Inheritance Stories requires three people: the storyteller, the interviewer, and the recorder. Each person cycles through each role so there is balance and an opportunity to practice different skills and roles. The basic premise is to ask each person to share a recipe they learned from someone in their life that they still cook, to really listen to them, and to record their story in a way that transmits their voice.

Beginning in spring 2018, two Japanese community organizers and I began hosting an annual miso making event with community members. Our first year we made miso by hand with 30 people, sharing our living cultures, literally and figuratively, to create something more complex than our individual components. The following year, we unearthed the miso we made together, extended the circle to 30 new community members, and made a larger batch.

I produced Portland’s first CSA Share Fair, a free public event to bring together CSA farmers and Portland eaters. The fair attracted more than 1,000 attendees and 33 farmers, and we attributed $61,897.50 in sales to Oregon CSA farmers, ranchers, and fishermen to the event. The event, which continues today, included a matchmaking booth to assist people in finding their perfect CSA, cookbook swap meet, chef demos, and more.

From 2013 to 2016, I co-produced a biweekly podcast focused on personal food stories and oral histories hosted by then farmer, now podcast producer, Chris Seigel. Across nearly 50 episodes, we interviewed everyone from luminaries Wendell Berry to neighborhood backyard farmers, wine tasters to Black Panthers, cast iron collectors to farm workers and food activists.

From 2012 to 2013, I helmed a large multi-faceted multimedia project focused on the surreal, fantastical beauty of mushrooms and the knowledge of growers, foragers and fanatics in Oregon. The project had many components including a series of documentary videos; a zoetrope sculpture showing how mushrooms grow; a free, educational public fair; a mushroom, mold, and yeast feast; and more.