Gardens are living systems, not décor.

Founded in 2012, Halcyon Homesteads is a team effort by Adam Kozak and Alisa Kowal. For over 13 years, we’ve helped Pioneer Valley homeowners care for their landscapes with restraint, curiosity, and ecological responsibility. We specialize in native garden design that supports wildlife, respect natural cycles, and grow more beautiful over time—not ones that require constant correction or replacement.

Over the years, we have consistently worked to continue learning and improving our practices to better serve our mission: to help our clients create and maintain beautiful and environmentally friendly landscapes. We strive to create gardens that are beneficial to the local ecosystem, using native plants that provide food and habitat to wildlife and sequester carbon into the soil. Our plantings help a complex web of life to cooperate, find nutrients, thrive, reproduce and decompose. Our designs also aid water management, using as little water as possible and helping to retain water for future use. These attributes help our landscapes adapt to a changing climate and mitigate the impacts of ongoing environmental devastation. Every garden counts!

As of 2023 all of our equipment is now electric.

Currently serving the following towns in western : Sunderland, Deerfield, Greenfield, Hadley, Amherst, Northampton, Leverett, Hatfield, Whately, Conway, Montague

Adam Kozak

Adam has been an avid gardener and wildlife enthusiast since he was a toddler. He grew his first flower and vegetable garden at the age of 9. He has worked under the tutelage of two garden centers (Tarnow 2006-2007 and The Hadley Garden Center in 2012) with experience in landscape design and installation, and received a business certificate in Environmental Studies/Natural Resource Management from Greenfield Community College. He spends his free time tinkering with old synthesizers and making music under the name Burial Grid.

Alisa Kowal, MCH

Alisa has also been a lifelong outdoor enthusiast; some of her earliest memories are of working in her family's flower and vegetable gardens in rural WV. While majoring in Sociology at Smith College, she became passionate about sustainability and environmental issues, eventually taking a month-long course in sustainability in Dakar, Senegal. She fell in love with the art of wildlife gardening while working on an organic/vegan farm in the Berkshires in 2009-2011, and has been a passionate gardener ever since. She is a Massachusetts Certified Horticulturist and also loves frolicking with her blind pup, Titan.