Charlie McIntosh graduated from the University of Colorado at Boulder in 2012 with a B.S. in Chemical & Biological Engineering where he spent most of his free time running off into the Rocky Mountain backcountry on foot, up rocky cliffs, and playing in the snow. While attending CU, Charlie designed an innovative aerobic/anaerobic digestion system to process organic wastes while generating energy at an equestrian facility outside Denver, CO with a small team of engineering students and led a non-profit student group promoting biodiesel and other bio-based fuels technology. After graduating, he briefly entered a doctoral program at Washington University in St. Louis applying algal metagenomics to environmental remediation and biofuels development before making a radical transition away from academia to work more directly with land and agriculture. Over the past 10 years he has worked on numerous land-based projects starting in Oregon where he earned certificates in permaculture design and natural building. In 2014, he devoted a year to community service through Americorps in his hometown of St. Louis, Missouri helping local refugee communities grow and sell organic produce in the heart of the city. While in St. Louis, Charlie completed training as a Master Gardener through the University of Missouri Cooperative Extension and the world-renowned Missouri Botanical Garden. He holds certifications in Ecological Horticulture from the Center for Agroecology and Sustainable Food Systems at the University of California, Santa Cruz and completed the Foundation Courses from Elaine Ingham’s Soil Food Web School. Charlie has experience managing organic/biodynamic farms in northern California and most recently led a team of beginning farmers to design and develop a geothermal-powered organic farm from scratch in the Magic Valley of southern Idaho. He currently lives in Nevada City, CA where he keeps busy cooking up exploring the beautiful forests, rivers, and mountains of the Sierra Nevada.
Charlie McIntosh
