Fred Meyer has spent decades helping busy families, retirees, and beginners turn balconies, backyards, and community spaces into joyful, low-maintenance gardens that nourish body and spirit. A certified health coach, Master Gardener, permaculture designer, and wilderness guide, he's known for making eco-friendly gardening simple and fun. Through teaching at the University of Iowa and Earthmind Practice, Fred has guided countless people from feeling overwhelmed by gardening to confidently cultivating ease, beauty, and abundance. In Low-Maintenance Eco Gardens, he shows how to let nature do the heavy lifting, so you and your garden thrive no matter your time, space, or experience.

 Jen Kardos is a licensed mental health therapist (LMHC) and certified functional medicine health and wellness coach  (NBC-HWC, FMCHC) in private practice in Iowa City, Iowa.  She is  a lifelong gardener and holds a professional certificate  in Horticultural Therapy. Over the past decade, through her work in therapy, health coaching, and as the Wellness  Director with the nonprofit Backyard Abundance,  she has  taught classes and worked one-on-one with people suffering  from physical and mental health concerns who are seeking new solutions. Her favorite approach is to connect them  more deeply with nature, and nurture other lifestyle factors that can reconnect them with their aliveness and innate  ability to heal. She asserts that nature reflects the wisdom and soothing of our nervous systems that  we are  all seeking  during these stressful times.  She is  delighted to share the permaculture gardening approach with a larger audience, for  as a busy mom of three teenagers, she finds it be the most time efficient and stress relieving way for her and her family to  enjoy the bounty of their yard.