Blue Sky Minds
Meet The Team
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Maria Hines
Founder/Director
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Carolyn Marquart
BSM President
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Jess Kuzma
BSM Treasurer
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Amelia Marchand
BSM Board Member
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Claire Lichtenfels
BSM Board Member
Maria Hines | Founder/Director
Chef Maria Hines is a resident of Okanogan. In the state of Washington, she has over 20 years of successful partnerships with multiple local farmers, ranchers, chefs, restaurateurs, fishers, food distribution companies, academia, government, and nonprofits. These are all beginning-to-end users who are engaged with the food ecosystem.
Maria has been a chef/entrepreneur for 20 years. She was the chef/owner of Tilth, a certified organic restaurant, in Seattle from 2006-2020.
She won the James Beard Award for Best Chef Northwest in 2009, won on Iron Chef in 2010, was chosen for the Puget Sound Business Journal’s 40 under 40 award: making an impact on business and community, as well as the Women of Influence award from Puget Sound Business Journal. Check out her YouTube channel for native recipes.
Maria is on the advisory team for L.I.G.H.T. Foundation, was a long-time board member of the Washington Farmland Trust, was appointed by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton as a member of the American Chef Corps, represented the US at the World Expo that focused on United to Feed the Planet, a chef advisor to the James Beard Foundation’s Chef Action Network advocacy program, held sustainable food system salons with the assistance of the James Beard Foundation to educate local chefs on current food system landscapes, works on food security issues, nutrition education, and more.
Carolyn Marquart | BSM President
Carolyn started coming to the Methow Valley in the 1990s and is happy to be a full time resident of Winthrop. She has immersed herself in the community, enjoying the great outdoors as well as becoming involved in several other nonprofit organizations involving conservation, wildlife and outdoor recreation. She values the ideals of Blue Sky Minds in promoting community through sustainable agriculture and access to healthy food in Okanogan county and is excited to be a part of the organization.
Carolyn began her hands-on conservation work as a volunteer in Papua New Guinea for the Woodland Park Zoo Tree Kangaroo Conservation Project which works on integrating conservation with the communities to promote health, agriculture and education. She is a mostly-retired sports medicine physician and was a sports fellowship director for more than 10 years. She has a BA in Neuroscience from Oberlin College and an MD from the University of Michigan.
Jess Kuzma | BSM Treasurer
One of the many things Jessica Kuzma appreciates about living in the Methow is the opportunity to eat "close to home."
The diversity of plant and animal foods produced in Okanogan county make it possible to get almost everything local. As a BSM board member, Jessica is excited to learn more about the economic, cultural, and historic significance of foods native to this region, and to support the growing network of residents and local food producers.
What Jessica brings to BSM is a graduate degree in nutrition sciences, her many years as a dietitian and research scientist, and she approaches health and chronic disease prevention with a dietary pattern centered around fresh, minimally processed foods.
Jessica Kuzma lives in Twisp, WA.
Amelia Marchand | BSM Board Member
Amelia Marchand is a researcher, writer, and strategist with over 27 years of experience in cultural and natural resource management, climate action, and food and water security policy, working alongside Indigenous Peoples in the U.S. and First Nations in Canada.
In 2024, she made history as the first woman appointed to the Indian Tribe Member Seat on the Advisory Council of Historic Preservation. She serves as the Executive Director of L.I.G.H.T. Foundation (LF), an Indigenous-led native plant and pollinator conservation nonprofit. Amelia is a citizen of the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation, where she was raised), and honors her diverse Indigenous and Euro-American heritage.
She has a BA in anthropology and an MA in environmental law and policy, employing these skills to support the landscapes, waterways, and traditions she loves.
Claire Lichtenfels | BSM Board Member
Claire and her family own and manage an 80-acre organic certified orchard in Tonasket, WA. She brings to Blue Sky Minds a passion for being part of the work that creates a just and sustainable local food system. Her work in agriculture during the past 20 years has been guided by the beliefs that: viable, local farms feed local folks; affordable organic produce builds healthy communities; biodiversity is the foundation of a flourishing ecosystem; justice for farmworkers is the foundation of a just food system.
Prior to coming to the Okanogan to take over the management of her father’s orchard, she and her family lived in New Zealand, where she owned and managed a biodynamic feijoa farm, worked on a community farm in partnership with local food pantries, and assisted schools in growing their own vegetables. While living in Moscow, ID, Claire worked in partnership with Backyard Harvest, a nonprofit community gleaning program, to develop a CSA that provided shares to all community members, regardless of ability to pay.
Claire’s academic background includes a Certificate in BioDynamic Agriculture from Taruna College in New Zealand, a MSW from the U. of Washington and an undergraduate degree in Psychology from Brown University. The great joys in her life are her husband, 4 grown children and 3 grandchildren.
Elk Steaks with Foraged Elderberry Sauce!
Cook Out with Chef Maria Hines
Make a delicious meal of grilled game and wild berry sauce! In this video, Chef Maria Hines visits her friend Bobbie Mollenberg to learn about indigenous foods from the lands where she lives and cooks an incredible meal that has been hunted and foraged locally. Maria is joined by Bobbi and her family, as well as other members of the Colville Confederated Tribes of the Pacific Northwest, to share stories, time on the water in a dug-out canoe, and of course, COOKING and good food. Food is Fuel. Food is medicine. Food is our connection to each other and the land.