My journey with food and sustainability goes back to growing up visiting my family’s seventh generation farms and ranches on the plains of Colorado, while also growing my own food at home. As I got older, a robust passion for connection to land and culture led me to study environmental politics and social science at the University of Puget Sound, where I found communities in civic engagement, volunteering at The Farm at Pierce County, and studying the street food cultures of Seattle and environmental tourism in Chiang Mai, Thailand. Advocating for, producing, and educating about fresh, local food continues to dominate my focus. Through jobs at organic farms and an internship focused on growing farm to table vegetables at 8,000 feet, I am passionate about connecting small scale, high desert agriculture to communities in order to provide healthful and sustainably sourced produce. I am very excited to step into my new role at HDFFA and continue to learn and connect with the communities and lands of Central Oregon!