Our Story

Loon Bay Botanicals started with the dream of my then five-year-old daughter Sylva, who loved to experiment in the kitchen, making up her own recipes. This playful experimentation developed into a dream of opening her own restaurant called Loon Bay Cafe. Sylva would run the restaurant, I would grow the veggies, and Sylva’s brother, Milo would supply the restaurant with wild game and fish. During the 6 years that have gone by since then, I have prioritized keeping that dream alive for Sylva and Milo as we’ve continued as a family to grow our gardens, have adventures in the woods, and experiment in the kitchen, all the while deepening our connection to the place we call home. Part of the deepening of that connection to place has been the growing understanding of context, both geographically, environmentally, culturally, and historically.

My work for AICHO in their permanent supportive housing program has played a huge role in my understanding of context/place in the world. In my work developing youth programming and garden spaces that highlight community connection to history and culture as a path to health, understanding and healing, I have had the privilege of getting to learn from and work with some amazing leaders in food sovereignty and racial justice, as well as learning from the incredible families and children I have gotten to work with as they struggle for health, healing and justice. Loon Bay Botanicals exists out of a desire to pay for my own kid’s privilege to dream of a happy, healthy future, by being a part of the movement to provide greater access to resources and opportunities that enable ALL kids, regardless of race, zip code, disability, economic status, gender identity, etc., to dream of a happy, healthy future.

The vision for Loon Bay LLC is for it to be a business that enables us as a family to spend more time together in the woods and making stuff, and sharing the stories of our adventures as a means for educating customers about the plant-based products we develop. The second part of the vision is to offer the same opportunities on a community scale, providing services to schools and youth organizations to foster the development of culturally-inclusive garden spaces that highlight community connection to history and culture, provide opportunities for youth to develop their own products and market them, as a path to health, understanding, healing, and power.