing food

  • Ability to attune more clearly and closely to the signs of change in the garden

Rather than piecing together one-off advice or workshops, this mentorship offers a cohesive, long-form learning experience where skills are developed and refined across an entire growing season.

This Is For-

women who already have a garden, want to deepen their relationship with it and…

  • you want to foster your connection to the seasons, lunar cycles, and yourself, using your garden as a living mirror

  • you value learning through experience, with the opportunity to calibrate your observations and decisions alongside an expert

  • you’re ready to build real gardening skill and apply it, not just collect more information

  • you want consistent support, accountability, and guidance across a full growing season

This may not be the right fit if you’re looking for-

  • quick fix-it solutions or shortcuts

  • spray-based approaches, poisons, or synthetic fertilizers

  • someone to do the work for you

This mentorship is grounded in sustainable, organic practices and long-term results. The transformation comes from showing up, paying attention, and doing the work—together.

How It Works

Each bi-weekly live call is seasonally relevant and intentionally paced.

On our calls, we focus on:

  • What to observe in your garden right now

  • How to interpret what you’re seeing

  • What actions to take — and what not to rush

  • How to adjust as conditions change

Every call includes space to:

  • Bring your questions

  • Share wins

  • Name challenges

  • Receive guidance tailored to what’s

    actually happening in your garden

.

What Makes This Different

Most gardening programs focus on information.
This mentorship focuses on walking you through your expirence.

Full season support and transmitted lessons of skills ive learned through my career makes this container uniqe supporting you in developing the skills that allow you to:

  • Make educated decisions for your uniqe climate

  • Understand cause and effect in your garden

  • Plan for success rather than hope for it

Because the guidance unfolds over an entire season, you’re learning through direct experience, not hypotheticals. The mentorship adapts as the season evolves — just like a real garden does.

Meet Your Guide

Merry Ellen Ackema

Founder & CEO

Merry Ellen is a life long gardener, most passionate about connecting people back into the land through the garden. With more than 17 years of experience in organic farming, she has discovered that success in growing our own food is beyond building how-to knowledge and actually in expanding our lifestyle into one that is integrated into the garden rhythms and seasons. She believes that this is where the real transformation happens, feet on the earth, sun on our skin, breathing in the life of nature.

Learn More

  • Working with Merry Ellen has been one of the most transformative experiences of my entire home-building and garden journey. When we began, my yard was nothing more than compacted clay soil, dry, lifeless, and seemingly unusableToday, my edible garden is thriving, vibrant, productive, and full of life, and it wouldn’t exist without her.

    Jayd Kowitt

  • There are so many amazing physical and metaphorical things to be discovered in garden and I’m really grateful for Merry Ellen for giving me the space and encouragement to continue growing.

    Edelle Schlegel

  • Working with Merry Ellen was such a gift. She is an incredible gardener and soil health expert, and her mentorship was completely tailored to my land and needs. She helped me rebuild the soil and create a clear plan to grow vibrant herbal medicines, flowers, and vegetables. The best part is that she taught me a soil health formula I can now use anywhere. I’m so grateful I invested in her guidance and highly recommend her garden mentorship.

    - Jenny

  • After gardening for several years and being pretty ok at it, I was reaching plateaus. Like I was using starts and wanted to start from seed. And I wanted my gardens to be more thoughtfully laid out and beautiful. I wanted to confidently set up a drip system. And was my compost tea really the right blend? I knew I had reached the extent of what I knew and had cobbled together and needed more education. And that’s when I hopped on Merry Ellen’s mentorship. It was a blend of mentorship, accountability, planning and keeping me in the garden regularly that really upleveled my garden space but also my internal landscape that was committing and showing up there. It’s really true that our gardens are reflections of us, and while mine will always be wild, it is now wild and abundant, wild and thoughtful, wild with a drip system and I feel really excited and confident in the garden in a way I didn’t before!

    -Saidie

Frequently Asked Questions

  • Yes. This mentorship is supportive of all experience levels. Beginners gain strong foundations and confidence, while more experienced gardeners refine their skills, deepen understanding, and learn to respond more intuitively to changing conditions

  • Live participation is encouraged but not required. Gardening happens in real life, and flexibility is part of the process. If you miss a call, you’ll still benefit from the season-long container and the continuity of guidance across the mentorship.

  • What yes. This mentorship supports in-ground beds and raised beds and is not suitable for container gardens.

  • Each bi-weekly call is seasonally relevant and responsive. Calls typically include:

    • Guidance on what matters most at that point in the season

    • Space for participant questions, wins, and challenges

    • Support identifying the real issue beneath surface symptoms

    • Clear, practical next steps grounded in soil and seasonal context

  • Will you tell me exactly what to do?

    Sometimes — but more importantly, I’ll help you understand why. This mentorship is designed to build your capacity to make aligned decisions, so you’re not dependent on instructions but confident in responding to your garden over time.

  • That’s welcome here. Challenges are part of the learning process, not a failure. The mentorship supports you in interpreting what’s happening, adjusting thoughtfully, and learning from real conditions rather than idealized outcomes.

  • Most courses deliver information. This mentorship supports skill development through lived experience. Because we move through the season together in real time, the guidance adapts to what’s actually unfolding — which is how lasting understanding is built.

  • Yes. While seasons look different depending on location, the mentorship focuses on universal principles — observation, soil health, timing, and response — that apply across climates. Seasonal timing is discussed in context rather than rigid dates.

  • If you’re drawn to learning through seasons, value consistency and guidance, and want to develop trust in your own observation and decision-making, this mentorship is likely a good fit.