Welcome to our place.

In 2016, we decided to move to Chattanooga, Tennessee. Through a series of providential events, we found a home on an acre at the top of a hill in the northern part of town, with a lovely view of the Tennessee River and Lookout Mountain.

Mature native trees and plants filled half of the hill, but non-native, invasive species had overtaken them. The other half had been scarred by construction excavation and left to run amuck, causing rapid erosion and the death of many trees and plants.

We set out to reclaim our hill. We re-sculpted it to reduce runoff, pulled out non-natives to protect natives, and reintroduced the right plants to attract pollinating insects and birds. In the process, we hoped to create a beautiful native garden that could be enjoyed by our entire community.

We named our home and this site after Wendell Berry’s Native Hill, which describes how human selfishness and arrogance have resulted in the slow destruction of this garden we call Earth, and how re-establishing meaningful human connection to nature can slow and even reverse its demise.

Our sweat and effort to reclaim our small, wounded hill represents our unique, local response to God’s call to bring healing to all areas of life. It expresses our deepest longing to return to the first and original native Garden. We hope The Native Hill provides an ever-present reminder and context for others to live daily as redemptive “sub-creators” alongside our original Creator.

After years of work, we feel that we’re just getting started. An acre on a hill may sound small to some, but it’s an uphill battle for us. We’re still figuring out what works and what doesn’t, and we get many questions. So we launched this site to share what we’ve learned, and to share Ken’s art and Donna’s recipes. It’s all part of The Native Hill journey.