Nourishment

food
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Please remember, Breakfast and Dinner is included however lunch is not.  It takes a full day to prepare two separate meals with the space and camp kitchen resources it is nearly impossible to make food for 750 women for breakfast, lunch and dinner. But our Nourishment crew makes it happen for morning and evening delights.   One meal alone is a giant task!  As our Head chef of several years Tami says, “The nourishment team at Spirit Weavers is a vast and eclectic ragtag crew of people. The crew hails from all parts of the country and spans many culinary regions. Cooking for SWG is no small feat – The kitchen staff is composed of more than 40 volunteers, 3 kitchen managers and 7 chefs to cook 7,500+ meals per session”

The Kitchen Crew will make and prepare over 15,000 meals during our time together.

 

You can expect colorful vibrant meals consisting of an abundance of seasonal local produce, whole grains, legumes, seeds and nuts, and herbal teas.  We will have a special line for those needing allergen free meaning no gluten, soy, or peanut. We will also have a special line for those who choose a vegan meal.  We have bone broth available each morning throughout the gathering as well.  If you know that you have very specific dietary needs, or severe allergies, we ask that you contact us and prepare accordingly.  If you need additional substance please bring snacks for yourself and children.

 

 Our food is harvested with love, prepared with love, and served with love. The kitchen weavers maintain a fun, optimistic, and energetic environment: a contagious attitude transmuted into the food, to really nourish the soul.

 

***In spirit of simple living on the land, please remember to bring your own bowl, cutlery, cup, and any other food utensil you need. One use, disposable utensils will NOT be available at the gathering in an effort to reduce our carbon footprint. Nor do we have 750 reusable utensils. We are working on the possibilities of a nourishment “care package” to purchase on site.   We have dish washing stations available throughout each session**

Meet our Kitchen Staff

Cassandra Kelley- Head Chef

Casandra began cooking with Spirit Weavers Gathering (SWG) in 2017 with Tami’s Wild Tree Kitchen crew. Quickly making it to sous chef, Casandra is a force in the kitchen with an eye for the ever evolving trends in food and nutrition as well as a fantastic sense of taste and texture. As someone who has always been passionate about cooking for large groups, 1,500 attendees was a welcome challenge. In 2022,  Casandra stepped into the role of Head Chef for SWG and is enjoying leading the nourishment team into the new future of food. Casandra views cooking at these Gatherings as a source of healthcare and resilience. With a background in restaurant management, organic farming, folk herbalism, and alternative cooking styles- their mission is to create simple, delicious & digestible meals that make fresh ingredients pop. You can find Casandra toiling away in the SWG kitchen at all hours of the day or proudly participating with the Queer Community on the land. Stop in to say ‘hello’ or share your best dance move!

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Gabriella Ramos-Kitchen Manager

What’s not to love about working in the kitchen?  The constant ebb and flow of needs, high energy, and shared responsibility are only a few reasons that keep Gabriella coming back year after year.  Gabriella started working in the kitchen at Spirit Weavers Gathering in 2016 as a seva member and after being asked to assist on the cooktop, she knew the kitchen was where she was meant to be.  With an attuned commitment to the wellbeing of the nourishment staff and seva, Gabriella dedicates her efforts to ensuring that the kitchen is not only a safe space to work within, but also a place to deepen joy and establish nourishing connections – belly laughs and dance parties are a guarantee when creating in the kitchen together.  Aside from enjoying the blessing that is the river, the kitchen is where she prefers being the most while at the gathering.  And she seconds Casandra, do stop by and share your best dance move!

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Kulture Parkin-Kitchen Manager

Kulture Parkin is a Maui based artist, farmer, and culinary enthusiast. She enjoys making art and working with plants in her day to day. While actively living in community for the last 9 years, she has worked on developing her passion of transparent communication as well. Feeling empowered by her experiences she was enabled to share her skills in a different way. Her love for cooking and communication brought her into a space of wanting to support others in their quest to feed the masses which led her to being of service at women’s gatherings and conscious community gatherings. She now seeks opportunities where she can share her gifts in a setting that is conducive to her learning and the learning of others. These manifested spaces offered her a place of work and growth in a way she had never experienced.

 

Check her out in the kitchen helping Chef Cassandra Kelly serve your daily dose of nourishment.

Meet Our Vendors

We welcome you to enjoy our beautiful lunch food vendors Lydia’s and Mido’s Miso or you can head into town and visit the Pine Portal.  Pine Portal is our local organic market that has a plentiful variety of goods.  It’s a smaller co-op but we love their selections. We also have Evening Star Elixir Bar serving delightfully nourishing superfood herbal hot drinks in the morning. 

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Mido’s Miso

Mido’s Miso, Southern Oregon’s first and only miso company, is here at Spirit Weavers Gathering to bring you nourishment! Midori Uehara, creator of Mido’s Miso, was born and raised in Japan where she learned cooking at an early age from her mother and grandmother. At 20 years old, she began making her own miso when she started traveling to the United States. During this time, she learned about and adopted a macrobiotics diet, which has been the foundation of her cooking ever since.  After working as a fast-paced teppanyaki chef at various restaurants over the years, Midori realized her true passion was cooking for more intimate groups with a focus on quality nutrition.

For the past 7 years, Midori has been a resident of Takilma in Cave Junction, where she has fallen in love with the surrounding nature and small community of this area. She dedicates her time to crafting Koji, a special Japanese culture, which is incorporated into her miso and fermented for up to several years.

Midori will be serving daily meals to the Spirit Weavers community, incorporating only the highest quality organic ingredients, many of which come from her own garden or local farms. All of Midori’s offerings include her homemade miso—a Japanese longevity food rich in probiotics and other health benefits, which aids in bringing balance and comfort back into the body after the stress of traveling or camping.

Lydia’s

Born in Paris, France, and hailing from the Sonoma, California Wine Country, Lydia Kindheart, founder of Lydia’s Kind Foods, and one of the original pioneers in the conscious food movement, has served over a million fans with her vitalizing, multi-award-winning, organic, gluten-free and utterly delicious plant-based cuisine.

Lydia has garnered a massive following for her Ayurvedic, nutritive and holistically wholesome products sold at health retailers across North America, and at West Coast conscious living and music festivals.

Having founded 5 San Francisco Bay Area vegan health restaurants, including one of the largest vegan eatery and community event centers in the United States, Lydia has dedicated her life to healing others through complementary nutrition, in addition to being a spokeswoman for positive environmental change, and an advocate for organic farmers and sustainable food manufacturing. Lydia is looking forward to serving her beautiful food again at Spirit Weavers.

Evening Star Elixir Bar

Lauren’s love for Elixirs evolved when she moved to the majestic mountains of Lake Tahoe in 2019. Living in the mountains during the Winter Seasons inspired her first menu for warm, delicious drinks to nourish the soul and spirit through long, dark nights. As the birds returned to sing their songs for the spring and summer seasons,  her speciality drinks transformed into organic juices and chilled elixirs. Creating a loving relationship with plant based Superfoods and herbs have been one of the biggest blessings along her healing journey.

Crafting Elixirs has served as a unique and beautiful form of art. Serving the Spirit Weavers community the past two years has been one of Lauren’s greatest honors. Evening Star Elixirs is named after Venus herself, shining brightly in the sky usually seen kissing Mars just before dawn or at dusk. All of the superfood Elixirs are hand crafted with fresh, organic ingredients!

Made with love.