This outstanding human will be sharing her love and knowledge of gardening regeneratively at the Rekindling the Village Festival on July 11-13, 2025. We are extremely grateful for her time and her generosity

My name is Chantal Nielsen, I have lifelong northern roots that were originally established by my grandfather who moved to Fort St. John in 1955. My husband and I have lived in Charlie Lake since 2007, where we now raise our two incredible teenage daughters. For as long as I can remember, I have had a love for nature, digging in the dirt, growing plants and helping my neighbours. I work in Fort St. John as a certified Behaviour Interventionist and spend my outside of work hours in a volunteer capacity building, organizing and managing the Charlie Lake Community Garden (CLCG) project with a growing group of members.

The CLCG was established in 2022 and has been a growing success. It has been an opportunity to reignite the community spirit and connection needed to face many of our modern challenges. Living in the north we are reliant on grocery stores to provide imported, nutrient depleted, increasingly expensive, chemically sprayed food. At the CLCG we are actively working to restore 10 acres of bare land. Our long-term goal is to build healthy soil, heal the land, and garden in harmony with nature. We are using regenerative strategies such as minimal soil disturbance, keeping our soil covered, increasing plant, insect and animal diversity and leaving living roots in the soil. This project is reigniting the interconnectedness of community and nature while providing local, fresh high-quality food.