Seeds & Salt

Happy Holidays my friends!

Since January is just around the corner, I wanted to send out a plug for my upcoming cooking class series — Blank Canvas Cooking!

This is a great opportunity to kick off 2026 with a new lens on cooking that I hope will inspire you to spend the year whipping up a multitude of meals using what you have on hand and what’s in season!

Head to the link in my bio for more information!

Over the years as culinary student, cook, cooking class teacher and farmer-cook, I’ve started to hone in on this idea that every dish has a “blank canvas point” — aka, the basic foundation of the recipe. In this series, we will learn some fundamentals of good cookin’ then we will work our way through some blank canvas recipes and learn how to paint them! 

This is an in-person, four-week class that is designed to build upon itself. BUT! I know lives are busy, so each class will work as a stand-alone. Each class will wrap up with a light dinner.

Salads | January 6th, 5:30-8p

Sauces | January 13th, 5:30-8p

S’Roasteds | January 20th, 5:30-8p

Soups (& quiche) | January 27th, 5:30-8p

These classes will be held at a private residence in Efland, NC (just a quick 25-minutes from both Chapel Hill and Durham).

If you’re looking for a last minute gift, Blank Canvas Gift Cards are available for this series, or one down the line!

Come join me and (dare I say) my very attractive and TALENTED friends in Hillsborough today (12/6) from 11a-4p!

I will be there serving up mulled beverages, hot pasta, and æbelskivers with persimmon marmalade. I will also have a very few, coveted jars of preserved calabrian chiles and dilly beans, and pasta zines for you to gift!

There will be a dizzying array of beautiful, hand-crafted goods and gifts from:

studio - willow baskets, ceramics, jewelry

- candles and ceramics

- Herbal tinctures, teas, and remedies

- prints and texts

- flower CSA, dahlia tubers and totes

For friends who do not live in the NC Triangle area — for the third year in a row, I’ve partnered with Red Tail Grains to put together our Pasta Kits. These lovely kits contain two types of locally grown and milled flour, tools and recipes (+ videos) to put on your own Pasta Night at home. These kits are available to order for shipping through ’s website!

Come make Nocino with us tomorrow .farm and welcome in the summer solstice!

There a still a few spots left — head to the link in my bio to register!

From 12:30-2pm, we’ll do a deep dive into this magical, mysterious elixir — from tree to tastebud!

We’ll talk about how to ID and harvest unripe walnuts, get into folklore of Nocino, and make a batch together. To beat the heat, we’ll finish off the event with my favorite way to enjoy nocino — served on top of vanilla ice cream!

farm and have planned a full day of Summer Solstice magic! Come down and celebrate the longest day of the year with us!

Huge thank you to .farm for having me out to lead this workshop! Don’t miss out :)

These steamy, summer days I have a the mental capacity of a tomato. (I am very sorry if my texts, messages, and/or emails have a slow response time.) If you are friends with a farmer, give them a hug, pint of ice cream, or pack of electrolytes, cause the heat these days is no joke!

But! It is also the most delicious time of year for Pasta Nights! And the bounty is just rolling in! I am currently not offering dinners on weeknights, but there are still some available weekends in the next couple of months. If you are looking for a special way to celebrate, don’t hesitate to ask!

Pasta Night at is happening this Saturday, May 25th, at 6pm — tickets are still available (link in bio)!

Our night in Cedar Grove will include a hands-on pasta making lesson, a 3-course dinner (including aperitivo, two seasonal pasta sauces, salads, and dessert), and a flight of B&B’s ciders and wines! The dinner will be held outside, nestled in the blueberry patch — music provided by the cicadas!

We’ll be out there rain or shine! Last year’s dinner ended in an all out gully washer and we had a blast. Be there or be square!

Peeling green garlic — a very favorite spring harvest task. A fragrant, slower job that allows you to sit down and enjoy the season.

I’ve been making a whole lotta meatballs lately. Nothing better than stretching a couple pounds of meat to feed a crowd — and few things more comforting than a ladle full of a sauce and meatballs over some warm polenta (a polenta perhaps…!).

Here’s a little weeknight recipe if your in a meatball mood tonight! I truly almost never measure my ingredients. I just add things that are tasty, then I make a tiny hamburger patty, cook it off in a griddle, taste for seasoning and go from there! Ground meat is such a nice blank canvas for thousands of taste-combos! Go nuts.

- 2 eggs, beaten
- 3 garlic cloves, minced
- 1/4 cup parsley, chopped
- 3 sprigs oregano, chopped
- 1 # ground pork
- 1 # ground beef
- 1/2 cup dried currant
- 1/4 cup pine nuts
- 1/4 parmigiano-reggiano, grated
- 1/2 cup dry bread crumbs
- salt and pepper
- olive oil

1. Whisk together the stir in the eggs, garlic, parsley, oregano, 1 tablespoon of salt and 1/2 teaspoon of pepper. Add the ground meat, currants, pine nuts and cheese and mix until combined. Add the bread crumbs, knead until the mixture holds together enough to roll (try not to over work the mixture — just mix to combine). Form the mixture into 36 meatballs (about 3 tablespoons each), tucking in the currants and pine nuts.

2. In a large, nonstick skillet, heat the vegetable oil until shimmering. Add the meatballs in 2 batches and fry over moderate heat, turning, until browned all around, about 5-10 minutes per batch. Using a slotted spoon, transfer the meatballs to a plate. Add the meatballs to a tomato sauce and simmer for 30 minutes. Serve in bowls, passing more cheese at the table.

photo by

Did you know you can have a Pasta Night ?!

For those in the NC Triangle (or for those wanting to visit), Jane has created a down-home-howdy-haven in Pittsboro that is PERFECT location for: a weekend get away, a girls trip, celebrating a major birthday or milestone… Put simply, The Hotsy Totsy is the dreamiest place to slow down and gather with people you love.

If you’re looking to make your stay at The HT even more special than it already will be, book a Pasta Night and I’ll come on down to Pittsboro! I’ll teach you and your crew the magic of hand-formed pasta, then whip up a seasonal feast for ya and clean the entire kitchen when we’re done.

If you have any questions, do not hesitate to ask! I am so thrilled to have Jane’s blessing to invade this glorious house with my semolina flour and pasta boards. Cannot wait for many a Hotsy Totsy Pasta Night to come!

photos by Jane
Pasta Night photos by

I’ve nearly reached peak Julia!!!

photo by: / snapped at a recent pasta night!

I love making hand-formed pasta, but every once in awhile I still gaze lovingly at my pasta machine.

Made a batch of tagliatelle the other day using Pasta Flour! We’re working on a little pasta collaboration for ya, coming out soon — keep your eyes on the horizon!

My Sourdough Pasta Workshop at ’s Fermentation Festival is just around the corner!

Come on down to beautiful Cedar Grove on Saturday, September 9th for a full day of celebrating the delicious magic of fermentation.

There will be all kinds or delicious fermented food and drink to enjoy, as well as free fermentation demos going on all day!

I am hosting a break-out Sourdough Pasta workshop at 4pm, for $25 (tickets in bio). We will be learning how to make a sourdough starter, learn some science about gluten, and learn how to use sourdough discard to make both egg pasta dough and semolina pasta dough.

I’ll demo how to knead, roll out and hand-formed the pasta, and how to cook it — perhaps there will be a little for us to sample at the end…? Guess you’ll have to sign up to find out!

Let me know if you have any questions!