Cultivating Nourishment

GROW. COOK. EAT. Heal.

Posted on February 16, 2014 Updated on May 22, 2015

With two batches of yogurt tucked into a warm bed of towels and blankets to incubate in my closet, I realize that I am already well along the path of this journey. Yet, I feel like I am really starting something. I have recently decided to take a year off from the life I have made as an international educator, working in schools in three countries over the past 12 years. I am going to leave the apartment that has become so inviting and cozy. I am going to find new homes for my beloved dog and co-dependent cat (hopefully both these homes are temporary because I can’t stomach the thought of abandoning anymore that I love). Yet here near the edge of this year long project, I stand ready to jump.

I devote this year to food.

I am an educator, but I will take this year to become a student to study food systems (the cultivation, cooking, eating, politics, economics and psychology of Food). I will be working on farms around the world, looking at various cultures’ approach to cultivation and consumption. I will be writing articles and documenting this process through film and photography.

I will be looking, in particular, for the knowledge of grandmothers, the healing nature of plants and how we can incorporate ancient ideas into modern and urban living.

While it seems obvious that we all know how to eat, I am convinced that in fact most of us don’t have the vaguest clue how to nourish our bodies with food. It is my contention that we can heal a lot of our societal ills by returning to food. Here is where I will collect and share the lessons learns on this food adventure.