Good Neighbor Podcast: North Shore
Bringing together local businesses and neighbors of North Shore
Good Neighbor Podcast: North Shore
EP #64 - Andrea Bustolin is Cultivating Ecological Gardens: The Speakeasy Garden Story
Ever wonder what happens when traditional garden design meets ecological consciousness? Andrea Bustolin of Speakeasy Garden merges beauty, sustainability, and purpose through her innovative landscaping approach. What began with a shovel, an old truck, and word-of-mouth referrals has grown into a full ecological design firm. From English cottage gardens to food forests, Andrea reimagines familiar styles using medicinals, edibles, and native plants—all with an eye toward minimizing maintenance and maximizing environmental impact.
What sets Andrea apart is a rich background in fine arts, horticultural science, and sustainable agriculture, along with a life-changing journey—both literal and metaphorical. After cycling down the West Coast to learn from seasoned gardeners and later recovering from temporary paralysis, she brings a unique perspective to garden design, especially for those with mobility challenges. Her philosophy is grounded in the belief that gardens are more than ornamental—they're intergenerational assets that reflect our values and connect us to nature. To see how ecological design can transform your outdoor space, follow Speakeasy Garden on Instagram or visit speakeasygarden.com.
This is the Good Neighbor Podcast, the place where local businesses and neighbors come together. Here's your host, Yvonne Godfrey.
Speaker 2:Welcome to the Good Neighbor Podcast. Today, I have the distinct pleasure and delight to introduce Andrea Bustelin, and she is the owner of Speakeasy Garden. Andrea, how are you?
Speaker 3:doing today Good. Thank you for having me.
Speaker 2:We're delighted to have you Love your last name, Lucy.
Speaker 3:Thank you. You can thank my husband for that.
Speaker 2:Well, let's thank your husband indeed. So, Andrea, can you please tell our listeners about Speakeasy Garden? How did you come across the name and what is it all about?
Speaker 3:Well, the name is from when I was a young thing, in my 20s, and I just showed up me and a shovel in an old truck and it was just word of mouth. So it was kind of almost like running a speakeasy Say the secret password and you know, you appear. And now I'm running a full fledged company. I'm an ecological garden designer. The company designs, installs and maintains outdoor spaces and we do just about every kind of garden. You can think of Vegetables, english potager gardens, food forests, hell strip plantings, cut flower gardens, pollinator gardens and lawn replacements.
Speaker 3:Conceptually, many of our designs fall in the traditional categories, but we're very conscious of the ecological impact that our spaces create. So we are. You know, when we're designing we love to take traditional styles, such as like a cottage garden, and then we reimagine them in a way that addresses soil quality and beneficial insects and we like to be inclusive of medicinal and edibles and natives, like to be inclusive of medicinal and edibles and natives and we try to create spaces that are going to minimize the time that's spent on maintenance and watering and fertilizing. So it's kind of a new twist on an old idea.
Speaker 2:That sounds great, especially the medicinal portion that you mentioned. That sounds great.
Speaker 3:Yeah, we have a lot of interest in that lately right, yeah, we have a lot of interest in that lately.
Speaker 3:Nice how did you get into this type of business? Well, I grew up on Cape Ann and I was raised in Gloucester and I graduated from Barberley High School. And when I graduated I was blessed with a scholarship that allowed me to go to Montserrat for fine art and after I completed my foundation foundation year I knew pretty much right away as much as I loved fine arts I needed to be outside. So I switched gears and I attended the horticultural extension at the Essex Aggie School and I found that I just I loved horticultural science and I loved it so much that I actually went on and got my bachelor's degree in sustainable agriculture up in Vermont and for a few years I was an organic farmer and I guess I found that to be a little bit too linear for my mind. So you know, we just kept coming back to. We had all these volunteers that were coming from the CSA or traveling farmhands that would come in and they would express how much they wished they could do something like this on their own land and I think when I started hearing requests like that and repetition, it was really like the first aha moment. So I really started thinking about like how much content within the realm of sustainability is idealistic and how necessary it is for the public to have something tangible and interactive.
Speaker 3:So I did a few gardening apprenticeships and then I did some investigative research where I rode my bicycle down the West Coast and visited farms and gardens and just talked to anyone who had been in the business for a while and I had spoken to them about their experiences and volunteered in their operations. I had in-depth conversations about regrets and innovations and I think when I returned home the timeline sort of just progressed. Naturally I started doing contract work and developing my skills in design. I did a deep dive into permaculture and soil biology. I did a deep dive into permaculture and soil biology and I think those things sort of just culminated into what is now Speakeasy Gardens Very natural.
Speaker 2:Do you also provide educational resources for these plants that you grow?
Speaker 3:I do. Yeah, we also do a lot of consultation, where we can go to people's yards or schools and host activities where you can learn how to properly prune or you can learn about soil biology or planting, and we've also done a lot of talks that have been open to the public in the past, usually gardening groups. So, yeah, we definitely do that, okay great.
Speaker 2:The educational piece is so important. There's so many plants and so many benefits that they provide.
Speaker 3:It definitely is, and there's also so many horticultural programs right now that are closing across the country because young people just don't have the interest in it that they used to. So I really feel like this knowledge needs to be passed down somehow and that you know gardeners need to be sharing everything that they can now.
Speaker 2:Yes, before it's lost Right. So what are some myths or misconceptions that you discovered in this industry?
Speaker 3:that you discovered in this industry, I would say one of the most common things I hear is that a yard is unable to sustain healthy growth, or that a garden will take too much time and effort to manage. And I get clients who are really frustrated after years of unsuccessfully trying to grow a garden, say that there's no way they can have a garden with beautiful blooms. Or I'll get people that are really overwhelmed with the amount of labor that's required on their landscape and they'll ask me to rip everything out and just put shrubs in. And I think that both of those thoughts can be addressed with the same response, which is to say, a good design addresses the needs of an individual and the space, and the reason the garden will often fail is because it's not the right list of plants in the right spot, or it's not the right design for the individual's physical and mental needs the garden for everyone.
Speaker 2:Yeah, there is, there is, so that's beautiful. So, andrea, outside of work, what do you do for fun?
Speaker 3:Well, my husband and I are running a homestead, so we really don't have any days when we don't work. When we're getting home from work, we're usually doing more work. But we do live in an area that is there's a lot of hiking trails, so we spend a lot of time hiking and walking and swimming in the area, and in the wintertime we actually build this really long ice luge in the back of our house every winter.
Speaker 2:And that's a whole lot of fun. Nice, that sounds nice, with nature, blended with nature, beautiful. So changing gears. Andrea, can you describe one hardship or one of life's challenge that you rose above and, as a result, can you, now that you're better and stronger, what comes to your mind?
Speaker 3:Yeah, there I would say the most. The thing that comes to mind the most is the most recent. The summer before last I was actually paralyzed from the waist down, without warning and after a lot of time and inability to walk or bend or do normal daily activities without assistance, and I think during that time I was having a real identity crisis, not being able to do the things that a gardener does. So, yeah, it was a really difficult thing trying to overcome pain and not knowing how long it's going to last or if it's going to get worse or better, knowing that you don't have any control. But I think what I learned from it is that when the externalities of your persona melt away, there's really only two choices you self-destruct due to an inability to let go of the idea that you have no control or that the external self is the true self, or you turn inward and you find peace and you know the idea that a flower never tries to be anything outside of a flower really says it all. It knows its place in the universe and we can see its observation. You know it's how it exists in nature and flowers are beautiful to us because God's divinity can be seen in its servitude. They serve the bees, the microbes in the soil, they serve as medicine for people and animals. They serve in a way that connects all of us and I think when I realized who I was wasn't determined by the things that are seen, but by the things that are unseen, that I carry in my heart and in my mind my perspective on life sort of shifted. So changing your state of mind is a very powerful thing and I think cultivating the innate values that are seated in the heart is a practice that can do nothing but align you with peace.
Speaker 3:So I think going through all of that, as hard as it was, it's made me a better designer. It's made me more creative and confident in my work and within the realm of communication, and I'm better able to relate to those with mobility challenges, which is really helpful for me when I'm designing for some of my older clients who are retired and unable to, you know, bend over in the garden and do the things that they used to do. So yeah, it's been life-changing, but in a lot of good ways. I don't know that I'll ever be able to. I don't know how physically challenging this is going to be for me in the future. But I certainly don't have that fear of not being able to contribute anymore.
Speaker 2:Beautiful, beautiful. Andrea, can you please tell our listeners one thing that they should remember about a speakeasy garden?
Speaker 3:Sure, I think, simply put, gardens and landscapes are intergenerational assets, and I think that this is especially true in public spaces. I think that it's really important for us to have more spaces where people can connect with each other as a community and to nature, and to have places that are going to create food and beauty, and you know, it's that belief that keeps me going year after year in this work, and I often find that it's the same belief that attracts new people to the line of work. So I really think that people should start thinking about gardens as something that can be passed down in between generations.
Speaker 2:I agree. Nature holds the key to healthy living, healthy body, and we need to know what those remedies are, and in order to learn about them, we have to get involved in planting and herbs and things of that nature. Nice, so, andrea, can you tell our listeners how they can learn more about Speakeasy Garden?
Speaker 3:Yeah, you can definitely visit our Instagram page. We have a lot of really beautiful pictures up there and we also have a Facebook page and we have a website at speakeasygardenscom where people can find our phone number and reach out to us via email.
Speaker 2:Okay, wonderful. So, Andrea, we really appreciate you being on the show with us today and we wish you and Speakeasy Gardens, your business, all the very best, moving forward.
Speaker 3:Yeah, thank you so much for having me.
Speaker 1:Thank you for listening to the Good Neighbor Podcast. To nominate your favorite local businesses to be featured on the show, go to gnpnShorecom, that's GNPNorthShorecom, or call 857-703-9406.