Raleigh Barnes is a lifelong gardener who’s been planting with his father, mother and sister since he was 6 years old. With over three decades of gardening in Texas, Hawaii, Costa Rica and mostly subtropical Florida, Raleigh is a dynamic gardener whose organic principles stretch far beyond industry standards. Deeply rooted in permaculture, organic gardening, native gardening, agroforestry and epiphytic plants, he consistently is learning by doing.

His active approach in community involvement has allowed him to serve as the Director of Committees and the Community Forest Garden for the Apollo Beach Garden Club, Vice President of the Tampa Orchid club, member of the Sarasota Bromeliad Society, Riverview Garden Club, the Manatee Rare Fruit Council, International Society of Arboriculture, Sierra Club and one of the Directors of the Permaculture Institute. He has studied at Tropical Research Center at University of Florida and with two prominent organic agricultural educators in Costa Rica. In 2017 Raleigh created the Apollo Beach Garden Club, a 501c3 non-profit located in the South Shore area of Tampa Bay, as a space for residents to experience the joy of gardening. With help from community members, Raleigh envisioned and created a community forest garden at the Apollo Beach Recreation Center where residents can lease raised beds to grow their own produce and share the surplus from the fruiting plants in the forest garden and community beds.

Raleigh also created his successful business, Third Insight Design and Nursery, focusing on growing and propagating subtropical edible or otherwise useful plants as well as saving heritage fruit tree genetics. Raleigh offers consultation services, design, maintenance and installation.

In the future Raleigh plans to enrich his interest in bioconstruction and head back to Costa Rica, Ecuador and other countries in Latin America to learn more about natural building, timber framing and bamboo construction. He also plans to create a larger scale community project to help bridge organic farmers, native plant restoration efforts and regenerative agriculture.