“Find something you’re passionate about and keep tremendously interested in it.”
Julia Child
Ever since I can remember, food has been a passion of mine. There are numerous pictures of me at various life stages licking the beaters after my mom and I made cookies together. I remember standing on a step stool so I could reach the stove and help my parents cook dinner. As I grew older, I started to make dinner on my own and eventually did most of the grocery shopping for my family. I loved getting my cookbooks out and making my grocery list and meal plan for the week. I loved walking through the produce section finding the best deals and freshest fruits and veggies that were in season. Making meals has been, and continues to be, a way I show love to the people in my life.
So much of cooking also has to do with where the ingredients come from, and I also happen to love gardening and growing my own food. I grew up in Lancaster Pennsylvania, and if you’ve ever been there you’ll know that it is a beautiful place full of farms and local Amish produce. We always had a backyard garden growing up and I loved the anticipation of going out there to see what was ready to be picked.
Fast forward to 2017 and I found myself graduating with my master’s and finally being out of school. I had been dreaming of the day when I would have my free time back to invest in things that I enjoyed. I began my “no more school list” about 6 months before graduation and one of the items on there was “start a food blog.” It was just a dream at that point, as I knew it would take some work, but I also knew that I wanted to have an outlet to share my passion for food. Graduation came and went, but the blog never happened.
Now I’m 2 years post-graduation and choosing to make this dream become reality. I want to have a place to share my love for food and how it can bring people together.
Cultivating Hospitality came out of my desire to not just have a food blog filled with recipes, but to have a place where I can share stories of sharing food with others and how meaningful that can be. My Christian faith is very important to me, and out of that comes my love for hospitality and making others feel welcome and included. I want to continue to cultivate this within myself. “Cultivate” also comes from my love for gardening and growing my own food. These themes will be the backbone of the blog.
My desire is for this to be a place where you can share in my journey of cultivating hospitality within myself and with others. You’ll hear some of my favorite food memories; you’ll learn some of my favorite recipes; you’ll be with me in the garden as I plant and harvest my own food. Join me, as I journey in cultivating hospitality!
-Kayla
cultivatinghospitality.com 