Today we’d like to introduce you to Teresa Harmala.
Hi Teresa, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
Like many others, I’d been bothered by a growing trend of more and more waste being produced – increasing amounts of plastic food packaging, products with a short lifespan before heading to the landfill, products with planned obsolescence, etc. I wanted to learn for myself how to live more sustainably, and I wanted to start something that was going to help reverse this trend of increasing waste and pollution. In 2020-21, during quarantine, I had more time to think about this, and the following year I decided it was time to start an organization. I knew there were people in my community who knew much more about living sustainably. They were walking the walk, and I hoped they would be willing to teach. I also knew learning with others is better and would help keep up momentum with this sustainable living journey I was about to embark on.
In 2022, I started organizing events, one class on reusables, another event featuring our local growers and producers, and then others on gardening, soil health, composting, and bee-keeping. I also partnered with another MN organization to offer a nature scavenger hunt in a local county park. I discovered there was a good amount of local interest in these events, and I’m grateful to also have found many people willing to share their knowledge and experience with others.
Early on, I asked local community members who I thought had similar values and interests to be on my board. I would also talk about the new organization to different people in the community, and a couple of different people independently recommended some others I should talk to. This is how I met restaurant (Myriel) owner and award-winning chef, Karyn Tomlinson. She traveled to the Dassel-Cokato area regularly to forage and stop by farms to locally source seasonally available ingredients. We met for coffee, and to my delight, she agreed to be on the new board. My board members have all been such a great help in shaping and guiding the development and operation of the nonprofit organization this effort came to be.
This is the fourth year of events now, and we’ve covered a wide range of topics – from various gardening topics, to food preservation, to sourdough bread and other fermented foods, to herbal medicine basics, home energy efficiency, backyard chickens, basket weaving, foraging, root cellaring, and more. The list goes on, but all of our events aim to meet our mission – to empower others with the knowledge and skills to be able to live more sustainably, and to foster learning, connection, and stewardship with regards to our natural world. Every so often, I conduct a survey to gauge interest in particular topics and to get ideas on what else we should focus on. That has been really helpful.
We don’t have members. Anyone can come to any event they are interested in. We try to keep events low to no cost to participants so it is easy to attend. It has truly been a wonderful journey so far. I’ve found people are excited about doing things more sustainably, and it’s great to be able to share that excitement with others who feel the same. One of the best parts, along with learning SO much in the way of sustainable living, has been the people I’ve met along the way and the community that is beginning to develop and grow with each event.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Starting a nonprofit was definitely a learning process for me. But I was fortunate to have someone willing to help guide me who had been through the process before and was very involved in another nonprofit, the Minnesota Sustainable Farming Association.
There have definitely been some events that have had low attendance earlier on. After all the effort you put into organizing and marketing, that can be disappointing. I’ve learned building a community and getting the word out takes time. Thankfully, we’re at a point where a lot of people are aware of our organization and have subscribed to our list, making it easy to reach many people to let them know of upcoming events.
Maintaining life balance is always a challenge. Like many others, I have many things in my life I am trying to juggle, and I’m always trying to make sure now that I don’t take on so much that I’ll get overwhelmed.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
I’m the founder and Executive Director of the nonprofit organization, Dassel-Cokato Sustainable Living. I do most everything to manage and run the organization – making sure we’re up to date on any filing and reporting with the state, managing finances and technology, coordinating and marketing events, audio-visual support, research, board meetings, etc.
I’m one of those “jack of all trades, master of none” kind of people. I’ve worked in software development, which is where I learned how to be organized and manage a lot of information. I’ve also worked as a media developer, which has been helpful in marketing events and creating some learning content that people can access after events. I also teach and perform clogging, which has helped me be a better teacher and leader, though I’m still working on those skills. I’m not afraid to try new things and see if they work or not. And if something doesn’t work, I keep trying to see how it maybe can work. I guess I’m persistent and am constantly trying to improve on solutions. I’ve also been lucky to have been around a lot of change-makers in the past, and I think that’s helped me believe that I can go after and achieve my vision, too. The first step is believing you can do something. The next step is putting in all the hard work and time and finding resources and people who also care about what you’re doing. And of course it all takes plenty of patience.
What am I most proud of? Making a positive impact – either doing things better myself or helping others learn how to do something in a better way. It’s heartwarming to hear of positive changes people have made in their lives and to know that this organization played a part in that.
In terms of your work and the industry, what are some of the changes you are expecting to see over the next five to ten years?
More and more, I’ve been learning of new zero waste blogs and some zero waste stores, which is awesome. There are also many programs and initiatives to help people reduce their waste. And there are countless videos on YouTube for how to do just about anything, of course including sustainable living practices and skills. I haven’t heard of a grassroots organization like ours yet in our state, centered around sustainable living in general and learning together as a community. But I hope there are some out there. It is clear that many people are interested in learning, and many are also interested in teaching. We just need more organizers to gather these people together and grow the movement. It would be a real dream to see more groups or organizations like ours form in other communities all over.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.dcsustainableliving.org/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dcsustainableliving/
- Facebook: https://facebook.com/dcsustainableliving
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@dcsustainableliving
