Sideyard Native Nursery is co-owned and operated by Sean Hagan and Bre Chamberlain. It all started one January night in 2023 by sowing native seeds at their urban kitchen table, which is also their dining room table, which is also in their living room, in their 1000 square foot condo, inhabited by their family of four, located on their condo-association-shared quarter-acre city parcel. 

Their goal was to slowly grow their native plant business, while looking for a larger home for their family that offered more land for their budding nursery- but the housing market had other ideas.

Their inability to move made them realize how lucky they were to be where they were, no matter how small their plot of land (or their home) might be. From there, Sideyard Native Plant Nursery materialized.

Sean and Bre have been tending to their small city parcel for years, reintroducing native species, nurturing the native plants that were there already, removing non-natives, and managing invasives.

In a short amount of time, they watched more birds arrive in their yard- and a greater variety of them - visiting, nesting, bathing, and feasting on the seeds and berries of the native plants and the insects that live in the leaf litter. Pollinators and insects also increased their presence on their property. Sean and Bre’s urban yard is now even visited by a healthy population of summer lightning bugs and crickets! (Dreams can come true, folks!)

They are continually inspired by seeing that it doesn’t take a huge action to create meaningful change within our own lives, and therefore within the communities we are all connected to. It can be as simple as starting with our own little corner of the world, planting one ecologically beneficial plant, and watching a whole web of relationships become fortified by the presence of that one intentional change. 

About Sean:

Sean works in farmland protection for Maine Farmland Trust. He is the former owner and operator of a diversified organic vegetable farm (Left Field Farm) in Bowdoinham, Maine. He holds a Master’s in Ecological Design and believes that ecological thinking should guide how we build livable, equitable communities. 

About Bre:

Bre has worked in social justice for over 15 years, specializing in relationship building as social change. She sees relationships in all things - including within the natural world - and believes that learning to listen deeply to the rhythms of nature can help us better tend to ourselves, one another, and our communities. Her work is rooted in an understanding of life as cyclical, and she is deeply drawn to the threshold spaces of grief, transformation, death, renewal, and regrowth. She holds a BA in Sociology and Holistic Health, along with certificates in Horticulture and Grief Support, and is trained as an End of Life Doula.