After living in San Francisco for 17 years, Nicole LoBue moved to Hudson two years ago. Prior to that she worked independently as a chef, educator, dietary and herbal consultant. She was able to tap into all her previous job skills with Kite's Nest, a community program that produces multi-disciplinary, project-based workshops serving a wide range of children and families in and around Hudson, based around themes like art and science, urban planning, creative writing, boat-building and culinary arts. I am co-director, programming director and culinary arts director of Kite's Nest, a learning resource center dedicated to curiosity and inquiry in Hudson. We also run a community kitchen, an urban garden and sustainability project for teenagers, and the Listening Project, in which we record stories and testimonies about learning and life in Hudson. We work in partnership with local organizations and institutions to provide free and low-cost programming to the children who most need a hands-on and inspiring engagement with learning, and to advocate for community-based education throughout the city. I also run the Alimentary Kitchen, which is a commercially certified kitchen on our site at Basilica Hudson. The kitchen is an educational and community kitchen space that serves as a classroom and a learning space. We cater events and host community dinners and pop-up events there as well.
At Kite’s Nest we are building a supportive environment for children to pursue and develop their interests within their community. Our premise is a strong belief that by supporting children to develop a passion for learning, we contribute towards building a generation of young adults with the skills, abilities, and confidence to create meaningful lives. In the past year I’ve led after-school, daytime, and summertime children’s workshops in the kitchen that integrate food-craft, nutrition, herbalism, food preparation, processing, and food-traditions, promoting and encouraging the health and autonomy of the young people we work with. Kite’s Nest brings together many of my passions as a person and as a parent. I have been invested in learning about, participating in, and thinking through what it is I want my son and all children to experience in a learning environment. The Hudson Valley is incredible in so many ways, and there are individuals and groups that inspire me when thinking about just the food system alone. I find a real equivalency between the things that I found fulfilling about my life in the Bay Area and what is happening here right now. I really appreciate it here, and think it’s an especially powerful moment to be living and working in this region.
