Abbey Andersen. As soon as she'd graduated from Humboldt State University with a bachelor’s degree in Studio Arts, Abbey set off to see the world through food: she shucked cacao beans in Costa Rica, worked in organic gardens in Andalucía, harvested rice in Vietnam, and participated in the annual crush in vineyards outside Cape Town. Stateside, Abbey road a train through the Great American South to volunteer on organic farms, ran a Wildland Adventures outfit in Alaska, and helped establish a Nature Center on the shores of Vermont’s Lake Champlain.
A decade of travel has made Abbey particularly adept at creating a home wherever she unpacks her suitcase. Abbey seems to love bringing people together, and she deploys her many talents—she is an illustrator, a musician, a gardener and a cook—to that end. As soon as she moved to Boulder for the summer, Abbey dug up the weeds in the backyard and planted a garden; she convinced her house mate, an accomplished luthier, to show her how to build a ukulele, and she knocked on her neighbors' doors to ask if she might pick any of those overlooked crabapples, sour cherries, or damson plums dangling from their trees.
Welcoming guests to our farm dinners, Abbey’s warm and cheerful personality instantly set even the most wary newcomers at ease. And with her knack for illustration—Abbey has her own line of heirloom vegetable greeting cards!—she turned our chalkboard menu signs into an art form. When our season ended, Abbey packed up once again. She gave away her remaining jars of precious pickled crabapples, and—with her new ukulele in hand—headed west. With her incredible singing voice, Abbey could easily make her way as a folk singer. But knowing Abbey, she’ll stay on the road toward making friends and good food.
