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Michaela Hayes-Hodge is a farmer, a teacher, food stylist, experienced chef and value added producer.
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, like fermentation and canning, Michaela created bold new flavor combinations in her products, including two Good Food Award finalists. Crock & Jar is now closed and Rise & Root Farm is the new home of all of Michaela’s value added production.
She also came to the farm as a teacher. She believes that talking about and working to uproot underlying systems of oppression are vital to liberating ourselves. Food preservation is a tool of food security and sovereignty. Michaela has taught preservation methods and product creation for organizations and conferences such as Farm School NYC, NOFA-NY, The Natural Gourmet Institute, 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.
When Michaela isn't on the farm or in the kitchen preserving food, she's in the kitchen making it beautiful as a food stylist. Before she worked in food, she worked in commercial photography, traveling the country and the world as a photo assistant and studio manager. Food styling let's Michaela get back on the set, with pots and pans instead of lights and gaff tape. You can see her food styling work on her website: www.michaela-hayes.com.
Michaela in the media:
Marie Claire: The New Crop of Farmers, April 2024
Them: Rise & Root Farm Is Inviting Queer and Trans Youth Into the Garden, August 2023
Bon Appetit: This Non-Binary Farmer is Pushing for More Queer Inclusivity, June 2022
UNUM: Build a Team, November 2017
Huffington Post: These Lesbian Farmers Aren’t Here to Take Over America. They Want to Grow It, September 2016