Jean Denney
Jean Denney, Group Editor for Mother Earth Living, Heirloom Gardener, and Fermentation, landed at Ogden Publications in a circuitous way.She first read Jethro Kloss’ Back to Eden in sixth grade, roamed her backyard, the Catoctin Mountains, foraging for Sassafras and Pipsissewa in high school, toured around the country dancing with a colorful group of vegetarian, Appalachian cloggers and Old-Time musicians (The Fiddle Puppets) in college, and finally became a somatic practitioner (Certified Laban Movement Analyst) with a Ph.D. in dance.Jean has used acupuncture since 1982 as a primary source of her healthcare.
Combined with her former career as a dancer, acupuncture lead her to explore body-mind health modalities and eventually teach movement theory at colleges in MO, AZ, TX, MD, NC, and KS.These eclectic experiences make Jean a lover of organic connections and a forever-student of holistic living. She’s settled, for now, in Lawrence, KS with her two kids, two cats, three rats, and two terrariums of carnivorous plants.
A longtime city dweller, Jean’s first garden was in Baltimore where she managed a bumper crop of tomatoes, bush beans, summer squash, cosmos, and zinnia in a mere 40-inch by 70-inch backyard plot!She is very happy to now have a real garden and is learning more each year; of particular interest are culinary and medicinal
herbs.Last year she grew mullein, asparagus, and sweet potatoes for the first time, baked her first loaf of bread, and fermented kombucha.When she’s not experimenting with food, she likes to paint en plein air.Jean is happiest when she can get in her five-a-day goals: meditate, exercise, write, read, and make art. Working for Mother Earth Living, Heirloom Gardener, and Fermentation helps her meet two of these goals each day.