My path has been a long and sometimes confusing adventure. I am first and foremost always grateful to have Ed traveling with me and keeping me grounded and loved. I found my love for cooking food and my love for Ed at about the exact same time in my life.

I was living in Sioux City, Iowa, in a drug-recovery program – recovering from my youth, so to speak. I was working as a hostess in the cafe restaurant of the downtown Hilton, but everyday I would go back into the kitchen and beg the chef to give me a job. The halfway house I lived in required each housemate to cook on a weekly rotation schedule, and that’s where I initially learned my basic cooking skills. It was tough, sort of a sink or swim scenario – if you ruined the food, you ruined everyone’s food. After about six months, I convinced the chef to give me a chance and he hired me as a prep cook.

From that point forward, I was hooked and I embraced cooking and culinary skills with a vengeance. Ed and I met, I moved him back home to Austin and we were married with Sydney by September of 1990. Fast-forward 24 years…

Our daughter is now 23 and has moved out on her own, working as a cook herself. I just completed the classroom portion of culinary school, with an externship and assisting hours left to complete. Ed and I are preparing for the next, and we believe most important phase in our life. To purchase and create Little Mandala Farm.