Owner Mandy Sunshine Baily has long been fascinated by and engaged in spaces where people and nature meld. In ecological terms -the study of organisms, their environment, and how they interact with one another- ecotone is the place where distinct natural systems meet, for example a shoreline and a waterbody. An ecotone may be a sharp, narrow path or a blurred, biologically diverse swath. 

The root of the word comes from ecology plus -tone, from the Greek tonos or tension. In other words, ecotone is a place where ecosystems are in tension. Tension arises in growing together -coalescing- the unique elements brought in from each system. At the same time, a rich new structure also blooms. 

Akin to ecotones, human-social systems are about the interactions of various factors brought by individuals & groups from different perspectives & experiences. If the ground below is nourishing, the parts of each can flourish unto themselves while adding to a larger healthy system.