Zoe and her grandpa at their family home in the San Juans after a successful crabbing trip.

As fall began, so did OlyKraut’s new kitchen manager Zoe Knutson Born and raised by a farming family in Olympia WA, Zoe has always been involved in sustainable, DIY living, and for her, locally based foods are extremely important. Before OlyKraut she spent some time making cheese for Willapa Hills Farmstead Cheese and Jacobs Creamery in Chehalis, where she would wake up in the morning at 4AM to pump milk directly from cattle for her to pasteurize. After that she spent 5 years locally farming shellfish in Seattle and Olympia for Kamilche Sea Farms. During this time she experimented with recipes like fermented fish sauce, kimchi, salad dressings and meat marinades. From Shellfish farming Zoe moved onto bread making which she fell in love with. She quickly became the bread baker at Blue Heron Bakery and still works there part time. Being someone who strives to seek out opportunities to learn, Zoe also took on the kitchen manager position at OlyKraut in August. She is absolutely thrilled to be fermenting for a living; and also to be a part of a small business that cares about sourcing from local farms and cultivating relationships with farmers. This is one of Zoe’s most significant job responsibilities as OlyKraut Kitchen manager. She believes in prioritizing farmers. She loves her town and will always support her community and be actively involved in the making of healthy, delicious, local food. 

Zoe’s family has been in Western Washington for generations, cultivating a legacy of sustainable fishing and land stewardship in the region. Her family’s small business, Loki Fish Company sells fresh, smoked and cured salmon direct from the fishermen at farmers markets from Seattle to Portland. Her cousins, brother and partner Evan harvest salmon out of SE Alaska. Zoe’s family owns land and tidelands on Guemes Island in the San Juans at the mouth of Puget Sound, which they plan to maintain and protect for generations to come and potentially use to grow shellfish.

Maintaining and supporting a strong, local food economy is in Zoe’s blood and she is delighted to work and support the cause at OlyKraut