The Curated Feast

Once, there was an apple. 🍎 Once, there was a snake. 🐍
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Sometime before that apple could be sampled, the tree blossomed, the bees stopped by, and the rains played percussion upon its roots. ☔️ From those enchanting whispers of “Once upon a time” to the winding paths of a heroine’s journey, each narrative unfolds with its own unique twists and turns. Mine, like yours, is no exception.
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As I began my journey with The Curated Feast, I also traversed the fertile grounds of organic and sustainable agriculture, and was nurtured by the wisdom of farmers and the resilience of the land. Cheshire Cats in peach trees met me on my path. 🍑🐈‍⬛ The romance of my time in the gardens knows no bounds.
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This week we find ourselves passing the Equinox — a sacred moment when the veil between the seasons grows thin and golden rays overtake the dark. ⛅️ This metaphor is also threaded throughout spirituality and religion.

For instance: from void, darkness, and the deep (in the opening lines of the Bible) comes the light. In the pre-Zorastrian Yazidism our universe comes from a white pearl. 🦪 And sun god Ra arrives aglow in a primordial egg 🥚 — so why not an apple?
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I feel like after my time away from this account, I’m supposed to come back with some elixir. Some nectar, some essential truth. Maybe the simple bite of an apple is enough. Either way, I’m excited to be back, so let’s start with a taste. 🐍🍎

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Photos for and from my days at 📸
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It’s not a book club, it’s a reading party! 📚🥳

Join us for BYOB — our very first Bring Your Own Book night at presented by and . This evening is inspired by the Brooklyn-based reading parties featured in last month. 📰

Whether it’s 1,001 tales or just one, reading is enriched when we connect. And so we propose an evening reading party. In contrast to a book club, you’ll propel yourself into your own world for ~1hr and then we will socialize and enjoy some small bites inspired by literature as we discuss what we’re reading!

What’s included:
🧞‍♀️ Special bites by curated with stories by
🌵Drinks provided by which offers distinctive non-alcoholic agave cocktails infused with botanicals and adaptogens (yum!)
🎼An ambient playlist by

Link in bio. Limited tickets available!

It’s not a book club, it’s a reading party! 📚🥳

Join us for BYOB — our very first Bring Your Own Book night at presented by and . This evening is inspired by the Brooklyn-based reading parties featured in last month. 📰

Whether it’s 1,001 tales or just one, reading is enriched when we connect. And so we propose an evening reading party. In contrast to a book club, you’ll propel yourself into your own world for ~1hr and then we will socialize and enjoy some small bites inspired by literature as we discuss what we’re reading!

What’s included:
🧞‍♀️ Special bites by curated with stories by
🌵Drinks provided by which offers distinctive non-alcoholic agave cocktails infused with botanicals and adaptogens (yum!)
🎼An ambient playlist by

Link in bio. Limited tickets available!

When you think of hydroponics, what comes to mind?

For me, it was a little green lettuce dwarfed by a futuristic, sterile space with almost no resemblance nor connection to what you’ll find when you Google the term organic farming. 🌱

Last summer, my perspective around hydroponics drastically shifted. and trusted me to capture the stories of 3 farms unlike the many I’ve visited throughout my career. Under National Organic Program (NOP) rules, all of these farms would be classified as or container operations. And yet, I found each of these farms filled with beauty, life, hope, and far more ecological consciousness than my previous Google search for “hydroponic farming” had led me to see.

You can find these stories on the CCOF blog (through the link in my bio!). ☀️ Thank you to , , and for trusting me with your stories and voices.

Scroll through to see some of my favorite photos. 📸✨

                         

Hello! ☀️ That’s really the only place to start. I’ve been wanting to say something here for a while, so here’s a few delicious photos from this summer and some things I’ve been thinking about lately:
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1) it’s okay to not be on social media all the time, and it’s also okay to miss the community here while you’re gone
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2) the word “or” is very strange if you look at it too long, but it’s also such a poetic conjunction, dating back to the 1200s
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3) love, rest, laughter, and gratitude are everything
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What is something that you learned this summer?! 🕶

And for the folks who are new here, please say hello and add a comment below telling me about the most delicious thing you ate recently! 😋

A little The Curated Feast update for you:

After a year of working together, our team took a work trip! 🛵 It was simply delicious to be in Santa Barbara — scouting locations, creating art, and chasing the light around community farms, cityscapes, and botanic gardens.
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Simply by observing new blooms, storied buildings, and a fresh stretch of coast, we remembered that as artists, sometimes your well runs dry if you don’t explore something new. A bit of travel and joyful creation can fill that well right back up. ⛲️
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How do you re-fill your artistic well? Are you planning an adventure?

I’ve got your back, you’ve got mine. Lean on me, I’ll lean on you. I keep thinking: it’s as simple as this. (Of course not physically, don’t worry these are pre-covid photos!!) But we really are leaning on each other more than ever, in these strange times.

I’ve been spending my time split between nature and the screen, and I’m so grateful for the faces and voices that surround me, as well as the trees that support our collective lungs.

Who’s someone you’re leaning, today? If you’re feeling lonely, you can lean on me. ♥️
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Personally, I’ve also been leaning on this poem by Martin Buber. It’s all about the sacredness of the trees:

I contemplate a tree.

I can accept it as a picture: a rigid pillar in a flood of light, or splashes of green traversed by the gentleness of the blue silver ground.

I can feel it as movement: the flowing veins around the sturdy, striving core, the sucking of the roots, the breathing of the leaves, the infinite commerce with earth and air–and the growing itself in its darkness.
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📸Captured with by at .


@ Land of Medicine Buddha

Thank you Meghan Smolka Photography for these gems!! was such a beautiful success. I am so grateful for this opening night and all the talent at the tables! You are an inspiring bunch! Peter and Lindsey Chester thank you both for the honor of hosting this party! 40 years around the Sun—and we've only just begun!

Here's a quick bite into a sweet history! 🍬🍭

The history of cinnamon rolls is still hotly debated 🔥, and ingredients from around the world had to coalesce for bakers to create them: Sri Lankan cinnamon, Fertile Crescent wheat, New Guinean sugarcane, etc! 🤔🌎🌍🌏🌿

Though Sweden lays claim to the invention of the "kanelbulle", many food historians point to the British "Royal Chelsea Bun" of the 18th century, with raisins being the main differentiator of these sweet treats. 🤔

Happy bun glazing, foodie friends! 🍑

Photo: 👏🏼

Fervent. 🔥 This word comes from the mid 14th Century "fervens", which very literally meant "glowing". 🔥 It later became the more figurative word as we know it today, and it is now often used as a synonym for "impassioned."

On I remember my fervent passion for exploring history and geography, and how it has led me down a brilliantly firey path toward more deeply exploring food! Camping out of this sweet 1952 Airstream for the last 5 days reminded me to pause and just focus on the dish physically at hand—not the digital one. In this reflection, I remember that I have dedicated nearly a decade of my career to food and agriculture—working in roles from farmer to table setter. Finding nature through all of my senses has changed my life. 🔥

🌟And *breaking news*! 🌟I was just named one of Silicon Valley Business Journal's 40 under 40. (The article was posted this morning!) I am so honored to be chosen, and was thrilled when the first thing they asked of me was to name someone who inspired me up close—ok, so not Beyoncé. 🔮 Well, , that is you. From first meeting you and talking about Vermeer nearly a decade ago, to now watching you travel around the world seeking wildflowers, you have helped me find a fervent love for the environment. 🌸🌍 Thank you. 🤝

📷: 💚

“I am barley, I am not destroyed.” -Osiris

A staple food is one that is eaten every day. But staples are far from boring. 🌾 the story of the advent of agriculture, according to the ancient Egyptian tale of Osiris and Isis, was that Isis found barley growing wild and Osiris then introduced it to the Egyptian people. Because of this, the story goes, they abandoned cannibalism and led a more civilized life, per this food from the gods.

In a global sense, the advent of agriculture can be traced to between 10,000 and 7,000 BC in Asia, the Middle East, Africa, South America, and North America. In all of these cases, it was a grain that was first domesticated. And, in all cases, changed rituals, civic life, and relationship to the natural world.

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