Ronald J. Nowicki is a Landscape Architect with a B.A from University of Illinois at Champaign/Urbana.  He is also a certified Permaculture Designer.  Ron and his wife Vicki own The Land Office, a design/build landscape construction firm In Downers Grove, Illinois.  His tag line is "Landscape Design and Construction With an Ecological Conscience."In his 35 years of work with residential clients, his main focus has been to help families re-connect with the natural world through ecologically sustainable landscape design.  He uses diverse, native  and naturalistic plantings which form communities that conserve energy  and resources.  Families have responded to the beauty, serenity,  integrity and security that this kind of landscape provides.  Ron and his wife, Vicki, had the foresight, in 1980, to build a passive solar home in Downers Grove and surround it with a "no-lawn" landscape of  vegetables, herbs, fruits, windbreaks, deciduous shade, native plants and more. Once a novelty, Circle GardenFarm is now able to supply an almost year-round bounty of "local", organic food and the landscape itself  is a prime example of Suburban Permaculture.  Ron is an author, a teacher and a devoted environmentalist.

Victoria Nowicki is degreed in Horticulture, Environmental Studies  and Environmental Education from Knox College and George Williams  College. She also has a Master's Degree in Museum Studies from Aurora University.   Her work with The Land Office is focused on Herbaceous Garden Design and installation.  She also spends much of her time growing , harvesting and preserving the Circle GardenFarm vegetables. She co-founded in 1992 the first chapter of The Wild Ones outside of Wisconsin, a group devoted to using native plants in the home  landscape with an eye toward saving energy and resources.  This organization  has now spread nationwide.  Today, she is the president of the Downers Grove Organic Gardening Club, with a focus on growing vegetables in  the home landscape.   She is well-known for her prolific classes on  growing vegetables, herbs, heirlooms and so forth and has done extensive lecturing both at The Morton Arboretum and The Chicago Botanic  Garden. Her fondest dream is to see everyone growing some food at home and cooking it with their families!  In 2008,  Vicki launched a new  business called Let's Grow.  She and her crew plant, maintain and  harvest vegetables, herbs and cut flowers for clients who want to eat organically and learn the rhythms  of the gardening season. Most notably, though, 2008 has been the year of the Liberty  Gardens and 100's of people have already posted signs and changed  their by growing food at home! Vicki is an author, a teacher, a leader and a devoted environmentalist.

We would love to hear from you, please get in touch with any questions!
vnowicki@comcast.net