Mara Grey has been a professional gardener for over thirty years. Since graduating from the University of Washington with a degree in Botany, she has worked at nurseries, designed gardens, volunteered as a Master Gardener, spoken to garden clubs, maintained private gardens, hosted a weekly radio gardening program and written two books, "The Lazy Gardener" and "The Complete Idiot's Guide to Flower Gardening."

At the same time, she has looked deeply into other, more traditional ways of working with nature. Growing up in Hawaii made her aware of a variety of non-Western modes of thinking and she's continued her exploration of "what is reality?" through studying both Native American and European indigenous traditions. For the past twelve years, she has been fortunate in being able to visit Native American ceremonies in the Pacific Northwest with a Native American elder from British Columbia, a woman who others call a "medicine woman," though she does not apply that label to herself.

She is also a professional Celtic harpist, harp instructor and author of a number of published fantasy stories.