Hi, I'm Stephanie.
Accomplishments:
Bachelor’s Degree, Nutrition and Dietetics
Culinary Graduate, Natural Gourmet Institute
Health Coach, Institute of Integrative Nutrition
Organically Steph was created as a way to offer natural medicine that not only supports you but the supply chain as well.
I worked under a program called Worldwide Opportunities on Organic Farms (WWOOF) which connects one with organic farmers around the world to help farmers in need while allowing for the opportunity to learn about organic and sustainable agriculture. After I left the farm, I felt inspired to create something I could offer to my community that not only was nutritious but also supported small businesses which practiced sustainable farming. I wanted to put my background in food and nutrition to work to create a product with organic ingredients that not only tasted good but would promote health benefits as well.
Tea is something I grew up drinking and I recognized that it is something accessible to all people. There is just something about a hot cup of tea after a meal or before bed. It’s comforting, healing, and soothing in many ways – mentally, physically, and emotionally. I am a big advocate for using food as medicine. Preventative medicine as I like to call it. From balancing hormones to getting my menstrual cycle back in line, herbs have powerful properties and there’s so many kinds of them for a variety of different purposes. I consider tea my daily preventative medicine.
These blends are intentional and I have only chose a maximum of six high quality, responsibly sourced, organic ingredients for each blend. This is because when you mix too many herbs together at once, the herb’s purpose becomes diluted and makes it more difficult to achieve the desired benefits that you are looking to use the herbs for in the first place. Each blend has a specific purpose and I have carefully picked herbs to support that purpose. I hope to expand Organically Steph and be able to to offer accessible, healthy, natural medicine to a greater clientele base eventually!
A little bit more about me
After graduating from the University of Delaware with my Bachelor's degree in Dietetics, I decided the first step in my career journey would be to go to culinary school. Even with my degree, food and its preparation still felt foreign to me, and I wanted to overcome this, both personally and professionally, to learn to skillfully prepare quality food for myself and others, as a career path. Additionally, I wanted to learn more about prevention of disease in the nutrition world, which I believe begins when the fork is lifted to the mouth, rather than only the treatment of people when they have already become victims of their own poor diet. What we consume is a huge component of preventing disease and I deepened my knowledge of this during six months of study at the Natural Gourmet Institute. As the Natural Gourmet Institute was a health supportive culinary school, I learned to understand all kinds of foods and how to prepare them in the best and most nutritious ways possible. We focused on using whole, fresh, seasonal, and local food whenever possible. The training also included topics on dynamics of food, eastern and western food theories, and nutrition and cooking for people with illnesses.
During my time in restaurants, I gained invaluable experience in 5 kitchens over 4 years, from vegetarian to new American to Italian menus. It was a great challenge working in those fast-paced cooking environments, but I was enthusiastic and fulfilled to be working with food. I grew tremendously in my professional and personal life as a result. I specifically sought to be associated with restaurants in New York City that sourced their ingredients from local farmers. I took joy in shopping at the farmers’ markets as part of my job duties and learning which fruits and vegetables were in season at specific times during the year.
Flavor became my worldview, in food and life! A major takeaway from my work experience is that flavor is both paramount and accessible, and it is also something which need not be sacrificed for nutrition’s sake. I learned to prepare the seasonal fruits and vegetables we worked with in creative, flavorful ways. This knowledge was a revelation because it led me to understand that eating with the seasons is not only healthier for you and the planet but it’s also a lot tastier too. It makes nutrition more enjoyable and exciting. But possessing this knowledge alone was not enough for me, I wanted to inspire other people to eat seasonally, too. I would often hear people who desired to improve their diets complaining about the lack of taste and flavor. I have seen this firsthand with my own family, especially my brothers. I have taken my skills from the culinary world into my own home and have already seen positive diet changes within them after they have been able to learn from me.
The truth of the poignant words of Wendell Berry has been too starkly confirmed to me: “People are fed by the food industry, which pays no attention to health, and are treated by the health industry, which pays no attention to food.” (Sex, Economy, Freedom & Community: Eight Essays(1993)). This realization gleaned from lived experience jarred something to life in me. I want to bridge that gap and do more with the high quality food I have learned to prepare. I feel that I have a calling for greater things in the world of food and nutrition.
ORGANIC
All ingredients are sourced from certified organic farmers.
RESPONSIBLY SOURCED
Sourcing is very important to me. I only support purveyors who take the environment into consideration and respect the land that supports nature's ecosystem.
ALL NATURAL
Pure, organic, natural ingredients. No additivites, preservatives, natural flavors, or any of that other BS. Completely natural from mother earth!