About Your Designer
As the founder of Backyard Abundance, Nikki Handel is the principal designer and primary contact for our clients. Her 5+ years of experience in environmental & civil engineering, pollution remediation, organic farming, and permaculture design give her a dynamic skillset and outlook on land projects. She prioritizes her client’s goals while balancing logistical limitations that come with working the land. Her dedication to environmental sustainability, functionality, and artistry drives all of Backyard Abundance’s designs.
Nikki earned her bachelor's degree in environmental engineering from Northeastern University with a focus on bioremediation (the use of plants, fungi, and bacteria to “detox” polluted soil and water). Early in her career, she gained experience with superfund site remediation, stormwater management systems, commercial development and permitting, wetland construction, and soil & water testing. She later earned her Permaculture Design Certificate from Oregon State University and expanded her knowledge of land management and regenerative agriculture while working on organic farms and residential gardens. She now consults local farms and residences on land development, permitting, septic systems, food forest design, closing waste loops, and much more.
At Backyard Abundance, we believe that we are not separate from nature. We greatly respect nature because we have so much to learn from its harmonious ways.
Our design ethos and style stems from mimicking nature.
Observing nature has taught us that:
Nothing is wasted.
The land knows how to heal itself.
Humans can live in harmony with the earth and leave it better than we found it.
Earth can produce food so abundantly that no one should go hungry.
Pesticides and synthetic fertilizers act like addictive band‑aids, covering symptoms instead of healing the root issue.
Regular contact with healthy landscapes changes people—how they feel, what they notice, and how much they care about the world around them.
Not everyone can live on a farm, but many people do have yards, porches, parkways, or even small sidewalk strips. That’s why Nikki pivoted from commercial engineering into sustainable land design: small‑scale sustainability can create massive change quickly. A single yard can catch and clean stormwater, feed pollinators, grow herbs and fruit, cool a street, and provide people a daily relationship with nature.
Backyard Abundance believes outdoor spaces should work smarter not harder for the people who tend to it. These spaces influence how much we care about the earth, how our neighborhoods feel, and how local wildlife survives in a changing climate. In an age of mega‑developments and billion‑dollar land grabs, every square foot that regular people steward—no matter how small—holds real power. Her work is about helping you use that power well: turning the space you already have into a resilient, life‑supporting landscape that encourages interaction year after year.
Interested?
Let’s chat!