I am proud of the many beautiful things I have designed, created, and built over the past 20 years. I have made a successful career out of my love of food and wine, one deeply informed by my aesthete tendencies.  

I am an accomplished chef having cooked with some of Canada’s best chefs in the 1990’s in Toronto and Montreal; a certified sommelier and have worked in Vancouver’s wine trade both on the international and domestic sides of the business. I am a writer and published author, with an academic background in philosophy and critical theory. 

In 2002 I co-founded JoieFarm Winery in Naramata where my multi-faceted journey included running an on-farm cooking school and guesthouse in its early days.  I wrote and designed an award-winning book in 2007 , "Menus from an Orchard Table,”about this journey.  Self-taught, I boldly made wine in earnest, planting, and running vineyards over a number of unique terrior and eventually created an 18,000-case winery which became a dynamic and resilient business over two decades.

I attempted successfully, I think, to leave a place better than I found it.  Certainly, I left little bits of beauty behind.

After all of this creative output, I am happy to have earned the time to reflect. In 2021 I sold JoieFarm Winery and re-located myself back to the coast to take a dedicated sabbatical to spend time with family, friends, and most importantly to travel, cook, eat and write.

My creativity during this time was not limited to cooking, farming and making wine.  Captivated by the gorgeous physical landscape of the Okanagan valley, but frustrated by its cultural landscape, my entrepreneurship included many design projects; including building winery buildings, vineyards, tasting rooms, homes and gardens. 

This site is my platform to share some of my most meaningful projects as well as encapsulate and archive a period of my life which was filled with a furious and joyful creative output.

Learn more about my latest work.