At its heart, HOGS is a family business, dedicated to planting seeds of all kinds, literal and metaphorical. In addition to practical installation and maintenance of organic vegetable gardens and systems, HOGS is committed to educating and celebrating a community of mindful gardeners on Long Island.

About Dylan 

Some of my earliest, and fondest, memories are of gardening with my grandpa. I remember summer afternoons spent picking tomatoes and cucumbers from the garden, to eat that evening with dinner. Even then I recognized that few things are as wonderful as harvesting and eating fresh fruits and vegetables that you have grown yourself. And if you are gardening organically, you are in very real ways contributing to the health and well being of Earth. So, in 2010, with some prodding from my partner and love, Jesse, I left my job as a construction supervisor in New York City, and made it my mission to bring organic vegetable gardening to as many friends and neighbors as possible. Since then Home Organic Gardening Service (HOGS for short) has designed and installed more than 200 gardens, composting systems, hoop houses, and water management systems here on Long Island. I have over 25 years experience in the construction and landscaping industries, including expert tree surgeon and organic gardening certifications. I also hold an Interdisciplinary Bachelors degree from SUNY Oneonta, and a 200-hour Hatha Yoga Teaching Certification. Most recently, I earned Master Gardener certification through Cornell Cooperative Extension, as well as Permaculture Design certification through the Punta Mona Center for Sustainable Living and Education, el Caribe Sur, Costa Rica. I truly believe in my heart that the more people who experience the wonders of organic vegetable gardening for themselves, the healthier our world will be.

About Jesse Curran

Like Dylan, I learned to trust the good sense of gardening from my grandfather, a dedicated suburban gardener from Levittown. My grandfather also believed in the value of education, and supported my undergraduate studies at SUNY Geneseo, where I earned high honors studying literature and history. After graduation, I volunteered for several summers on organic farms in Italy, studying the language, as well as traditional culinary and agricultural practices. During the winters, I worked as an educator at the Walt Whitman Birth Place, and as a substitute teacher in the Huntington School District. In 2012, I earned my PhD in English from Stony Brook University, where my dissertation work examined connections between American poetry, meditative philosophy, and ecological thinking -- and I have ten years of experience teaching courses at Stony Brook in a range of programs, including English, Writing, Human Development, and Sustainability Studies. My essays and poetry have been published in numerous journals including The Emily Dickinson Journal, Green Humanities, The Journal of Sustainability Education, The Fourth-River, The Common Ground Review, Blueline, The Kudzu Review,  About Place Journal, Hawk & Handsaw: Journal of Creative Sustainability, Spillway, Inner Art Journal, Lime Hawk, and The Long Island Quarterly. I also hold certifications in Hatha Yoga and Permaculture Design, which practically inform my approach to education and community building. I love creating dialogue, learning new perspectives, and expressing the lines of continuity between gardening, writing, mindfulness, and ecological being. Above all else, I believe in the power of organic gardening in facilitating experiential education, creativity, well-being, and an ethical awareness of the relationship between self and world. To learn more about Jesse's work, visit her website at: www.jesseleecurran.com