Edible landscapes & food system training — designed for the people who will run them.
handmade with care · for schools, gardens, food banks & farms
Chrissy Soares designs food forests, edible landscapes and natural play spaces, and trains the people who run them — working with schools, community gardens, food banks, small farms and non-profits, in English and Spanish.
20+
years in food systems, education & community development
3
continents worked: Americas, Caribbean & Canada
500+
people trained hands-on in food skills
100%
native-plant first designs
Design. Training. Funding.
the three things she does — and why together they matter
Design
Food forests, edible landscapes & natural playgrounds
Plans that fit the site, the budget and the people who will maintain it. Native plantings, orchards, pollinator gardens and play spaces built on good soil and real-world maintenance.
Learn more →Training
Train-the-trainer programs & teacher professional development
Staff and volunteer workshops, outdoor-learning PD, and youth & women’s programs. Your team leaves able to run it — and teach the next person.
Learn more →Funding
Grant writing for community & school projects
Proposal writing for community gardens, school grounds and food security initiatives. The plan and the application, written together so the numbers match the funder’s criteria.
Learn more →“The goal is that your people can run it without me.”
Chrissy Soares — the train-the-trainer philosophy
real skill left behind · not dependency
Places Chrissy has grown
click any project for the story
Unity Farm Inn & Spa
Glenburnie, Ontario
Managed the organic vegetable garden feeding the on-site farm-to-table restaurant, fruit orchard, vineyard, apiary and ornamental landscapes.
ASOMUPRO Women’s Farming Cooperatives
El Jícaro, Nicaragua
Managed a sustainable livelihoods program for an association of women producers across eight communities of small-scale farmers.
Provincial Youth Development Plan
Cusco, Peru
Wrote the Provincial Development Plan for Youth Programs and built a provincial directory and database of youth programs for the municipal government.
Residential Permaculture Mandala Garden
Kingston area
A concentric edible landscape wrapping around a lawn circle with timber benches and a fire pit — wood-chip mulch beds planted with greens, herbs and native perennials.
Food, farming & education — on three continents.
From 2020 to 2024 Chrissy managed the farm, gardens and horticulture at Unity Farm Inn & Spa in Glenburnie — an organic farm-to-table vegetable garden, orchard, vineyard, apiary and ornamental landscapes feeding a restaurant and training staff daily.
Before that: agricultural advisory for women’s cooperatives in Nicaragua with Cuso International, provincial youth development planning in Cusco, Peru, and an Ontario Certified Teacher in Green Industries through Queen’s University.
Where she works
in person across Eastern Ontario · remote across Canada
Kingston & Area
City of Kingston, Frontenac County, Lennox & Addington — food forest design, site visits, playground consultation, community workshops and committee stewardship.
Eastern Ontario
Belleville, Trenton, Brockville, Cornwall, Gananoque, Westport, Perth and Ottawa — full design packages, hands-on training series and multi-site school programs.
Across Canada
Planning, grant writing, design consultations and train-the-trainer coaching delivered remotely — in English or Spanish.
Not sure if you’re in range? Mention your location on the free 20-minute call and we’ll find the right format.
What collaborators say
“Chrissy transformed our backyard into a space that works for family life and doubles as a concert venue.”
Claire Bouvier
Homeowner · Kingston, ON
A free 20-minute call to see if it’s a fit.
Send a note about what you’re hoping to build and when you need it. Chrissy will reply within two business days with honest advice and a clear fixed-fee proposal.
English & Español · Kingston, Eastern Ontario & Canada-wide