Tana Butler

My first blog entry is here: "Why I Do What I Do."

That's me on the right, with Harold McGee in a redwood grove in Bonny Doon, outside Santa Cruz in November, 2004. We were about to sit down to a table of some pretty amazing food: ironically most of them were foraged, which is not a reflection on the farmers I profess to love. I came to the dinners by way of Outstanding in the Field's farm dinners and tours, photographing over thirty dinners until I parted company with them in April 2007. It's not a sustainable business.

I've had the good fortune to visit and photograph dozens of farms and ranches, all organic or sustainable or biodynamic, and I fell in love with them.

I have thousands of photos of farms and gardens, and thousands of the children in our family. I have hundreds of photos of restaurants and food, and thousands of the places I've traveled to. (A professional note: I have had photographs published in Sunset, Elle, The London Observer Magazine, among others.)

A former calligrapher turned graphic designer turned web maven, I am pretty sure I would be waiting tables were it not for the Macintosh, digital cameras, and the internet. I have catered professionally.

Do you detect a theme? Good, you're smart. I like smart people. And without getting too political about it, people who are smart support sustainable agriculture, and do not support the pinheads and reptiles who make policies that hasten the destruction of our fragile environment.

Not only is is true that "You are what you eat," but this: "You are what you ate, ate."

Lettuce praise farmers.

Lastly, I am a good combination of the sacred and the profane. Don't be shocked if I'm salty or appalled if I get all spiritual. Babies love me: that's my litmus test. Just ask Logan.

If you want to e-mail me, type this properly: tana [at] tanabutler [dot] com. (Configured that way to deter spambots.)