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Have you ever been to bee church? Angie Barrios has. Following a day of seed selecting, embodied movement, vinegar making and clay crafting, a meditation among the buzzing vibrations of our honey-making friends was the final item on the itinerary for last month’s Earth School, the most recent project to come out of Barrios’ Comparta cooking collective.
Comparta began as a COVID-era supper club and quickly grew to regularly sell out 50-seat communal dinners. Along the way, a community of like-minded chefs, makers, farmers and artists blossomed around it. This June, Barrios formalized her network into a faculty of sorts, and launched a series of hands-on, daylong workshops in the lessons of Mother Nature at Milwaukie’s Fiachra Farm (and possibly other locations in the future).
Topics at previous Earth School workshops have ranged from seed saving (with Jade Novarino) to open-fire baking (with Jeremy Ballen of Maxine’s Bakery) to the basics of fermenting (with Kbar of All on the Table PDX).
Any day at Earth School might involve learning about flower essences, participating in a tea circle, or harvesting straight from the garden. The curriculum is anchored by nourishment, in both the bodily sense—food and food systems are the through line—and the realms of mind and soul. And Earth School always ends with a communal meal.
While it may conjure images of Portlandia skits, Barrios’ efforts speak to a very real aspect of the Portland ethos. Portlanders take pride in their food, from seedlings all the way to candlelit restaurant tables.
“My main goal with Comparta is always creating a container for people to connect with food and land and each other,” Barrios tells WW. “I want people to have fun cooking and using their hands and asking questions and being students in their lives.”
See the rest of Willamette Week’s Best of Portland 2026 here!
