OUR MISSION - Earth speaks, we listen

Hello! My name is Tonia Andreina and if we haven't met already, it's nice to virtually connect with you. 

I  grew up in rural Illinois where my (very talented) Italian grandfather  Ernest "Pooch" Andreina taught me to grow food in our back yard. It was  through watching him and my (very creative) mother tend to the earth  that my passion for food production grew.

While  of course there were many magical natural experiences to witness in the  garden, like busy, buzzy pollinators and captivating bird calls, I was  also just minutes away from the local State Park, which provided its own  set of awe-inspiring experiences that grew my passion for nature as a  whole. 

The  Kankakee River and surrounding woods would also become HOME to me, especially after I moved to Chicago to build my career in Urban  Agriculture and Environmental Education. Initially attending Columbia  College for "Green" Public Relations, I would eventually transfer and  graduate summa cum laude from DePaul University's Geography, Nature and  Society BA program, which taught me all about place-making and the  various historical, cultural and environmental factors one should  consider when transforming a place. As time in Chicago grew I'd also  learn about the wonderful world of permaculture and how to apply it  through a PDC program by Annamaria Leon and others since. I started attending University of Illinois in 2020 where I'm pursuing my masters degree in Landscape Architecture, expected graduation May 2023. 

Over the last decade, the longer I was away from the rocky cliffs of the Kankakee River, columbine and ferns that pop out from them, the more I learned about the incredible systems of earth and how they can be worked with to create powerful results, the more I  grew appreciation for the natural world, especially amidst a concrete  jungle with spats of green spaces. All in all, I grew up with the  opportunity to experience Mother Earth's tremendous, complex glory in my own back yard and had to move away to understand what seemed pretty cool was actually REALLY COOL, and it's all lead to me helping facilitate that awesome experience of our planet for others.   

Earth  Mama Design still serves clients across the Chicagoland and Champaign-Urbana regions and is based out of Bourbonnais, IL where I'm from.

 I look forward to hearing from potential clients on how we can best support you as you create your own oasis at home... 

Nature is an incredibly healing force and it's that understanding I take into every project.  With the  state of the planet and critical species like pollinators accounting for  2/3rds of our food and drink supply endangered to become extinct, my  goal is to bring what I had growing up to your property, no matter what  stage of life you're in. (Except the River, because I hear those are  hard to ship... 

; )

Let's grow this!