Hi there, I’m Jen!

Some of my earliest and fondest memories are of helping my grandparents and great-grandmother in their gardens in Maine- harvesting fresh vegetables in the morning and eating them for dinner that evening; watching my great-grandmother rinse and hang plastic bags to dry so she could reuse them; eating canned applesauce and green beans from the year’s harvest.

I grew up with a love food, health and nature. But I didn’t know how it would direct my life.

In college, I started working at a holistic health center, under the supervision of a renowned master herbalist. Here, my curiosity in and passion for natural health was born. Wanting to use this information to help heal others, I got my Master’s Degree in Human Nutrition from Columbia University. Several years later, I followed my love of food to culinary school, at the Institute of Culinary Education (ICE) in NYC. And somewhere in the middle, I had my son, Dakota. He’s been my greatest gift, my most humbling teacher, and my proudest achievement.

Our lives have twisted and turned over the years. And so has my career. I went from nutrition counseling to private chefing to recipe development for a national restaurant group then two vegan fast-casual food chains. And now, I am in real estate in Naples, FL. But all along, I’ve held space for writing and blogging, learning and sharing, about healing foods, functional nutrition, kitchen herbalism, sustainability and environmental stewardship...

I tried for years to come up with a catching tagline that encompassed everything I was passionate about and wanted to share.  But when I finally stopped trying to be cute about it, I realized I could boil it all down to two things:  Good Food & Healthy Living.  Not only does it sum up everything I love, but it echoes the life lessons I learned from my grandparents and great-grandmother; the foundation that I have been building on throughout my adult life… Grow a garden, spend time outside, protect and respect the earth, stay active, eat good food, live simply, live sustainably. 

And that makes it feel even more perfect.  

I hope you’ll join me on this journey and maybe be inspired to create your own version of a WellHome for you and your family.

xo,

Jen Spaide
wellhomeblog@gmail.com