This is Beana, a relentless cook, alchemist, and nourisher of all, beloved by her friends and favored by the woodsy spirits of the Catskills. She’s our number one choice for “armageddon buddy” – she can forage mushrooms (she’s cooking some up in our kitchen *right now*), slaughter and process beasts, and suck moths out of rotten logs (I think she can do that moth thing). She’s the mom of a strong squad of friends, makes sure everyone has what they need and doesn’t accept much in return. She’s flexible and generous enough to make friends with people of all ages, and people outside her usual circles.
Beana is a prolific creator; she painstakingly crafts cute and whimsical mini clay food models (and sells them!), and she cooks and bakes incessantly, from pies to tacos to lattes – she holds it down like snapchat. In fact she spends so much time working with food that one of her friends says, “sometimes I mistake her for a carrot and try to take a bite out of her shoulder.” This friend goes on, “her dumplings are to die for; once I ate one and died.” Teeheehee! She is also the Boss Lady of the kitchen – if you want to know where anything is, or if you want to store some food in there, or use some salt, or oil, or if you need special permission or certification, or anything else, you know who to ask.
Friends and acquaintances often observe a grounded maturity in Beana. In fact, some people say she’s a 44 year-old woman trapped in a 15 year-old girl’s body, but others just say she’s phenomenal. We agree 🙂
The point is, she’s an unaffected person, a real human being whose age doesn’t matter and who cares about people and enjoys being alive and works hard and loves the earth and is crazy awesome and inspiring and I’m going to cry and I better stop before I melt into a puddle we love you Beanaaaaaaa!!!