Our story / Sonoma to the table
Hospitality begins
with listening.
Listening to the season. To the people around the table. And to the particular feeling a place can make possible.
A family practiceof care + curiosity
Rooted in thereal world.
01 / A Sonoma beginning
Sonoma County,
California
One of the places I have always felt most at home was my grandparents’ farm.
They had a vineyard and a hobby farm: hens laying eggs, a vegetable garden overflowing with ripe tomatoes, and an orchard full of apples, citrus, figs, walnuts, and pomegranates. My grandparents had an avid green thumb and loved to share their place with others.
They were gatherers in more than one sense: of people and of produce.
Let the gardendecide dinner.
02 / The people who taught me
The garden told my grandpa what was for dinner. My grandma taught me how a table can make you feel.
My love for cooking comes from my grandpa, who refused to ever directly follow a recipe. He would pick whatever was ripe in the garden that day and let it decide what was for dinner.
My eye for the table comes from my grandma. She cut flowers from the garden, built the tablescapes, and made every gathering feel beautiful and inviting. She understood that people feel welcome before the first plate is ever served.
03 / The long table
For generations, my family has been known for throwing a good party.
Every year, more than forty people gather around our Thanksgiving table. It is mostly family—both sides of my grandparents’ families coming together—but anyone is welcome to bring a friend or someone without a place to go.
What people do not see is the month of preparation it takes to make that one day feel effortless. That Thanksgiving table represents who I am: hospitality that makes people feel welcome and known, built on a deep appreciation for the land and the food it grows.
The real work of hosting is making care feel easy.
04 / A model I saw early
At my grandparents’ house, hospitality grew community and a business.
As a hobby vineyard grower, my grandpa hosted wine club events right at the house. Gathering people on the property was not just generosity. It was how people came to know his grapes, and to want them. Long before I had words for it, I watched a farm use hospitality to grow a community and a business.
I inherited the hosting gene. In college, I led event planning for our student body, matching each gathering—large or small—to its people, purpose, and season. I helped plan my sister’s wedding. These days, it is wine nights and dinner parties at my place. The occasion changes, but the goal never does: bring people together and make them feel at home.
There is an art to creating a place people want to return to.
05 / Why Cultivene
A farm stand can be
more than a farm stand.
That is why I am building Cultivene.
Cultivene is a farm experience platform that helps farmers host on-farm events: farm dinners, tours, and gatherings that connect a community to the land and the food it grows.
Farmers already have what my grandparents had: the land, the food, and the love for sharing it. Cultivene helps them turn that into experiences people will pay for, so they can earn in new ways and take back some ownership of their time.
My grandparents’ table taught me that a farm can make people feel welcome and known. Cultivene exists to help more farms set one.
Explore the partner-farm pathwayContinue the conversation
Let’s make a little
more room for what matters.
Whether you are bringing people together, looking for the right farm, or simply want to share an idea—we would love to hear from you.
hello@cultivene.com