At twenty-one years old and needing change, Lee Boutell moved from Kansas to start the first organic vegetarian restaurant in Eugene, Oregon. Without financial help Lee and partners opened the restaurant and ran it as a profit-sharing collective. The restaurant became a center of activism for positive political and social change.

Today Lee is married with two adult daughters and lives in Eugene as a gardener, craftsman, artist, and writer. Lee enjoys music, hiking and exploring the natural world.