Who We Are

“I believe the missing piece in environmental advocacy is having a direct connection and relationship to Earth. My support for this theory exists in my students, who, after experiencing hands-on learning through workshops and retreats, take on a more engaged role in supporting the health of the environment. The information we need to heal this world is not more statistics and stories of doom but stories about our interconnection, along with practices that slow us down and reinforce symbiosis. We don’t have to invent new connections to Earth, we only have to acknowledge and remember the connections that already exist.” ~ Vanessa Chakour

Author, visual artist, herbalist, holistic arts educator, former pro-boxer, environmental activist, Vanessa’s work is a dynamic blend of her vast personal experiences over the last two decades. A fierce defender and advocate of the land, she has spearheaded land-based education programs to inspire ecological awareness and land stewardship, inspiring personal relationships with the plants and animals around us. She has worked in partnership with organizations such as the Wolf Conservation Center in New York, The Jaguar Rescue Center in Costa Rica, and Alladale Wilderness Reserve in the Scottish Highlands. 

Vanessa has been featured in Spirituality & Health, Town Hall Seattle, The Journal of Medicinal Plant Conservation, Aligned Magazine, Ravenous Zine, Culture Trip, and more. She has shared her work as an inspirational speaker at the United Nations, Brown University, the Muhammad Ali Center, and Harvard University. Her book, Awakening Artemis: Deepening Intimacy with The Living Earth and Reclaiming Our Wild Nature was recently published by Penguin Life in the US and UK, and Ullstein Press in Germany. Her new book, Earthly Bodies: Embracing Animal Nature that will be published by Penguin Life, summer 2024. 

VANESSA CHAKOUR

"It's been a romantic, primal idea to live off the land. Maybe I got the idea from my parents, my grandparents and generations of family who lived off the land in Puerto Rico. But growing up in Chicago, living in big cities and being a minority it seemed like living in a rural environment in the United States was not only financially inaccessible but culturally uninviting. By the time this opportunity arose my sentiments toward land ownership had evolved. It’s a reclamation, but more than that, I realized the land needs stewards as much as stewards need the land."~ Enrique Rosado

Enrique explores humans' relationship with nature through technology, 3-dimensional design, sculpture and philosophy. Though he graduated from Yale with a BA in Anthropology and Chinese, he excelled in Erwin Hauer's sculpture courses and after reconnecting years later they collaborated and founded Erwin Hauer Studios. There, Enrique mastered the necessary technology, material science and traditional fabrication practices to reissue and install Hauer’s seminal architectural Continuua screens in institutions like the Boston MFA, hotels like The Standard Hotel in New York City, the World Bank in Washington DC, and scores of other commercial and residential projects in the United States and abroad.

Enrique will be applying his unique fabrication knowledge, both analog and digital, to sustainable design efforts at Mount Owen Forest Sanctuary.

ENRIQUE ROSADO

Red oak and red maple populate the living landscape along with black birch, paper birch and yellow birch, shagbark hickory, hemlock, white pine, beautiful old sugar maples and more. Understory plants include native medicinals such as trillium, bloodroot, blue cohosh, Solomon’s Seal and wild leek. Spicebush grows around the vernal pool while goldenrod and mugwort flourish around the forest edge. Flushes of reishi, oyster, turkey tail and chaga mushrooms grow throughout the woods amidst dramatic moss covered ledges, often cascading with seasonal streams. You may hear songbirds like the veery, hermit thrush, black-throated blue warbler and scarlet tanager and find evidence of red fox, porcupine, white-tailed deer, red-tailed hawks, bobcats, and black bear.

Over 1,500 feet in height, Mount Owen is located on the traditional homeland of the Nipmuc Tribal Nation, the original stewards for over 12,000 years. Before this region was forcibly colonized, the Nipmuc homeland stretched over 2000 square miles, encompassing central Massachusetts, Northern Connecticut, Northern Rhode Island, and southern New Hampshire. Part of the Algonquin language group; there are roughly 3000 family clan members living in southern New England today. You can learn more about the Nipmuc Tribal Nation as well as actions you can take on their behalf through The Ohketeau Cultural Center. Ohketeau is the Nipmuc word for a place to plant and grow.