photography: DL Acken
styling: Kim Brooks
Audra Mulkern is a cook, writer and photographer who is putting good food in the spotlight and changing the way you look at farming and the food on your plate.
She is the author of “Rooted In The Valley: The Art and Color of The Snoqualmie Valley Farmers Markets” - a photographic essay highlighting farmers and artisans from the Carnation and Duvall farmers markets. Proceeds from book sales are donated back to the Sno-Valley Tilth, an organization and community of local farmers.
Audra also writes and photographs “The Female Farmer Project” – a chronicle of in-depth stories about the rise of women working in agriculture around the world. The Female Farmer Project has garnered international recognition, and has been featured in Huffington Post, Modern Farmer, grist and a number of magazines, was recently in exhibition at United Nations in New York, IFAD building in Rome, FarmAid30, TEDxManhattan 2015 and won the Cascade Harvest Coalition Wendell Berry award for 2015.
Readers Digest Country Woman Magazine had identified 45 "Amazing Women" in honor of their 45th Anniversary in 2015. Audra Mulkern was honored alongside Temple Grandin, Krysta Harden, Sandra Day O'Connor and many others who represent the movement in embracing and celebrating women and the country way of life. Dubbed a "Visionary", Audra's work to highlight the rise of women in agriculture and share their stories is also featured in the magazine.
Her commercial and editorial clients are featured below.
As a speaker and panelist, she has taken the stage at
George Washington University's Global Gender Program, for the International Womens Food Leadership Forum,
Women to Watch
Oxfam International Women’s Day event
International Food Blogger Conference
Focus on Farming
Women In Sustainable Agriculture
Montana Farmers Union Women Conference, presented the keynote
National Farmers Union Women Conference, presented the keynote
Western Washington University guest lecturer
She also has had appearances in television news, radio and newspaper to discuss her documentary work.
The Female Farmer Project becomes even more valuable if considered in the context of the International Year of Family Farming, launched by the United Nations in 2014 to highlight the major role and potential of family farmers in the struggle against hunger and the preservation of natural resources.
The subjects of Audra Mulkern’s photographs are diverse: They’re former biologists, artists, journalists, and public administrators. They also have something awesome in common: They’re part of a growing group of female farmers. Take a look at some of the beautiful photographs on Modern Farmer, then check out her Female Farmer project.
Audra Mulkern is an American griot. Her beautiful photographs and elegantly told stories are recording a rising movement of women taking on the leadership needed to stand up the three legged stool of sustainable agriculture: production of flavorful and nutritious foods; conservation of environmental resources; and healthy management of human resources. To boot, her modernized storytelling is making agriculture and a return to land stewardship cool again not only for adult women, but for our daughters, too!
Mulkern’s photographs evoke a sense of beauty and realism, depicting the hard work and simple satisfaction of women in the farm-to-table movement.
Audra Mulkern is changing the way we look at farming and the food on our plates, one story at a time. Her blog, The Female Farmer Project, presents in-depth stories of women who have pioneered and persevered in agriculture, personalizing the honest and hard-working daily life of the people who make good food possible. Her heartfelt words and photography have taken The Female Farmer Project throughout the Northwest and across the country, to over a dozen farms, collecting stories as well as highlighting the importance of quality ingredients.
The Female Farmer Project really resonates with us and I am so happy to have someone like Audra out there telling the stories of all these hardworking women!
Audra’s photos are arresting. Shot well with beautiful but restrained post-production, and capturing the authenticity of the women who provide the food we eat - what’s not to love! I’m the third generation of a farming family in Prosser, Washington, and grew up next to my Mom and Grandmother in the vineyard. Audra’s images capture both the apparent strength and femininity that (to my eyes anyway) seem to define a true female farmer. It’s great to see her images added to the canon of “farm life” photography; let’s hope they help start a discussion about the stereotypes that exist beyond the world of Barbie and TV shows.
In 2014 I attended a workshop at the International Food Blogger Conference by Audra Mulkern called “Cooking Backwards: The Art and Science of Local and Seasonal Cooking”. It was about the best one I have attended at any conference. It hit so hard, I wanted to leave after, and go home and dig up my property.
Well....I did. And I spent all fall and winter on it - and having been so influenced by the workshop, I am proud to say that 6 months later I am living my suburban homesteading dreams. It even changed how I blog as well, I did a 180 after it.
I’d go as far to bet I might the only person who walked away that fired up - but it made the entire weekend worth it for me. Just one class can make THAT big of a difference.
Select Clients Include:
PCC Natural Markets
Pike Place Market
King County
Draper Valley Farms
Simple & Crisp Packaging and Website
Bluebird Ice Cream
Martha Stewart Living
Martha Stewart Weddings
A Kitchen Box - Rooted in The Valley Beet Box
Chef Kirsten Helle
Mesa de Vida Foods
Sonos
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National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition
Seattle Tilth
Cherry Valley Dairy and Creamery
Publications:
Modern Farmer
Rodale's Organic Life
Popular Photography
Edible Baja Arizona
Edible Seattle
Whidbey Life Magazine
425 Magazine
Country Woman
Country Magazine
Covers:
Edible Piedmont - cover
an.schlage magazin - cover
Organic Connections - cover
In Good Tilth - cover
photo: Julin Lee styling: Kim Brooks