Welcome to Cottonwood Hollow, an acre of forested land in Columbus, OH that we homestead and manage.
Cottonwood Hollow was obtained in 2021 by sarah zinn and james mann. Since laying their eyes on it, it has been their dream is to use the land to connect people to nature. This acre of land is in the heart of the city and is surrounded by nearly 7 acres of woods that are undeveloped with 100 + year old cottonwood trees and a creek. It’s quite literally an accidental oasis for animals — they’ve witnessed a mother hawk build her nest and feed her young, a blue heron fly past, a rogue snapping turtle and many deer.
Sarah and James are working towards remediating the forest and creek that surrounds their property, as has been overtaken by invasive species and illegal dumping in parts. Luckily, the forest in the hollow is technically a floodplain and is not able to be developed, so they have dreams of obtaining more of it to clean up and create educational opportunities.
Cottonwood Hollow is a social enterprise, which means its primary objective is not to maximize profit, but to use funds to improve and regenerate the land as well as enrich the lives of children and adults with the provided services. We host occasional workshops for adults, and Wander Scout, a free monthly nature play program each month of the growing season. The Cottonwood Hollow Nature Preschool is set to open in September 2024.
Sarah Zinn
Sarah Zinn is the owner of Cottonwood Hollow. She has a bachelor’s degree from Indiana University, but has found her most profound learning was spent out of the traditional classroom. She has over 4 years experience working in early childhood education. She used to work for Head Start as a preschool teacher , she also spent time s a youth worker at the Boys and Girls Club, and a camp counselor.
After some hard experiences working in an underfunded, understaffed government funded preschool in a low income area, Sarah felt she had to switch gears. She found herself out west, working as farmhand in Colorado, where she felt the healing power of the landscape, working with animals and growing food. From there, she moved to Columbus to work at Franklinton Farms, where she helped to build out a healthy living curriculum for Gladden Preschool and engaged with the community by planning festivals and events. Her love of farming and food quickly snowballed into serving a weekly meal for volunteers with extra farm produce, and she spent the next few years working in from scratch kitchens and farm to table restaurants. During this time she also through-hiked the Colorado Trail, a 500 mile backpacking trail through the state.
All the while, that original class she had worked in was on her mind, and she wondered if there was a better was to design school to be more grounding and even healing for children in hard situations. These were the seeds of what would grow to be Cottonwood Hollow Nature Preschool.
Sarah is currently pursuing her certificate in Nature-Based Early Childhood Education from Antioch University, which she hopes to roll into a Masters. She is trained in Conscious Discipline techniques and has taken multiple courses via the LifeWays School .
In the Spring of 2023 she started hosting Wander Scout, a free monthly program for kids and caregivers, where we do nature based play. She is going to be the lead teacher of Cottonwood Hollow Nature Preschool starting September 2024. She has spent time working at the Juniper School, a local Waldorf school, as well as a nearby Montessori school. She is currently working at Highland Youth Garden until the Preschool opens.
james mann
James is the groundskeeper at Cottonwood Hollow. He grew up foraging in the hills of Southern Ohio’s Appalachian forests, where his family would all go out looking for mushrooms every spring. He has put in so many hours of time in the forest just listening and looking, and has a insatiable interest in everything ecological and forestry related. He hand-dug a four ft deep, 200 square ft pit so we could have a completely one of a kind , subterranean greenhouse. James is a consistent type of person you can count on to make sure the seedlings are all alive, that the fence gets built, and that the hard work gets done. He is a skilled carpenter and woodworker, and is generally very handy. He has a background as a chef, and is a skilled educator, leading nature walks and foraging workshops. He worked at michelin star restaurant in sweden called faviken, where they grew and foraged all ingredients. Later, he worked at the local urban farm Swainway Agrarian for years managing the mushroom production among other parts of the farm.
