Background and Personal History: Do you know what Chow-Chow is? Well, in case you don’t, it’s pickled vegetables. Katie’s grandmother spent time each August putting away jars and jars of it. She was Pennsylvania Dutch and the last generation on the farm. The land the farm was on is now all subdivisions in suburban Philadelphia.

Seven years ago, Katie moved to Vermont to find a community committed to lighter-impact living, social justice and environmentalism (you can ask her about how to compost urine). Now, she is working, raising her young daughter along with her spouse, and trying to recapture skills that most people had only two generations ago.

Current Projects: Canning, freezing, pickling, fermenting, drying and putting away every last bit of summer to spruce up her family’s lives during the cold winter months.