I grew up in California with baking and cooking always being a part of my life, but never considered a career related to food. I earned a BA in Sociology - Organizational Studies from UC Davis in 2002. One day while working in Washington DC, I realized I wanted to cook professionally and luckily later the same day I met a great chef and restaurant owner who allows people without any professional food experience to work in his kitchen. I loved what I learned there and decided I wanted to go to culinary school but first to work on an organic vegetable farm because my passion is for utilizing produce deliciously.

I think vegetables are misunderstood, mistreated and even feared by many Americans. Have you ever offered someone a green leafy vegetable? If you have, you may know the fear that I am talking about – many people don’t think healthy food can taste great or even good. I grew up strongly disliking many vegetables and over the years as I tried them prepared in different ways (especially fresh), I started to love them.

On the farm I learned about seasonality, cultivating, harvesting, storage, and most importantly I had the chance to prepare an abundance of vegetables without worrying if they fit into my budget. After one growing season I went back to working in DC and volunteered in a different wonderful restaurant kitchen. The freshest and tastiest foods I have ever had were in the best restaurants and in the kitchens of vegetable farmers and gardeners.

I wanted to learn more and hoped to make my brain into the biggest sponge possible before heading to culinary school so that I could soak up the maximum about of food information. That influenced my decision to travel to farms and homes around the world learning more about fresh produce and how to use it. I spent one more season working on a farm in Pennsylvania (which sold in DC) and set out in December for Tasmania, Japan, Thailand, India, London, Italy, and Spain. I met the wonderful man who is now my husband while working on the first farm and despite his plans to farm and never leave Pennsylvania, he decided to join me on the trip.

After traveling we moved to New York where I attended The Culinary Institute of America. I spent my externship working for The Chez Panisse Foundation in the Berkeley public schools learning about and helping to change the school food. Now we’re in Chicago where I am working in a vegetable-focused restaurant called The Green Zebra and doing some consulting for Ann Cooper, the “renegade lunch lady.” We can't wait to start our own farm near Pittsburgh, with u-pick goodies, a CSA, and cooking classes!

Together we love to grow delicious, nutritious food and share it with people so it may enrich many lives like it has ours.