community spotlight
on using the most efficient practices, while prioritizing our health. Finally, she gives nutrients to the soil so it may, in turn, enrich our lives for decades to come. Thompson uses her gardening expertise to turn clients’ wishful thinking into a healthy, thriving garden.
Q & A with Ashlie Thompson
Do you have a personal philosophy that made you enthusiastic about organic gardening?
NICHE ORGANIC GARDENS Creating Custom Backyard Gardens
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by Suzie Agrillo
uring Ashlie Thompson’s childhood, her mother, grandmothers and greatgrandmothers had gardens that she would tend. When she was a teenager, she had a vision of owning and operating an orphanage in Africa that was self-sustained farmland. This vision culminated in her pursuit of a degree in Non-Profit Management. As Thompson finished her coursework at Arizona State University, she decided she needed to fully understand how to grow food for the orphanage. As a result, Thompson pursued and received a Bachelor of Science from the University of Arizona in Agronomy, with an emphasis on crop production. After graduation, she worked for one of the top grass seed companies in the U.S., only to become overwhelmed with disgust due to their practice of spraying harmful pesticides. With her upbringing, education and experience, it only seems natural that Thompson would gravitate to open a company with the goal of creating and maintaining gardens using natural and safe techniques. While her dream of owning and operating an orphanage has not yet been realized, she espouses the concept that school gardens can be an amazing contribution to the educational system. She advocates utilizing school gardens to teach concepts such as photosynthesis, as well as hands-on education in the garden to learn what it takes to produce healthy food. A school garden can help our children develop into the next generation of conscious eaters and environmentalists. With Niche Organic Gardens, Thompson’s business objective is to provide a very personal service for the home or business, with a traditional gardener who prides herself 16
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I’ve never enjoyed the thought of chemicals used on the food I ate. I’ve been a strong believer in organic food since understanding the term as a teenager. In my undergraduate studies and after graduating, I had internships and jobs that required me to spray chemicals. I would wear masks, hold my breath, change my clothes afterward—until I decided enough was enough. My eldest daughter was a newborn and I decided to find my own path with organic agriculture. Niche Organic was what I came up with!
What was the genesis of your business, Niche Organic Gardens? I started with Niche Organic Landscapes, in which I took care of clients’ landscapes using organic practices. I thought I needed
Ashlie Thompson
