Welcome to Big Table Stuga!

Welcome to Big Table Stuga which is inspired by our table, where we celebrate both the simple and significant moments of our lives; and our stuga (a Swedish cottage) a place of rest, refuge and renewal. 

Cultivating community and nourishing lives in order to re-awaken, perhaps even recreate our understanding of hospitality, wellness, and our relationship with others.

Life isn't perfect, nor is it always presentable, but the door is open, and there is room at the table, room to be with each other. Hospitality, gardening, baking, cooking, and holistic health...are our artistic mediums in reaching out and trying to let others reach in to our lives as well.

"Show me a day when the world wasn't new." - Sister Barbara Hance

I grew up in Minnetonka, Minnesota - home of Tonka trucks and Minnetonka Moccasins. I enjoyed playing in the neighborhood, night games and climbing trees near the water tower. I loved going to Bible camp in the summers, where I worked for two summers as a cook and on windy days I ran for the sailboats. After graduating college with a B.S. Biology, I attended an environmental field school in Michigan where I earned my Naturalist Certificate. That fall I worked in the Boundary Waters (off the Gunflint Trail) as the cook, canoe guide, pack sewer, and host. I made my way further north in a circuitous route of back and forth from the Boundary Waters to Strathmore and Calgary, Alberta and then to Alaska.

I have a big-woods-heart. I love to see the full moon on the horizon; harebells on rock walls still growing; lightening bugs flickering in the dark, humid, midwest evenings; and to see people discovering new things in the outdoors. I love to hear thrushes sing, rainfall on roofs, and crackling from a wood stove. I enjoy canoeing, kayaking, skiing, biking, hiking, baking, gardening, cooking, canning, urban homesteading, sled dogs and ornamental kale. I hope always for eyes to see God's beauty in creation and the people around me.

I love watching my family play, explore and ask questions. I have a fun loving husband who keeps me on my toes. He enjoys kayaking; watching sci-fi movies; building with legos; making mead, kombucha and pancakes on Saturday mornings. In the last few years his international travel destinations have included Mahajunga, Madagascar; the British Virgin Islands; and Seoul, South Korea.

Welcome, Välkommen, приветствовать, Bienvenido, Bienvenue, Qaimarutin!

Andrea 

 

B.S. Biology, emphasis on Environmental Studies; Bethel University, St. Paul, Minnesota

M.A. Ministry Leadership; Crown College, St. Bonafacious, Minnesota

Certificate of Biblical Studies; Covenant Bible College, Strathmore, Alberta, Canada

Naturalist Certificate; Au Sable Institute, Mancelona, Michigan

Alaska Master Gardening Certificate; University of Alaska Fairbanks

Holistic Health Coach Certificate; Institute for Integrative Nutrition, New York, New York