Offering workshops in botanical painting and food photography, as well as an online store of hand-carved wooden spoons, food photographs, and greeting cards of Cara’s botanical paintings.

About Cara Cummings: I grew up in the mountains of Santa Barbara, California, in a community of inspired people who often came together to cook, eat, and make art. After completing a degree in biology—which is also where my passion for botanical painting came from—I ran a website design business, raised two daughters, and completed a Master’s degree in environmental science and policy at Columbia University in 2010.

In 2012 I arrived in Illinois and I immersed myself in the local food scene, volunteering at Prairie Fruits Farm and Creamery in Champaign, frequenting the Urbana Farmers’ Market, joining the Slow Food Champaign-Urbana board, becoming an owner of the Common Ground Food Co-op, and am now the executive director at The Land Connection.

My free time is spent in my garden in Champaign, Illinois where the lawn continues to get smaller and the vegetable growing space gets bigger with my dog Francis, my urban chickens, a sweet woodshop and painting studio, and my partner (who puts up with my never- ending stream of new ideas and projects), John.