AMANDA LEFT BIG SHOES TO FILL DURING HER PARENTAL LEAVE, BUT WE FOUND SOMEONE WITH PERFECTly SIZED FEET. WELCOME TO THE TEAM MADI!
Hi! My name is Madi (she/her), and I’m really excited to be working with Growing Chefs in my role as interim Co-Executive Director, Programs & Operations. I’m joining the team as a white settler based on Lək̓ʷəŋən lands where I’ve been entangled in local food for the last seven years. My days in the dirt started as a youth in the juicy berry fields of Ka’tarokwi on Anishinaabe and Haudenosaunee lands and I’ve been grateful for all the tired, full, and silly moments growing food ever since.
For me, food is connected to everything I hold close. I love the slowness of knowing my neighborhood farmer, butcher, and cheesemaker; the feeling of deep care and connection in the queer farming community; witnessing my nephew drool mid-moose meat indulgence; memories of suffering with pals through 6:00am rainy harvests; and the vastness of knowledge and culturally rich story-telling weaved throughout our communities.
I feel drawn to this work for the ways that it allows me to move with slow and ongoing curiosity. The more people I meet and ingredients I taste, the more my eyes widen to the essence of good food. With an understanding that our food system is inseparable from broader social structures— for me, good food asks us to envision worlds that honour people– our relationships and responsibilities to each other and place. In any case, it’s the simple question of what goes unseen before those delicious shisto peppers make it into my belly that keeps me moving in my own processes of undoing disconnection from food, land, and collective.
I hope this all goes to say— I’m grateful for the opportunity to support the vision that Growing Chefs, our partners, and communities have been tirelessly working on to create possibilities for a more just and accessible food system. It reminds me of all the caring, imaginative, and skilled people in my life who time and time again show me what is possible when we orient towards collective abundance.