I believe in supporting my community through my passion for food and farming. With over six years cooking in fine dining restaurants, ten plus years teaching about food, and nearly a decade farming, I appreciate the entire soil to spoon spectrum.Michaela Hayes is a co-founder and farmer at Rise & Root Farm, a teacher, food stylist, classically trained chef, and value-added producer.Rise & Root Farm is a five-acre farm, owned cooperatively by four women who are intergenerational, multi-racial, LGBTQ and allies. The farm is rooted in social justice, and through the healing power of food and farming the entire team works to build a more equitable food system. As part of that justice work, Michaela believes that having deep conversations - about race, gender, sexuality, class, age and more - is vital to liberating ourselves.Michaela grew into farming through cooking and food preservation. She founded her former food preservation business, Crock & Jar, as a step to value-added production on the farm. Using classic preservation methods, Michaela created bold new flavor combinations in her products, including two Good Food Award finalists. She closed the business in 2017 and Rise & Root Farm is the current home of all of her value-added production. Michaela has taught preservation methods and product creation for organizations such as The Natural Gourmet Institute, Farm School NYC, and Stone Barns Center for Food & Agriculture. Michaela was classically trained at the French Culinary Institute. She cooked for years in NYC restaurants including Gramercy Tavern, where she developed the pickling station. She was a co-founder of the NYC Ferments Meetup group. Specialties: Canning, pickling, fermentation, nukazuke, education, community building, teaching, local food, farming, food styling, recipe development