sequatchie valley institute

Ashley Ironwood

Director of Moonshadow Programs
and Media Rights at Moonshadow

Ashley has been working in the arts since the early age of four, singing, dancing and acting her way out of trouble. She went to Interlochen Arts Academy for high school and then on to New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts where she received a BFA in film and television. She spent her four years in NYC studying documentary film and organizing campus and city-wide environmental and social justice education. After graduating from NYU, Ashley founded MEDIA RIGHTS, a small non profit production entity now a project of the Sequatchie Valley Institute at Moonshadow.

Ashley has done video work on a wide range of issues including the resistance at the nearby Watts Bar nuclear facility, the hydroelectric development of James Bay in Canada, and has created an hour-long documentary video, “Invasion of the Chip Mills.” MEDIA RIGHTS has recorded actions against the desecration of Mount Graham in Arizona, for the release of political prisoner Leonard Peltier, and against the corporate control of our U.S. government.

Ashley has been living at Moonshadow since the beginning of 1995 and is fulfilling her plans to raise a family with Patrick. The Sequatchie Valley has offered her a place to really feel the effects of the environment she has been actively working to protect since 1990. She has played an instrumental role as an Earth Firster and has taken certification courses in Permaculture and Ecovillage Design. Bringing art and media into the environmental community and environmental education to the community at large has been her long-term mission.

Her activism has recently been focused on joining Patrick in raising a loving and happy family: Sage Indigo Ironwood, born on the Spring equinox of 2002 followed by his sister, Anakeesta, born on the Spring equinox of 2005.

Patrick Ironwood

Director of Landscape and Architecture

Patrick has a BA in 3rd World Research and Development from the University of Tennessee in Knoxville. He has traveled extensively in Asia and S. America, studying the effects of technology and agriculture on society and the environment. He has been an environmental and social justice activist since 1987.

In 1989, Patrick moved back to Moonshadow where his family has been developing an alternative agricultural project since 1971. His plan was to work as a land-based activist and to help create a working model of ecological living. In 1992, Patrick became a certified Permaculture educator and has taught workshops and courses on Permaculture, edible landscaping, appropriate technology, ecovillage design, post modern homesteading, Deep Ecology for agriculturalists and wilderness skills, including rock climbing and wildcrafting. He loves being a Daddy to Sage and Anakeesta.

Carol Kimmons

Director of Education and Research Spring/Early Summer Head Gardener

Carol Kimmons, BS Geology and MS Entomology and Plant Pathology, moved to the Sequatchie Valley with her husband Johnny, her young sons, Patrick and Joel, and her retired parents in 1971. They began clearing land, planting gardens and orchards, and building a home, Moonshadow. In 1993, she and Johnny and Patrick realized that their knowledge of the land, their sustainable lifestyle and their experience with ecological construction and technology should form the basis for the Sequatchie Valley Institute. The organization and operation of SVI has become the most important and rewarding work of her life.

Carol is an adjunct professor in Biology and Environmental Science at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga. She has taught in Nigeria (Peace Corps), India, the Sequatchie Valley and Haiti, and was an agricultural research scientist in Guam. She has worked for many years in adult education and has written two books for adult beginning readers. Other interests include hiking, canoeing, and pottery.

Johnny Kimmons

Master Builder

Johnny Kimmons, BS Geology and MS Biology, moved to the Sequatchie Valley with his wife, Carol and his sons, Patrick and Joel, in 1971. They began clearing land, planting gardens and orchards, and building a home, Moonshadow. In 1993, he, Carol and Patrick realized that their knowledge of the land, their sustainable lifestyle and their experience with ecological construction and technology should form the basis for the Sequatchie Valley Institute. Johnny’s major interest is in the design, building and maintenance of SVI structures, which is challenging but rewarding work.

Johnny teaches Biology at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga. Johnny has also taught science in Nigeria (Peace Corps), Turkey, India, Haiti, the Sequatchie Valley and Guam. He is an avid tennis player.

Alex Fear

Part-time Inn Keeper and Eldercare - 2008

Alex Fear was born in the inner city of Atlanta, Georgia in 1978. Since he was a toddler he has had an immense infatuation with the natural world. Trusting in himself to be autonomous as it concerns his education, Alex withdrew from school in the ninth grade never to go back. His journey of self-education has introduced him to many aspects of political and social thought. These include philosophy, poetry (which he enjoys writing), anti-war activism and working as an editor for a non-profit literature magazine.

He has worked construction for over a decade, staying within the walls of the working-class world which he will always be a part of. This labor-intensive but mandatory type of work helped to prepare him for another step in his journey of self-education: the DIY builder who uses natural and salvaged material in order to minimize human consumption and maintain sustainability. He has been involved in this type of work for almost five years now, beginning on his dad’s land in Fairmount, GA. There he also maintained an organic garden and studied a variety of subjects. There are no words for how thankful he is to Moonshadow for giving him the opportunity to expand the power of his thought.

Randall Tomlinson

Head Gardener - 2008

Randall grew up in Gainesville, Florida and attended the New College of Florida in Sarasota. Since leaving school, Randall has been attempting to reconcile the way he has come to view this universe with the way he lives his life. He has worked on organic farms from Florida to California and is just realizing how little he knows about growing and preparing food. He came to Moonshadow to learn to garden and live life in a way that minimizes his negative impact in the world and increases his ability to help things change for the better. Living lightly with the land and becoming a part of the great circle of everything that allows the planet and the universe to perpetuate itself in such a beautiful manner are his main focus. Randall is so happy and exhilarated to be in a place that provides such strong examples and experiences of everything which he has come to want to learn. He has a deep abiding love for nearly everything, especially that which requires a little hard work to make possible and this love seemingly increases every moment with no end in sight.

Nada Jones

Part-time Book Keeper

Nada Jones is a captivating, intoxicating individual. Around her birds suddenly appear and choruses of angels sing hymns to her bonny face. Seriously though, Nada first found Moonshadow in the Summer of 2002 and returned as an intern several times thereafter. Bradley and Nada were married at Moonshadow in the Summer of 2004.

After a year-long stint in San Francisco, they decided to join the SVI staff and settle down in the Valley with their son, Logan. When she’s not doing office manager stuff or mothering, she likes to make jewelry, do needlework, and help create Ulinawi, their community project which is a wooded walk away from Moonshadow.