My Story

As a young teen I wanted control over my life.

I loved animals, so driven by emotions and with little understanding of how to eat well, I pronounced myself a vegetarian. I spent most of my high school years eating a crazy amount of carbohydrate rich vending machine foods, mac and cheese, instant potatoes, and caffeine spiked sodas.

I grew up in a home where my material needs were met, but I didn't feel deeply supported and emotional honesty was not encouraged. A fundamentalist religious upbringing that was more focused on fire and brimstone than love and spiritual depth ingrained guilt and a lack of self worth deep into my cells. My step-father passed away when I was sixteen catapulting me into an emotional and spiritual crisis. I rebelled against everything and withdrew deeper into myself because I could not find sense in the shock of death or the guilt of being alive.

My health journey has unfolded over decades. Spending time in gardens and nature soothes my soul. Learning to grow my own food and studying edible and medicinal plants gave me positive focus that blossomed into my life passions. Learning how to eat in a way that is truly nourishing has been a journey of many steps. It takes years of experience to become a skilled gardener, dialed into the seed varieties that work best and how to course correct for variables like weather, pests, diseases. Learning emotional confidence and security has been thousands more steps and deep breaths of letting go balanced with acceptance. The emotional pieces are what really changed my life, bringing everything else into a more natural alignment.

For more than 20 years my husband and I have lived a subsistence oriented lifestyle in Alaska growing and wild-harvesting vegetables, berries, fruits, fish and game. In 2012 we moved from one of the coldest valleys in the Fairbanks area to the relatively temperate coast of Southeast of Alaska. We have been expanding and improving our market vegetable and medicinal herb gardens since then.

We have experimented over time to find the crops that grow best in this climate and creatively come up with ways that are efficient in preserving our foods with the most nutrients while being flavorful! Supplements have their place as 'supplements' to our health. I believe that high quality food is just as essential as mentally nourishing beliefs...the combination is the most powerful medicine. Every meal is a chance to improve our microbiota, our energy, to feel gratitude...to make every one of our cells, and not to mention our brains, happy with real vitality.