About

Hi! I’m a budding gardener who likes to cook nearly as much as I love to eat. I’ve been hoarding recipes and experimenting in the kitchen for as long as I can remember.

I started this blog back in 2010, when I was fresh out of college and doing much of the cooking for my family. Since then, I’ve worked and lived on organic farms, homesteads, intentional communities, and non-profit gardens around the country; taught English in Ecuador and the States; and volunteered with food justice and school garden initiatives in my hometown of Oakland, California. In addition to being immersed in the nitty-gritty of growing fruit, veggies, grains, flowers, herbs, and seeds, milking goats, and turning compost piles, I’ve been blessed with a huge diversity of opportunities to learn about bringing nutritious food the rest of the way to the table.

I’ve been nourished by crew lunches, potlucks, and wood-fired pizza nights; prepared food in commercial kitchens and on a tiny RV stovetop; served dinner to anywhere from two to eighty people with various dietary restrictions; and noshed on plenty of simple meals alone. I’ve spent countless hours putting up the harvest: canning, drying, freezing, and fermenting; fallen in and out of love with eggplant, winter squash, and hot peppers; made yogurt, goat cheese, and corn tortillas from scratch; navigated an ever-shifting array of solar, wood, and bio-gas cookers; and tried my hand at sourdough baking, with varying degrees of success.

Currently, I am in the midst of a four month apprenticeship with Spikenard Honeybee Sanctuary, where my time in the kitchen includes a few forays into herbal products from the gardens and hives. I look forward to returning to the Magnolia Collective this fall and bringing all these gathered experiences, along with an openness to those still to come, to the little patch of earth I’ve come to call home.

It’s been an amazing journey so far… and often all-consuming. I haven’t had the time to update this site as often as I’d like, but I’ve tried my best to offer a taste of what I’m learning and savoring along the way.

The food I prepare is inspired by my passion for wholesome vegetarian meals; local, seasonal produce; international cuisine; and whatever ingredients I have around at the time. I try to reference my inspiration when possible, though I’m notoriously bad at following a recipe (even my own). As I’ve gained experience and confidence in the kitchen, many of my meals no longer involve a recipe at all, relying instead on versatile techniques and experimental combinations. Some work out better than others, most are edible, a few truly exceptional. I’ve done my best to record the most noteworthy victories and failures, and approximate what I did. Just bear in mind that I’m pretty lazy about measuring, and these recipes are intended merely as a starting point, with endless possible variations… have fun with them!