Kareen is the owner of Broken Ground, a Bozeman-based business that teaches people how to grow their own food. She has been teaching organic gardening, composting and permaculture workshops to people in the Bozeman area for 6 years as well as designing edible gardens for clients. She and her family live on a 3/4 acre lot that they are converting into a cold climate demonstration site with kitchen gardens, a pond, greenhouse, chickens, ducks, a food forest and a greywater system. An experienced permaculture practitioner, Kareen obtained her Permaculture Design Certificate in 2006 at the Taranaki Environment Centre in New Zealand and completed an advanced permaculture program taught by renowned designer Geoff Lawton, at the Permaculture Research Institute of Australia. This included specific training in earthworks, composting methods, soil biology, and urban permaculture design. Kareen was also trained in teaching permaculture by Rosemary Morrow, author of the Earth User's Guide to Permaculture. 

Kareen also has training in Ecology Action's Grow Biointensive methods and participated in a Food Forest Design Charrette for Helena's 6th Ward Garden Park with author, teacher and designer, Dave Jacke. She has also worked as a permaculture consultant for the sustainability organization, GoodtoChina, in Shanghai, China and volunteered on numerous organic farms in Australia, New Zealand, Western Massachusetts and Montana, including Gallatin Valley Botanical and Three Hearts Farm in Bozeman.  

She is a regular contributor to Rocky Mountain Gardening Magazine, having written several articles on permaculture-related topics and was featured in The New Pioneer. She is currently working with the Trust for Public Land and its design of an Edible Food Forest Trail that will be part of the Story Mill Community Park in Bozeman.