BLUEBIRD GRAIN FARMS

Missy LeDuc: Mazama Store

For Mazama Store owner Missy LeDuc, it’s all about keeping things fresh and lively. From the produce to the pastries to the housewares to even the employees themselves, everything and everyone in the iconic Mazama cafe and general store seems to be infused with an internal bit of pep. Missy herself is no exception and is, in fact, quite likely the origin of the Mazama Store’s positive buzz of energy.

Danielle Gibbs: Sage Mountain Natural Foods

As if farming, running a fermented vegetables business, teaching in Wenatchee Valley College’s sustainable agriculture program, and raising three kids under the age of 12 weren’t enough, Danielle Gibbs had to go and buy herself a natural food store.

Joey Chmiko: Nonavo Pizza

Perhaps more so than any other cuisine, Italian cooking is imbued with the rich and comforting flavors of love, and the pizza and other dishes that come out of the Nonavo Pizza kitchen are a vibrant example of food steeped in this tradition. For chef Joey Chmiko and his partner and wife, Alder Suttles, Nonavo Pizza has been a true labor of love, from its original vision to every last Neapolitan-style pie that comes out of its wood-fired oven.

Edouardo Jordan: Salare

When he was in high school, Edouardo Jordan decided he would one day write his own cookbook. Now, nearly 20 years later, Jordan still hasn’t written that book but it’s not for lack of material; it’s for lack of time. A seemingly whirling dervish of culinary arts and fine dining, Jordan has hardly come up for air since graduating from culinary school at Le Cordon Bleu in Orlando in 2005.