Margret Hefner

Forager of ingredients, ideas, and connections—curiosity is my compass, and the natural world is my guide.I'm drawn to exploring the cultural threads that bridge us, unconventional ways of living, and the ongoing work of finding purpose, making meaning, and creating moments of joy every day.

My Plates

As an itinerant chef, I tend toward plant-forward dishes inspired by local food traditions and ecology, often led by ingredients I’ve foraged.
I particularly enjoy “chef-in-residence” gigs—short- to medium-term stays in private homes, giving homeowners a holiday from cooking—as well as pop-ups.
Always open to opportunities

Home and petsitting

"Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness."
— Mark Twain

Because I believe strongly in the value of travel, I like to enable others to experience the world by looking after things at home while they're away. I care for pets, keep an eye on the house, and handle the little things that need doing.While I work on completing my manuscript for the novel, Uszka, housesitting gives me the kind of focus I need, and the animals get genuine company, not just a quick check-in. Some clients have become friends, and you'll see a few of their reviews below.I'm particularly interested in longer stays and arrangements that allow me to settle into a place for a while.

Rates are reasonable and tailored to each situation.

Mexico - Frutas y Verduras Project

From 2009 through 2019, I lived and traveled extensively in Mexico, learning about regional produce and its significance to culture and in the well-being of communities.During that time, I provided a personal chef service to a clientele primarily from the US and Canada. I incorporated regional produce into meals so my clients could experience these previously "unfamiliar" foods.The ultimate objective was to encourage foreign visitors and residents to make more purchases from the produce sellers that represent community systems.This led me to create Frutas y Verduras - A Fresh Food Lover's Guide to Mexico a richly visual English-language guide, which I self-published in 2016 to iBookstore and Kobo.
Learn more and get the eBook at frutasyverdurasmex.com

The project grew over time to include market tours and cooking classes in collaboration with cooks/chefs in Oaxaca de Júarez, San Miguel de Allende, Mexico City and Mérida.During the pandemic I presented online cooking classes in collaboration with natural foods chef Erin Gomez Danielson from her home in Mérida, as well as Q&As featuring chefs such as Margarita Carrillo Arronte (esteemed chef, educator and cookbook author), Alam Méndez Florian and gastronomic guide Ruth Alegria.
Just prior to the outbreak of the COVID pandemic, I produced an online bookclub to discuss Eating NAFTA: Trade, Food Policies and the Destruction of Mexico culminating with a discussion between participant groups in 6 locations and the book's author, Alysha Galvéz.

🎧 Listen to my conversations with chefs, food activists and professionals in Mexico on the limited run podcast: Mighty Zapote

Explore my Frutas y Verduras art in my Etsy shop!

Uszka

Once a year, on Christmas Eve, our family acknowledged the traditions of my father's homeland of Poland. It was Wigilia, and my aunt presided over the meal which began by first breaking the delicate opłatek amongst us — this was the holy wafer that had been sent from family in Poland to share blessings of the season. Then we sat down for our first course, my favorite: a clear, tangy barszcz (borscht) made from fermented beets.

I wasn't interested in the symbolism then, but now, I understand this deep red soup is meant to bring strong blood, vitality. Sweetening each bowl was one prune-plum which symboli protection. And then there were the uszka — 'little ears'— petite parcels of dough-wrapped wild forest mushrooms my aunt had made lovingly by hand. Usually three, but I'd always go for seconds.
In this meal, the wild mushrooms represent the bounty of the forest and nature but more significantly, Baltic and Slavic folklore regard them as messengers with the spirits, the ancestors. The ear shape is literal; it symbolizes listening— for the word of God, in some interpretations, for 'peace' in others. Listening to each others stories, particularly those of the past is a central theme in Uszka.
On a more personal note, memories of foraging wild mushrooms was among the few stories my father shared from his youth; later in his life they were an ingredient in many of his 'signature' dishes.
As I write, I seek to be near forest whenever possible, for refuge from an overwhelming world, and when I find an edible mushroom, it is always my Dad showing me he is present.

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Uszka

summary

It’s 2012, and Adrienne Becker stands at the precipice of adulthood with serious doubts and a glass-half-hopeful outlook. Uszka follows Adrienne's journey over through the next ten years.Growing up white in a predominantly Black neighbourhood in Detroit, she has always felt safe and held by community. But when her best friend moves away following his father's layoff — devastatingly common in Detroit — and the family moves to the suburbs for better schools, Adrienne begins to question where, and with whom, she belongs. As the familiar landscape of her life changes, and tensions at home begin to reach a boiling point, Adrienne takes a part-time job at WOW House, an eclectic household of five seniors dead set on living out their days on their own terms.Among them is Magda, a Polish immigrant who lost track of her childhood best friend, Lidia, during World War II. Ever since, Magda has lived with the uncertainty of Lidia's fate and the guilt of the circumstances that allowed her to survive.What began as a part-time job for Adrienne, grows into something much more. Over the next ten years, the five seniors become an unexpected source of friendship, wisdom and perspective as Adrienne navigates the complications of growing up.Along the way, clues to the fate of Magda's childhood friend emerge in unexpected ways and surprising places. When dementia begins to loosen Magda's hold on her own memories, Adrienne finds herself trying to piece together what happened to Lidia.Uszka is a story of how history lives on in the stories we inherit and the invisible threads that weave us together. It's about the many ways we lose one another, the unexpected ways we find one another, and what it means to make hope an intentional act.

If you would like to support me in this project, consider this small gesture of encouragement — knowing you are rooting for me makes a big difference 💛 Thank you.

Life has its twists and turns, as we all know. Walking the Camino de Santiago has helped me get the space I need to reset and move forward with greater clarity. Of course, I’m not alone. The popularity of the Camino has exploded in recent years.

Each year since 2022, I have spent some time on the Camino, first on the Camino Portugues, and each year returning for the various ways the Camino nourishes and supports me. Along the Way, conversations with strangers tend to be refreshingly open and honest.Grief, doubt, fear — it's those deep emotions that sometimes motivate people to walk and inevitably arise while walkking... When we eventually return home, the “Post-Camino Blues” is not uncommon as we return to familiar systems and habits.I began considering various ways we might bring some of the Camino home with us.I came up with two ideas side by side: awareness + creativity.
Not everyone feels creative, but we are, in fact, born creators.Research also suggests that cultivating creativity through small, everyday acts can contribute to a greater sense of well-being. And when you connect with it on the Camino, it becomes the thread that ties you back to the Camino always.Out of my own desire to become more aware of creative moments, I created The Camino Creativity Pathway, a series of 10 short audio prompts. These small, simple, mindful steps lead gently toward a more creative way of being and seeing. Alongside the Camino's many, many small steps, it's the ideal opportunity to awaken any shred of creativity that may lie dormant.This"pay what you wish" offer, invites pilgrims to make the most of the time and spaciousness the Camino offers to explore what creativity can look like in their own lives. 💛

Contact

If something inspires you here and you have thoughts you want to share, please reach out — I'm interested!