The one behind helping you and your garden grow.
KITCHEN GARDEN CONSULTANT + COACH
Sara Zielinski DNP, FNP-BC
Hi! I’m Sara - the founder behind Rooted Fork. I am a lover of gardening, food preservation, motherhood, home cooking, and all things outdoors. While I was raised in rural USA, I did not grow up on a farm, have big gardens, nor was I around anyone who preserved foods (besides occasional homemade jams & salsas). I am self-taught by working experience, hands on trial & error, many books, garden workshops and kitchen garden certification. I am a full-time working professional, wife to my best friend, and mother to two amazing wild children. I am a big believer that food is medicine and that everyone should have kitchen garden in their backyard (or patio)!
Garden Experience
Why am I the right one to help you design and grow your kitchen garden? My experience with gardening started in my teenage years and has evolved over the years.
This experience includes:
- Working at a greenhouse for 5 summers
- Kitchen Garden Consultant Certification (pending)
- Backyard Garden Systems by Pioneering Today Academy
- Backyard composting & worm bins for 3+ years
- Read countless books, blogs, magazines
- Years of personal experience of gardening from growing in patio pots in my college years to now growing both in raised bed & in-ground gardens.
Anyone who knows me, knows I completely nerd out on things I am passionate about. If I don’t know the answer, I am not afraid to go find it.
Alphabet Soup?
What is that alphabet soup after my name?! My credentials are part of my story on where my focus on overall wellness and that ‘food is medicine’ originated from. I received my Bachelors in Science in Nursing from Grand Valley State University in 2011. A few years later, I went back to graduate school at University of Michigan for my Doctorates in Nursing Practice (DNP) and am a board certified (BC) Family Nurse Practitioner (FNP). I truly believe food can be medicine! A common theme through dietary guidelines (and fads) is that real food and real ingredients is key towards optimal health. When I became a mother, I became much more aware of what is (and is not included) in our foods. Harvesting fresh salads, fruits and vegetables in my own backyard helps me know that I am getting truly organic produce and know they are at peak nutrition compared to what I can get at the grocery store.
Perspective from a mother…
I cannot put into the words the joy it has brought me to watch my children interact in the garden. My daughter will regularly run out and stuff some basil leaves in her mouth or know where and how to cut some fresh chives for dinner. My kiddos love checking the cherry tomato’s on the daily to see which are at the prime for picking. The fresh crunch of a salad I picked from the garden that same day makes my soul happy. A garden not only allows me to take some mindful moments to myself, it also helps me show my children what it means to be connected to this Earth and our food. They get to see the magic that happens from a single seed to what they see on their plate. We get to talk about environmental impact on being closer to our food and minimizing food packaging that ends up in landfills. They learn lessons on patience. They taste the difference in produce picked at peak, prime season versus sub-par off season produce from the grocery season. Starting and involving my children in our kitchen garden has been so worth it.