I am a San Franciscan by GPS, but an Iowan in my DNA. I am a trained chef and worked in San Francisco for eight years watching and participating in the growth of the sustainable food industry via restaurants. Later I worked for five years as a sommelier and wine buyer, then redirected my food focus and decided to learn the trade of butchery at Whole Foods Market. With thirteen years experience in that profession, I am a journeyman butcher and a proponent of "less meat, better meat." I worked as the Head Butcher for Prather Ranch Meat Company, and earlier as the Head Butcher at The Local Butcher Shop in Berkeley. Even early in life I was involved in food, growing up on a farm in Iowa, canning and cooking with my mother and farming and ranching with my father. In my spare time, I learn as much as I can about orchardry and the organic farming of small grains. I also make great pies.