Home Ground Habitats’s mission is to be the North Bay Area’s leading habitat-focused landscaping resource. We are a nonprofit, volunteer-run, organic growing ground and educational center, committed to engaging, promoting, and supporting sustainable, California-appropriate landscaping.
BOARD MEMBERS
President Inge Morrison has been a close friend of Charlotte’s for 35 years. After spending several years in the Middle East with her daughter and husband, she returned to California to pursue her college studies and run a small business. Following that, she spent 30 years in small and large financial institutions, such as Sutro and Merrill Lynch, before retiring as a Director. She loves walking the trails of Marin and identifying plants and birds with others who enjoy nature. She has always been in awe of Charlotte’s abiding love for and extensive knowledge of native plants and habitats, and the enthusiasm and energy she exerts to preserve and promote them. She looks forward to applying her energy and business acumen for the benefit of Home Ground.
Founder Charlotte Torgovitsky has been a gardener and lover of plants for most of her life. She always needs to be growing something, no matter what else is going on in her life. Her passion became a vocation in 2001 when she became the Garden Education Manager and Volunteer Coordinator at the Marin Art and Garden Center in Ross, a job she created and held for 8 years. This led to careers as a garden educator, native plant propagator, landscape consultant, author, and local environmental leader. She has become known in Marin County for her knowledge of native plants and butterflies and her willingness to share her knowledge with others interested in learning. She founded Home Ground Habitats in 2011 as a native plant nursery and educational facility, a model of social enterprise with a local focus, where volunteers propagate both plants and ideas for a new paradigm in home landscaping.
Piper Primrose , MSEd., is a seasoned Waldorf teacher and environmental educator, and environmental health consultant. Growing up on a farm in rural California fostered a deep connection with nature. Her environmental work over the years includes teaching composting and community organizing in the Peace Corps, educating governmental decision makers on the impacts of wireless radiation on plants and wildlife and working with schools to raise awareness of the ecological devastation and health impacts caused by plastic grass and pesticides. She joined Home Ground Habitats to extend their educational outreach to teachers, school administrators, and children, inspiring them connect with soil and create wildlife habitat in their schools and in their own backyards. Her goal is to create pollinator corridors throughout Novato!
OPERATIONS STAFF
Facilities Manager Alan Good is a native plant horticulturalist and water-efficient residential garden designer. Alan studied landscape horticulture at Merritt College in Oakland, and has a BA from San Francisco State University. He owns Oak Hill Garden Design, and his practice has been enriched by extensive experience managing and developing large landscapes. Alan was Landscape Manager at Marin Art and Garden Center from 2005 to 2008 before his notable six-year leadership of the Landscape Exhibits Department at the California Academy of Sciences. While there, Alan established the plantings for the iconic 2.5-acre living roof, developing it from the original four species to over one hundred species of native plants. The roof environment was expanded to include beekeeping, honey production and habitat for California native pollinators and birds. Alan brings his knowledge of water conservation, soil management, and edible and native plant-based design to enrich Home Ground.
IN LOVING MEMORY: Charlie: He was our mascot and buddy… and Charlotte’s shadow.
Home Ground Habitats is a 501c3 non-profit organization, tax ID 843398667. All contributions are tax-deductible to the full extent allowed by the law.
