Join pastry chef Emily Spurlin and photographer Laura Scherb for a restorative and inspiring retreat at Red Clover Ranch. During our time together, we will focus on infusing our creativity with a sense of time and place. With Emily, you’ll learn about local heirloom grains and how to incorporate them into your baking, a lesson on natural food coloring, and how to translate inspiration into cake decoration. With Laura, you’ll explore photography in the natural world, capturing light, color, and designing a beautiful tablescape to photograph.  There will be plenty of time for rest and recreation, with a trip to the Viroquoa farmers market, Star Valley flower farm, swimming and enjoying the natural beauty of the Driftless region of Wisconsin. Thanks to our butter sponsor, Plugra, for making our delicious bakes possible!

Emily Spurlin is a Chicago-based pastry chef, herbalist, floral designer, and visual artist. In weaving her many curiosities together, she strives to explore the intersections of creativity, nature, and play. She is a passionate advocate for sustainability in respect to our planet and the human bodies that grow, produce, and prepare our food. Her work has been featured in The New York Times, Bon Appetit, Chicago Magazine, and more. Emily is a 2020 James Beard Semifinalist and in the 2018 Class of StarChefs Rising Stars.

Laura Scherb is a food photographer, stylist, and writer in Chicago, IL. She works in every capacity of food photography, from commercial work to editorial projects. She is passionate about storytelling, particularly as it relates to light, color, and setting. Most recently, she art directed and photographed an Italian cookbook, Enzo’s Kitchen.