Our Mission

Regardless of how big your garden is—or even if you don’t have a garden yet and need tips for starting one, we want YOU to experience garden success.

It’s our mission to help support one million new growers create successful vegetable and herb gardens and it’s our team’s passion to remove any obstacles that stand in your way so that you have the opportunity to wake up, step into your garden, and harvest organic breakfast greens or mint for your morning tea.

We want you to relish in the knowing that you have created a lifetime of healthy habits for you and your loved ones with garden-fresh food.

Planting garlic bulbs

8-Step circle of awesome

Gardening is a lifestyle. 

The Circle of Awesome integrates gardening into your life a little bit at a time. It’s all about what you can do right now to feel healthy and vital. 

Your garden lifestyle isn’t always about being outside with your hands in the dirt. Gardening is also writing down your plan. It’s getting your resources ready. It’s learning the mindsets, strategies, and skills you need to successfully grow food. 

Once a week, set aside time for your gardening adventure–not just the outdoor, hands-in-the-dirt kind of gardening, but the discovery process. Choose one of these eight topics to focus on:  

🌎 Climate: Understand your climate and map out your garden site
🔮 Soil & Fertility : Build healthy soil and regenerate it year after year
💩 Compost: Why it’s crucial and how to find a style that works for you
🌱  Plants: Choosing crops, life cycles, seeds & transplants, and planting your site
💦 Water: Creating strategies for watering, storing water, and automating your system
🍅 Prune & Trellis: Care for your plants all season long (and avoid pests!)
🍏 Harvest: Harvest strategically for peak freshness, flavor, and storage
🧠 Mindset: Your garden can change your life if you let it!

You can start anywhere on the circle. Pick a topic to dive into this week, like one project or learning objective. You might choose to set up your compost system, plan your planting dates, learn about specific varieties of lettuces, or research a fertility plan. 

Where on the Circle of Awesome do you want to spend a little time this week? What’s one thing you could do this week to move you toward the garden that you want? 

There’s always something quick and easy you could do right now to make your garden more enjoyable, no matter what time of year it is and no matter what climate you’re in. 

And next week, just go around the circle and pick your next topic to tackle! 

This cycle is so powerful because small, weekly steps build your path to an abundant garden that nourishes your mind, body, and spirit. You break down all of the garden overwhelm and do a little bit at a time all throughout the year–instead of trying to cram it all in during your busy peak growing season.

You may notice pests, diseases, and weeds are not on the list. When you focus on health and prevention, you focus on more of what you want. That’s why mindset is so important (and that is on the list).

Our Team

Denise

Denise Beins

Chief of Operations

Crystal Meserole

Garden Support & Instructor

Lauren Groves

Online Operations Manager

Stacey Murphy

Master Garden Instructor

Sarah Hesterlee

Sarah Hesterlee

Editor

Kayla Varble Headshot

Kayla Varble

Client & Admin Support

Garden Experts

So Much Gardening Expertise in One Place!

Guest Garden Visionaries

Stacey Murphy

Master Instructor Grow Your Own Vegetables Programs

Stacey’s Story

I was an engineer and an architect with a busy job and a long commute. It frustrated me that I could manage complex projects at work, but a vegetable & herb garden seemed impossible to fit into everyday life.

In 2009, I was taught techniques for growing tons of organic vegetables and herbs in a small space with not a lot of effort. Since then, I have been obsessed with helping people create good garden habits that fit into their busy schedule and most importantly fit their personality. The New Homegrown Revolution began as an idea with my fellow students and gardeners to show how shockingly simple it CAN be. It’s my mission to support one million beginning gardeners cultivate successful vegetable and herb gardens so that you, too, can enjoy a grocery aisle right in your own yard (or even inside your house)!

Denise Beins

Chief of Operations

Denise grew up on a small farm and one of her favorite childhood memories was to go to her grandparents and explore her grandpa’s large garden, cellar and greenhouse and enjoy the preserves and fresh coleslaw that her grandma made. You could say gardening is in her genes with her dad having a green thumb as well; although Denise was a ‘late bloomer’ with her gardening interest flourishing a few years ago after her adult son took an interest and converted their entire back yard to an edible garden experience. She continues to learn and try new things in the garden and is often in awe of how a seed evolves into a gorgeous vegetable to be enjoyed with their next meal.

Denise has run several online businesses for about a decade, consulted many online business entrepreneurs and is a serial entrepreneur who loves to find ways to streamline and optimize processes to help businesses work smarter and ultimately creating a great experience for their community.

Crystal Meserole

Garden Support & Course Instructor
Crystal owns and operates a one-woman wholesale commercial living microgreen operation in the mountains of western North Carolina. After working and managing local restaurants for over a decade, she saw the need for chefs to have access to more affordable, organic food for the delicious creations they craft for our communities.

“After several years of gardening fails, I began to think that maybe being a grower just wasn’t right for me. Then I found Grow Your Own Vegetables and my failures transformed into a successful small farm operation within months. So when the opportunity arrived to work for Grow Your Own Vegetables and train to help others transform their failures into opportunities for success and abundance, it was an emphatic YES!  

Crystal hopes to stand as a clear message to anyone who thinks they can’t grow: You can. Anyone can. With the right system, mindsets, and mentor, everything becomes possible.

Lauren Groves

Online Operations & Customer Service Manager
Lauren started her virtual career with her hands in just about everything behind the scenes of an online business. Her passion in work is problem solving and connecting with students to get them the help they need. The rest of her life, not at work, really revolves around her animals; a whole mini farm with 2 large horses, 1 miniature horse, 2 miniature donkeys, 7 goats, 4 dogs, and one little chicken named Q-Tip.

Stacey Murphy

Master GardenTrainer

Stacey draws inspiration from the patterns of nature. Her mission is to inspire human consciousness toward resonance of joy, awe and wonder for the next evolution of the human spirit.

A master of innovative transition, Stacey is always thinking one step ahead of where industries are going: from managing billion dollar construction projects in NYC to writing children’s books that help kids love vegetables (My Dinosaur Ate My Broccoli). Her background as a visionary architect has led to breakthrough projects like BK Farmyards, a network of urban farmers transforming the local food system.

Stacey is a two time finalist for the Buckminster Fuller Challenge for social entrepreneurship. She is currently exploring new, futuristic business opportunities and ways to move gardening education into the new world.

Sarah Hesterlee

Sarah Hesterlee

Editor

Sarah lives in Texas with her husband and their two teens. She enjoys reading, writing poetry, and geeking out over grammar. “I’ve always been fascinated by the way words work and how they bridge time and space,” she shares.

She has struggled with chronic illness, but feels her best when feeding her body fresh food. “Eat Earth,” she says, emphasizing the importance of Nature’s nourishments.

Sarah’s grateful for her role here at GYOV, as it allows her to work from home while helping others discover the benefits of homegrown food.

Kayla Varble Headshot

Kayla Varble

Client & Admin Support

Growing up in the heart of Southwest Virginia, Kayla always felt a deep desire to inspire others to reach their dreams- both in the garden and beyond. By day, she can be found advocating for the mental health of youth in her area as a social worker. In her free time she loves to read, write, and spend time with her husband and her pets- a dog who thinks he is a human baby, and three cats who are dedicated to creating mass chaos. Kayla feels passionate about the physical and mental benefits that come from growing your own food, and is excited to play a part in sharing the resources to make it possible for so many.

Stacey Murphy

GYOV Founder and Master Gardener Trainer

Stacey draws inspiration from the patterns of nature. Her mission is to inspire human consciousness toward resonance of joy, awe and wonder for the next evolution of the human spirit.

A master of innovative transition, Stacey is always thinking one step ahead of where industries are going: from managing billion dollar construction projects in NYC to writing children’s books that help kids love vegetables (My Dinosaur Ate My Broccoli). Her background as a visionary architect has led to breakthrough projects like BK Farmyards, a network of urban farmers transforming the local food system.

Stacey is a two time finalist for the Buckminster Fuller Challenge for social entrepreneurship. She is currently exploring new, futuristic business opportunities and ways to move gardening education into the new world.

Brandon Beins

Culinary Educator and Human, Plant, & Soil Health Advocate

Brandon's food journey began in high school when culinary classes brought them into the world of creating food. Brandon continued on to culinary school before completing a two year apprenticeship with a local sushi chef. Brandon's love of fresh foods and culinary education compliments GYOV programs with Enjoying Your Harvest recipes and fun food facts.

"This apprenticeship was really where I learned to care for ingredients; how to prepare them in a way that shows them respect. In order to really take care of your ingredients you need to start with the soil. I haven’t had many memorable meals that were prepared with unhealthy produce from depleted soils, and most of the memorable meals from my life were simple meals made from ingredients that had themselves been nourished lovingly and prepared the same way. I believe high quality food can be prepared by anyone, and it starts with the soil.”

Crystal Meserole

Garden Support & Course Instructor

Crystal owns and operates a one-woman wholesale commercial living microgreen operation in the mountains of western North Carolina. After working and managing local restaurants for over a decade, she saw the need for chefs to have access to more affordable, organic food for the delicious creations they craft for our communities.

“After several years of gardening fails, I began to think that maybe being a grower just wasn’t right for me. Then I found Grow Your Own Vegetables and my failures transformed into a successful small farm operation within months. So when the opportunity arrived to work for Grow Your Own Vegetables and train to help others transform their failures into opportunities for success and abundance, it was an emphatic YES! There’s nothing more rewarding than helping others reach their fresh food and wellness goals.” 

Crystal hopes to stand as a clear message to anyone who thinks they can’t grow: You can. Anyone can. With the right system, mindsets, and mentor, everything becomes possible.

Meghan Groves

Youth Gardener Instructor

Meghan is an educator and parent from Tennessee with over a decade of teaching experience. Like many educators, she expanded her understanding of education during the pandemic and became adept at teaching and structuring online lessons for distance learning.

As her experience suggests, she is passionate about students and learning. There’s nothing more important than having the tools and resources to explore your interests.

Like her students, she sees herself as a steward of the natural environment. Beekeeping and gardening have taught her the importance of seeing yourself as a part of nature’s ecosystem. She encourages her students to see themselves as lifelong learners. Beekeeping and gardening have spurred learning in her own life. She believes that the greatest gift we can give children is modeling curiosity and joy in learning.