Renée Beaudoin grew up wandering through meadows and dreaming up what her next meal would be, so it is no surprise she ended up working with both food and flowers. Her path took a detour by way of the theater where she trained and worked as a costume designer in Boston. She was known equally for her visual design as well as her weekly theater brunches and annual giant orphan Thanksgiving, so food continued to be a thread that tied it all together.

Transitioning from the stage and back to the wildness of the west coast, Renée spent two years out on the Olympic Peninsula in the heart of the forest, where one’s local grocery is the nearest farm stand and oysters are a cliffside descent away. There she developed her deep love for foraging, botany and fire-side cooking. Renée created a wild focused floral company, FOREST TO VASE and the woods & fields of the Pacific Northwest still play a vital role in her life.

At the Pantry, Renée runs our wildflower classes and field trips, teaches our farm camp at Quillisascut, co-leads our culinary kids camps in the Summer, teaches both adult and kids classes, and makes our tables beautiful for our monthly family suppers. She also food styles cookbook projects when they come her way, so the design skills are still in play, but like so many things in her life now has a focus around the table.