Growing up overseas, Andrea’s family eventually settled in Corvallis, Oregon. Local food was deeply ingrained in her childhood: she often spent Saturday mornings at the market, helping her mom choose produce for the week. During her studies at Northern Arizona University, she became increasingly aware of the intrinsic identities surrounding food and cooking -from the smell of the hatch chiles at the community market to the blue corn nurtured by the Hopi. She reveled in the bounty grown in the desert. After achieving her degree in Environmental Studies and Sustainability, Andrea returned to the juniper and ponderosas and found a home in Central Oregon. In her free time, you can either find her with her dog and a book by the river or at a local music venue with a cider in hand.