Stephanie Mood is a retired composition and literature professor from Grossmont College. She is currently a volunteer at the San Diego Zoo, where, besides the animals, she admires the amazing botanical gardens there. She also served as a Canyoneer for the SD Natural History Museum where she discovered a love for native plants and ethnobotany.  In her teaching career, she taught English as a Foreign Language (TEFL) in Tunisia as a Peace Corps volunteer in the late 60’s.  She taught at Ball State University in Muncie, Indiana, before moving to San Diego in 1973.  An avid organic gardener for over 50 years, she currently endeavors to grow plants that encourage insect and bird activity in order to help restore a natural setting in an urban environment.