North House Folk School

Ian is a cook, wild plant harvester, and teacher who specializes in traditional processing techniques. These include threshing, winnowing, fermenting, pickling, curing, coagulating, nixtamalizing, and other fun words to say. He believes deeply that food landscapes ought to be culturally rooted, ecologically healthy, locally sovereign, resilient, and just. For Ian, these principles apply not only to the cultivation of food, but also to its harvesting, processing, cooking, and sharing. 

During his time in the Artisan Development Program, Ian will focus his efforts on the local and wild food products of the region, and on Danish cuisine, a heritage passed down to him by his immigrant grandmother. Additionally, Ian is excited to craft food processing tools through woodworking, stone carving, and basket weaving over the course of the program. 

Ian harvests and processes wild native plants not only for food, but also for seeds used in ecological restoration projects. He has an abiding love of history, literature, film, baseball, and working with his hands in a variety of craft disciplines. In the past, he has worked as a home builder, a cook, and in 2019 as a Craft Education Intern. He has been a North House Instructor since 2022.

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