Michaela Hayes-Hodge is a farmer, a teacher and food stylist. She is an experienced chef and value added producer.

Michaela came to the farm via the table. After cooking in restaurants in New York City for years, including Gramercy Tavern, where she developed the pickling station, she founded her former food preservation business. Crock & Jar was a step to value-added production on the farm. Using classic preservation methods, like fermentation and canning, Michaela created bold new flavor combinations in her products, including two Good Food Award finalists.

Coming from urban agriculture in NYC, Michaela deeply digested two tenets: “Each one, teach one” and “pass on the gift.” She believes that the farm is a gift that the team at Rise & Root Farm has been fortunate enough to give themselves and that it is their responsibility to share that gift. Michaela passes on the gift through teaching about farming and food preservation and activism. Talking about and working to uproot underlying systems of oppression are vital to liberating ourselves. Food preservation is a tool of food security and sovereignty. Michaela has taught preservation methods and product creation for organizations and conferences such as Farm School NYC, NOFA-NY, and Glynwood. She is a co-lead of the Cultivemos Queer Farmer Cohort, working to bring agricultural well-being to farmers, farmworkers, and their families in the Northeast.

When Michaela isn't on the farm, she's in the kitchen making food beautiful as a food stylist. Before she worked in food, she worked in commercial photography, traveling the world as a photo assistant and studio manager. Food styling let's Michaela get back on the set, with pots and pans instead of lights and gaff tape. You can see her food styling work on her website: www.michaela-hayes.com.

Michaela in the media:

Marie Claire: The New Crop of Farmers, April 2024

Them: Rise & Root Farm Is Inviting Queer and Trans Youth Into the Garden, August 2023

Bon Appetit: This Non-Binary Farmer is Pushing for More Queer Inclusivity, June 2022

UNUM: Build a Team, November 2017

Huffington Post: These Lesbian Farmers Aren’t Here to Take Over America. They Want to Grow It, September 2016