Qwantese Winters is a host of Let’s Grow Stuff on PBS Wisconsin. She is also a doula, urban gardener, herbalist, and artist. Her work aims to create space for diverse communities in the world of food growing, through education, and accessibility and the empowerment those two bring.
Qwantese was born in the suburbs of Chicago but grew up on the West side of Madison in a town called Middleton. After learning about her grandfather’s Gullah Geechee roots, she explored the rich history of food growing, herbalism, and medicine making that comes with her ancestry.
She joined the Troy Farms Urban Farmer Trainee program in 2019 to build her food growing skills and to foster a deeper knowledge of the land. This was after three years of teaching herself how to forage, and make herbal medicines and cosmetics. It was at Troy that she discovered her love for introducing others to food growing, and helping them see the connection between their culture and the land. Qwantese believes that nature and its bounty are home to us all, and seeks to help diverse communities overcome the barriers that stop healthy relationship to the land from happening.