Today we’d like to introduce you to Zachary Minnich.
Hi Zachary, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
I grew up in rural Ohio, a little town in the middle of a corn field. My family homeschooled me but besides that I had a pretty normal mid-western childhood. In college I met my wife Carrie, and that’s where everything changed. She was into TRAVEL and wanted to take me places.
Since then we have been to almost 40 countries together. This travel allowed me to try a lot of different foods, and eventually I became a chef during a period of less nomading.
Eventually Carrie and I started hosting retreats all over the world, introducing others to the joys of travel. We used our vast travel experience to guide nearly 100 retreats in 6 different countries. As a chef, I create the food for these retreats. I really enjoy taking the local flavors and making something of my own from them. Each retreat has a different menu, as I can’t cook the same food twice!
I am currently building a sustainable tiny house near Williams, AZ.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Along the way I became more and more dependent on alcohol. I struggled with addiction until 2019 when I was finally able to quit drinking and get myself sober. My addiction nearly ended my marriage, but Carrie stuck with me as she had recently quit drinking also. We had originally found love though the sharing of drinks, parties, and conversations. This meant recreating our love for each other and finding new ways to connect.
Our retreats are geared towers those in recovery, whatever that means to them. Having healed myself, it’s a great joy and blessing to be able to pass on what I have learned to others.
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
We create experiences. More than 60% of our retreat guests return for another retreat. This is because of Carrie’s trauma informed yoga classes, my plant-based food, but I believe mostly from our shared life experience. Carrie and I take people to places that we like to go. We go there first, try things out, do the good and the bad to tell our guests what they should spend their time on. We find the mystical tattoo masters in Thailand. Shaman with magical medicines in Guatemala. Russian sauna masters in California. Off-grid eco retreats in Portugal. We like to have fun, and we curate fun for others.
Each retreat is like a little painting. A whole new van full of personalities, each playing into the shared community experience. My art is in guiding that, and making sure everyone is well fed in the process.
Along the way I have collected a lot of our retreat meals into my first cookbook, Plants On Plates. It’s all plant-based and full of easy, fast, and inexpensive recipes that even meat eaters can enjoy.
What do you like and dislike about the city?
My favorite thing about Phoenix is the bareness of the surrounding desert.
I dislike how much water the city uses/needs to survive. It’s not sustainable.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.biggerlifeadventures.com/retreats
- Instagram: @zacharyminnich, @biggerlifeadventures, @plantsonplatescookbook
- Facebook: @biggerlifeadventures
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@BiggerLifeAdventures
Image Credits
We took all of these photos
