Helen Puckett DeFrance was born and raised in Jackson, Mississippi.  The fourth child in a family of six children, she learned cooking from her grandmother, Helen Todd.  Helen combined a passion for cooking with an unparalleled gift for teaching to create the Camp Blackberry cooking program for kids at the prestigious Blackberry Farm near Knoxville, Tennessee (where she’s been a featured guest chef for holiday events since 2002). A graduate of the Master’s program at Pepperdine University with a specialty in Montessori training (a hands-on, experiential teaching method), she presents her cooking program, “THYME to Cook!,” in schools across the country, as well as at the Everyday Gourmet in her hometown of Jackson, Mississippi, and Viking Cooking Schools nationwide, Blackberry Farm, among others. She lives with her son, Martin, in Jackson along with her three dogs Henri, Eddie and Lucky.