Cedar Hill Homestead rests a top a hill 20 miles west of Nashville. Not your ordinary ‘farm’, their property is full of wild Tennessee Natives as well as some untamed invasive species. Their collaborative passion is ethical foraging. It meets somewhere between a well seasoned Italian chef gone wild and a Tennessee native with generations of regional medicine. Each of their products harvested with care and minimally packaged. From the forest, to their kitchen, and out into the world with intention to facilitate healing and mending our connection to the plants.

Francesco & Victoria both grew up in the south, where plant knowledge was common knowledge. In Victoria’s words, “knowing what’s beneath your feet, what to nibble on and how to use it is not only a birth right, but a super power we all have access to”. Victoria dove deep into herbalism at age 15, self treating endometriosis and quickly learned that all of the powerful plant allies she needed to heal were already her closest neighbors. Around that same time, Francesco had begun his journey into culinary arts and fell deeply in awe of the flavors in wild foods. When they met many years later, their passions merged and supported one another. They consider themselves permanent students and forever allies to the forest, understanding that the vast knowledge in this area is full of endless new possibilities. And that, they exclaim, is why they are homesteaders.

To homestead, is to create a living space so sufficient, that everything you need is right there.