How I Got Here

I came to this work the way most of us come to the things that save us — through loss, and through the slow, quiet rebuilding that loss requires.

In the span of a few short years, I lost my granddaughter, my husband, and the life I had carefully built around both of them. What rose from that wreckage was a single conviction, surprisingly clear: that a meaningful life is built at ordinary tables, on ordinary mornings, with the people we love. In food made with attention. In breath taken with intention. In words spoken with truth. And in soil tended with patience.

The rest of this work — the chef practice, the yoga, and the permaculture obsession — grew from that conviction. Prior to this life change, I had been in holistic healthcare for over 40 years. My knowledge and acquired skills helped me lose over 186lbs naturally and maintain it. What I learned along the way is that the body, the table, and the land are not separate things. They are the same conversation, spoken in different languages. My mission in life has become to tend to what sustains — and to teach others how to do the same.

"There is a particular kind of bravery required to start over — especially when the world expects you to have it figured out by now."