Anti- Stress Christmas

I am allergic to three things, well four - Penicillin, moldy cheese, stress, and bullshit. Really, they cause me to have fits of rage, inability to breathe, and worst of all- psycho redhead disorder. Thus, when it comes to the Holidays I try to stay away from all four, and especially stress.

I am not much of a shopper for any reason, or any occasion, so I definitely don't "go" Christmas shopping. In fact, you should have seen me when I had to go buy myself a skillet a few weeks ago- I had to come home and decompress after one store!

How do I get around all this Christmas nonsense? Well, it seems, that the higher powers at be seem to understand my predicament and the perfect gift for those around me just crosses my path. I'm racking my brain, but I can't seem to remember ever buying a commercial produced gift for someone. I have even lucked out to have some really fantastic foodies that make/create great things they are willing to trade for food. It's amazing what you can get for a half a hog! Also, I am not above going on gift giving strike. It's just my personality not to push things, after all, when in doubt - feed someone. Everyone is joyous when their belly is full. Of course, they could be lying, but once again I am allergic to bullshit and I haven't ever gotten hives so I am sure my theory holds true. Furthermore, Scott and my sister usually do the shopping for Fiona and I just cheer them on from behind the scenes.

For a myriad of reasons, this will be the first year in 5 that I haven't woken up on Christmas morning at my grandmother's house! I spoke to her last night, and tried to keep myself together as she talked about how she can't find her angel for the tree, and doesn't even remember putting it away (Of course she wouldn't, my sister and I put the ornaments away while she was in the hospital fighting for her life), or how grandpa is having to put the tinsel up without Fiona to help. Normally, I would be at her house helping to make pies, listening to Frank Sinatra or Johnny Cash Christmas music and forcing her to remain calm- she has a tendency to worry A LOT!

However, just when I thought that I was going to have to get a last minute ticket back to Missouri, or brave a full blown sadness attack, I got a wonderful Christmas present. Laughter! It has been a lovely day, and very joyous. The twins have been out in the chaos doing last minute Christmas shopping, and true to their twin nature, although shopping separately, texted me the exact question within moments - "What is your shoe size?" ha ha, I guess I know what I am getting for Christmas. Furthermore, Fiona has been hilarious. She and the babysitter put up the tree a few days ago and some of the lights don't work, but she doesn't care. She has been running around putting random gifts under the tree, like rocks and old toys, and so on and so forth. Her reasoning? Santa may need extra presents for other boys and girls, and I said that I was going to get Scott a box of rocks! hahaha. I am so blessed to have a such a sweet soul as a child.

She said it can't be Christmas without snow, so I am going to give her snow. I found some Styrofoam in the garage and will crumble it all up on the patio for her to wake up to on Christmas day- Oh, I'm so excited.

My hope is that you all have a very merry Christmas filled with lots of laughter, delicious food, and if you happen to get a box of rocks, think of Fiona, who seems to think there is absolutely nothing wrong with giving rocks as presents!

Cheers and Happy Holiday Eats!

Lucinda

Accidental Red Lentil Soup

I meant to make roasted red pepper soup, but ended up with red lentil soup.

Here's the why and the how:

I am not kind of girl that buys or keeps store bought canned or jarred food. I don't have a good reason against it, other than I don't care for the taste.

However, that changed when I got coupon emailed to me from World Market for $10.00 off a $30.00 purchase. I went there with the intentions of buying a cast iron skillet, and was ever so excited when I found one for 20 bucks. However, I had to find ten more dollars worth of stuff to buy for my coupon to be valid. Finally, after browsing about for an hour or so, I found some green tea for 5.99, and some roasted red peppers in a jar for 2 for $5.00. Woohoo, mission accomplished.

I opened the first jar and, although, they aren't as delicious as those made from fresh peppers and soaked in olive oil, they were pretty darn tasty on sandwiches

.

When a friend of mine said she was coming over on Wednesday to see my new place, I decided I was going to make roasted red pepper soup with the remaining jar. She was due to be here at 3 and I started making the soup about 2.

I started with chicken broth, and then added onions and garlic browned in butter with my new skillet. I also diced a potato and added to the broth because with red pepper soup it adds the right texture. I got a little heavy handed with the chili pepper flakes because as I went to add it, the dog bumped into me and my hand slipped. Oh well, it was a cold day and a little heat was just the ticket to warm things up.

I let this simmer for a bit, and then decided to add the roasted red peppers. However, I hit a snag - I couldn't open the jar! I tried EVERYTHING! I banged it, hit the bottom as I once saw someone do with a juice bottle, and in the end I just didn't have the strength in my hands to open the damn thing. Aside from calling 1 -800 I need a man, I was at a loss. It was time to adapt and overcome... soup style, and quick since this happened at about 2:40.

I found red lentils in the cabinet and decided they would work perfectly. I could still get the reddish hue that I wanted and add a flavor and texture that I wanted.

Rinsed them and added them, let them cook in the broth and then put all of it in the blender. (As a note, be careful not to overfill the blender with steaming hot soup contents or the top will blow off, and it will burn you. I learned that the hard way!).

Returned it all to pan on the stove and added cream (if vegan, or trying to cut back on calories, you could skip this... but for the sake of flavor I wouldn't recommend it).

Garnish with shredded cheese or shredded carrots, add sour cream, if your hips allow, and enjoy. I would have taken a picture, but it got devoured before I had a chance.

Cheers and Happy Eats!

Lucinda

Old Roots and Fresh Beginnings

Over five years ago, when I moved back to Missouri from DC, Sidney, my mother's best friend of 45 years, asked me the very reasonable question of why...

As I was trying to come up with the words to explain that I wasn't insane to walk away from a burgeoning career with a six figure salary and an office building on Pennsylvania avenue, an active social calender that had me rubbing elbows with all the right power players in Washington, a posh apartment with a doorman, and an assistant that took care of everything from my clothes shopping to dinner reservations she looked at me with a knowing expression and said "Old roots are hard to pull, aren't they?"

Yes, yes they are.

I didn't have a plan then, nor did I know what my future would hold. All I knew was that deep down I was meant to do something more meaningful. The games, the power, the pace, and the excitement of DC had its benefits but they came with a price. The mentality in DC was "What have you done for me today? and when you do something for someone else, make sure there is someone there to document it." Sex, knowledge, and power was the name of the game in DC, and for a time I played it and played it well.

However, after a while it became silly and exhausting. Don't get me wrong, I met a few wonderful people in DC, who chose to be true to themselves, and we are still friends to this day. However, I found myself yearning for more authenticity, a place where real people are the norm and not the exception, a place where you get an honest pay for an honest day's work, a place where conversation holds meaning without 45 cent words, a place like home - Missouri.

Scotty, my husband who had never been further west than West Virginia, and I loaded the car and headed west. My sister lived outside Kansas City so we decided to set up house near her. Scott got a job straight away, but I decided to take some time off from corporate world. In 2006 I got pregnant, and my pregnancy was a joyous time. Due to the tragic events of my childhood, an early graduation from highschool, and an immediate thrust into the harsh realities of being on your own in the big city before I even had a driver's license, it had been a long time since I hadn't been in "survival" mode. Therefore, I spent those 10 months (yes it really is 10 months of pregnancy... not sure where all this 9 months bs comes from) reading for pleasure, lounging at the pool, and enjoying silence after I intentionally chucked my cell phone.

It didn't take me long in Missouri to realize that there was water water everywhere and nothing to drink. Meaning, that I was surrounded by corn fields, and open pasture but to get real food, grown by real people I had to hunt. Sure, I could make the 45 minute trek to Whole Foods, but my mother raised hogs that ended up being brokered to Whole Foods and I was disgusted with the discrepancy between what she was paid as a farmer and what I was to be charged as a consumer. Thus, I started buying from the farmer's market. Eventually, I started picking things up for my neighbors, and before you knew it I had a storefront. Due to the fact that there weren't middle men or freight costs, I was able to give the farmers more for their goods, and charge the consumer less than grocery store prices. Everybody wins and I had found my calling! When I was looking for a new building as the lease had ended, I told my customers I would deliver to them. Well, that worked out even better for everyone. I picked up the produce fresh from the farm and delivered it all in one day, so I was free the rest of the week to be a mother and wife, and the consumer got farm fresh deliciousness without ever leaving the house! Once again, a win win.

Then came 2009... the worst year of my life.

My business, that started as a way for me to have access to real food from real people, help out my neighbors and the farmers in my community, caught the attention of the local news. The next thing you know, I had Dion Lim riding with me in my little red car to deliver food and crunch the numbers on how good of a deal it was. Seems like a dream come true right? Um, no. First of all, my marriage was in ruins, and for the sake of the privacy of others I won't go into details, but let it suffice to say that my ego and self confidence was badly bruised. Furthermore, with the business I did everything myself, from answering emails to doing deliveries. I knew I couldn't handle an overwhelming influx of business sure to come from being featured on the 10:00 news (there is a link at the bottom of this post if you want to watch the special) of the most viewed news channel in Kansas City, especially when I was in the middle of becoming a single mother. Thus, I ended up merging with a larger company in the same business as me with the understanding, or at least I thought, that nothing would change except the name of the business and profit sharing. I didn't care about giving up 51% of the profits... if it meant more business for the farmers, an ability to serve more customers, when I would still be able to make a living.

Well, it didn't quite turn out like that. Within a few weeks, it was quite clear that I had got in bed with everything I was against. I was told that we were no longer going to be purchasing from small family farms unless they were certified organic, and agreed to the pricing that we set. I couldn't believe that I was being asked to go to all my farmers who had become my friends and tell them that, although they had walked with me since the beginning, rejoiced in my triumphs and already put plants in the ground in anticipation of my expansion... that I was going to leave them high and dry. Furthermore, now that my name and face had recognition I was expected to be the face of the company and do public appearances and be the front runner of the marketing campaign. My response was "Wait a minute, you want me to go against everything I believe in, and then promote it??" I was told I didn't have a choice, after all, I was only 49% owner.

I wept to the point of dry heaves.

It was a long and drawn out fight, and only after the help of a good lawyer, and conversations I tape recorded, unbeknown to him with the 51% owner did I eventually get pennies on the dollar for my 49% share. Of course I also got a non- compete, a gag order, and a non- solicit with my only allowed statement to be this. Of course, this meant that I got some hate mail from consumers thinking I had done the bait and switch on them by promising local and then giving them products from Mexico, but what could I do when I wasn't allowed to talk about it? Furthermore, I can assure you that if I don't delete this post, that I will be getting a call from my lawyer first thing on Monday and a cease and desist by Tuesday. I would give every penny I have not to have crossed paths with corporate evil in the first place.

However, as my mother said, " You chose to be free by trying to do what is right, but he will have to wake up to himself everyday." Right you are mama, right you are.

I took the money and decided to "put my money where my mouth is" by purchasing a farm with my baby brother Cole, eventually separated from my husband, and bought a little house in the town of 600 where my family lives. However, I felt like I had lost my sense of self. I mean what happened to my business, husband, picket fence, and the 2.5 kids? It didn't stop there. My 2009 rounded out with heart break, my grandmother fighting a very rough fight with cancer, dealing with my own mortality, and brief stay in the hospital, and a slight loss of sanity.. ok huge loss of sanity.

However, behind every tragic tale there is a silver lining. Through owning the farm, I have learned more in the last year about the hardships and joys of farming than all my years of being a "farmer's daughter", or liaison to farmers has ever taught me. I have so much more respect. Furthermore, somewhere in the middle of crazy sadness and drama I was able to help my mother with the marketing of her pork directly to the consumer (my non- compete does not restrict me from family farm operations or wholesale, just retail). In fact, I ended up getting into the Organic/ Local wholesale business and helped establish Kansas City's first, and only organic wholesaler. Woot woot! In fact, those farmers that I had once left high and dry... well the same could not be said for them, for they stood with me again even if the platform had changed, and I was able to broker their goods to local retailers including my former company's main competition. In the end the consumer and farmer ended up back on the same road as before,it just meant I played behind the scenes, and I couldn't be happier.

Now I bring you to the next chapter of my life. My feet are back on solid ground, my personal life back on track, and a skip in my step. I have moved to Florida, one of the only states that I am not held to a non- compete, but a place of the unknown. I intend to "get back on the horse", as we would say in Missoura with my new company. However, I have already come to realize that is going to take a lot of hard work, blood, sweat, but hopefully only tears of joy. This is because Florida is mostly a commercial agriculture state. Meaning, it is a "Go Big, or Go Home" state. There are quite a few organic farmers, but sifting through the ones that meet my "real people" standards, and those that are corporate conglomerates won't be easy, but I'm getting my mojo back, and I am ready to start sifting, and searching for the lesser known family farms.

In closing, to my friends in Missouri (and Kansas), I want you to know that I wouldn't be where I am without you. You have stood by me when I made mistakes. You believed in me when I didn't. Furthermore, this year by buying locally you have helped save one family farm, that I know of, from financial ruin. You have sent one farmer's child to college. You have put more dollars back into your local economy, and you have stood for what is right. Without you, I would be one standing alone, but instead I am one among many, and for that you have my enduring gratitude. Keep up the good work!

For my friends to be in Florida, I invite you to come along on this new journey with me. Together we can lesson the gap between farm and fork. Together, we can eat well, be well, and do a lot of good in between.

Cheers and Happy Eats!

Lucinda

link to the special http://www.kmbc.com/money/19022061/detail.html

Making Sushi

Made a video of how to fix sushi yesterday for a facebook friend. I thought I would share!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yyMr8B-o7j0

Cheers and Happy Eats!

Lucinda

Simple and Delicious

Autumn is my favorite season. There is something wonderful about the about the changing colors of the leaves, and the first smells of a wood stove that remind me of the happier times of my childhood.

My childhood was no walk in the park, but through all the clouds there is a bit of sun that I always love to bask in. Simplicity. I spent my early adolescent on a farm in the middle of no where. I remember my mother attempting to describe the city to me, and I couldn't understand how you would be able to tell where one town ended and another began without empty fields between them. The idea of suburbia was beyond my scope of understanding.

Now, although I spend as much time as possible at the farm, my work often keeps me in the city. When I find myself wanting to go back to the simplicity of my childhood I do so through cooking. Don't get me wrong, there is a time and place to put on a show and cook a meal with all the bells and whistles. However, in the rat race we call life, more often than not, a simple and delicious meal will do more than nourish your body, it will nourish your soul.

Here is what I made a few weeks ago that did just that.

Butternut squash (from Goode Acres in St. Joseph)
keep it whole, put it in the oven at 350 until you put a knife through it and find it soft. Take it out of the oven, cut it in half, scoop out the seeds, and dab with butter.

Lambchops (from a lamb my sister raised)
I marinaded them in leftover red wine (yes, such a thing as left over wine does exist! I had meant to finish it, but went out of town for more than month. When I got back I found it not fit to drink, but wonderful to cook with.) and stone ground mustard, baked them for a bit, and then put them under the broiler for a little sizzle.

I used 5 ingredients, and it was simple and delicious!

Cheers and Happy Eats!
Lucinda

Life, Death, and the filler in the middle

Insomnia in Farmtown when I don't own a television means I should have plenty of time to update this blog about the lovely food I have been eating, fun on the farm, and my intention to chain myself to a building in an attempt to keep it from being demolished. Or... maybe I will go cook myself a 7 course meal while jamming to Harry Chapin, just for fun. However, for now, I am going to share a conversation that I had with my friend Janel that is too powerful to keep to myself.

Of all things, we were speaking about death, but more importantly the life that happens before death. This is how she explained her viewpoint on the subject to her son, and to me.

We are invisible beings. On earth we have put on our coats so others can see us, our skin is our coat. When we die we take off our coats, leave our skins behind and return to where we came from. A full circle. While we are on earth we are here to choose God or not choose God, everything else is just filler. That simple.

Wow! I am quite certain her idea of choosing "God" was Jesus Christ. However, no matter who God is to you- love, beauty, peace, hope, compassion, a force that inspires you to do no harm to others - life really can be that simple. Do you choose it or not? For me, at the core, God is love. Do I choose to love and be loved or do I not? I can tell you what I want my choice to be, but getting off the fence is, at times, a scary proposition.

Too often, it is easy to get caught up in the filler of life. We allow ourselves to worry about all the "stuff" and we lose sight of the basics. Whatever it is that moves us, we should allow it to move us without all the noise that can become so distracting.

Cheers, Happy Eats, and Happy Simplicity!

Lucinda

Ulterior Motives

"An unexamined life is not worth living." - Socrates

Being a vegetarian has been a major change to my world of food normalcy. With this change, has come a deeper look at how I view food. I have been examining the why of what I eat, the when of what I eat, and how of what I eat. If food was just for substance, than being a vegetarian wouldn't be a thing. So what are my ulterior motives and emotions behind food and the eating thereof?

To me food is a language that everyone speaks. We may all have our own dialect of flavors and styles but in the end we all need to eat, and the what and how of our food is a deep expression of self. The meals we enjoy together are a way of communing together where words aren't necessarily needed.

Today, Fiona and I had dinner (some would call it lunch, but it is Farmtown and here we have dinner) with grandma and grandpa. Gran called and said she was feeling better, and although it wasn't fancy, she had cooked and felt like she would enjoy the meal more if Fiona and I would join them. We graciously accepted this invitation, especially since she made creamed peas which is one of my favorite dishes.

During the meal a friend of Gran's stopped by unannounced to drop of a blanket she had quilted for her to take to chemo treatments. This was a reminder of the angelic voices singing softly in background calling grandma home. However, that sad realization was put on the background as we ate. We just enjoyed the moment, the being together. We were thankful, and our meal was a voicing of such. Grandma was well enough to cook, and our meal was an expression of her ability to live. She didn't cook meat but had she.. I would have eaten it. All rules, all dedication to vegetarianism, it all would have meant nothing. I would have eaten the meat to commune.

I guess I found my ulterior motives surrounding food. I cook for self expression, I eat with others to connect with them. I am not meant to be a vegetarian because I don't want to have limitations on the culinary dialects I can enjoy or experience. However, for 5 more days I will wallow in the language of vegetarianism.

Turning the Tables

I thought about Lucinda's experimentation with vegetarianism and veganism the other day and wondered how someone crossing over from the other side would manage, i.e. going from a vegetarian or vegan lifestyle to including meat-consumption.  By crossing-over, I must include that this person is coming from a vegetarian/vegan culture.  What would that be like?  How would their community react?

I imagine the main question for this person would be "Why did you decide to start eating meat?" or "Why do you eat meat?"

I asked myself this question over and over again a few weeks ago  observing when I did eat meat.  As much as I like to think my eating habits are intuitive, I found that my reasons for eating meat often aren't.  My current list on why I eat meat.

From Naturally Local: Life of a Foodie, Farmer, Free-Spirit and Activist

Typical reasons:

1. I enjoy its taste

More subtle reasons in my subconscious based on family, in-born expectations (not unlike nutritional superstition!).  These reasons are not what I believe in my heart, but they do exist in my reactions because of how I was raised, what I'm exposed to societally, etc:

1. It is more nutrient dense (not true, but my mom was a dietitian; growing up, we all believed this)
2. I grew up eating meat
3. I need it to be healthy
4. It is easier to prepare
5. I  have money, now, so I deserve it (entitlement)
6. It is just easier to make meals with meat since most of the family desires meat in their food

My typical reason is, to me, a perfectly acceptable reason for eating meat.  It is an honest reason in terms of intention.  The other reasons are ones I don't like to admit to--they are reasons that haunt me when I'm in a jam, need a quick food fix and throw a steak on the grill, or when I'm tired of eating seasonal produce during a limited season (hello, anyone else, turnip overload in winter?), or when I have family over and don't want to offend them by not including meat on the menu (immigrant family who looks at meat as valuable and a sign of respect to serve, even after living in the U.S. for over 3 decades).

Of course, I know how to fix all these issues.  Cook meals ahead of time.  Suck it up and eat leftovers and the rest of my turnips.  Explain to family that the 4.00/pint berries are honoring them more than just as much as fresh side (I concede, I too am addicted to pork belly).  Blah blah blah blah blah.  Basically, when I don't eat meat to savor its flavor and experience, I'm being a wee bit lazy.

I can't change how I was raised, what I was exposed to socially growing up, or even what peer pressure can sometimes generate during a madhouse of family holidays (the fanfare, the heightened emotions!).  But it is by forcing myself to face The Silly that keeps me honest about my intentions and helps me make changes to my life that require a huge paradigm-shift.  For example, when I found out back in 2006 that beef-consumption contributes more CO2 emissions than domestic car use alone (newest numbers, 78%), it was a shock to our pride-party that our car only uses 35 mpg.  It was a shock that a big action--like buying a fuel-efficient car--had less of an effect on the environment than taking in smaller amounts of meat everyday while making sure the meat we DID take in was dimensionally the highest quality possible.

I guess I'm throwing all this personal exploration out there to see if anyone else has struggled with these sorts of issues.  Why do YOU eat meat?  Why don't you?  What was your journey to changing behaviors, and when was it difficult for you?

Comic Avoidance

At one point in my life I used the word “honestly” often in conversation. I never noticed the amount of times I used it until someone pointed it out. I then became hyper sensitive to my usage of the word, and began analyzing why and how it had infiltrated my vocabulary. Breaking the habit of over using the word “honestly” was rather difficult at first. I would find myself stumbling for words, and going into long tirades for the sake of avoiding the word. I feel for the those who were on the receiving end of my comical dance around honestly. Many months later, my communication has return to a natural flow, and if I use honestly it is effective and to the point, and not over saturated at the cost of losing its meaning.

I am 8 days into my vegetarian lifestyle, and meat is to my diet as honestly was to my speech - always there, hardly noticed, and not made a “thing” until I took a deeper look at it. In fact, I started this month with an air of cockiness. For me, I didn’t think giving up meat would be a problem because it is not an obsessive part of my life. Instead, I thought this month would be a walk in the part and a bit of a check mark before the full force dedication of veganism next month. My cockiness was so inflated that I attached additional rules to my vegetarian diet. I felt like I needed to make it a real challenge. I made the decision that I would have to get my groceries from the actual grocery store. Thus, nobody would ever be able to say.. “I can’t be a vegetarian because I don’t have the same access to good food as you do.” Instead, I am putting myself in the shoes of the average American shopping at a conventional grocery store. I believe I deserve a face palm over this decision, because it has yielded my desired result – a challenge!

The first few days of the month, I didn’t have time to venture to the grocery store (keep in mind that I am 45 minutes away from one), so I ate out for every meal. In my attempt to avoid meat, I ate more funk food than I have in a year’s time prior. I had French fries, vegetarian pizza, onion rings, and all sorts of fried deliciousness. I had to avoid the salad because I am in the Midwest where a salad is not a salad unless it has a lb of meat on it! After 3 days of this assault, my body was starting to scream for something a bit more beneficial, and I had to make the time for grocery shopping.

I have chosen Hy-Vee as my grocery store of choice during this adventure because a. they have an organic health market section b. they are employee owned c. they are fairly accessible in the Midwest. So what happened when I got to the store? I succumbed to impulse buys and the lure of “value added” products. I spent $85 and got home with hardly anything to make a meal from and lots of snack items. I did buy a lb of baby romaine, and this was my only saving grace to get me through a few days without having to go back. Fiona and I ate lots of peanut butter on toast, yogurt, and salads over those few days. (Disclaimer: Fiona is not following a complete vegetarian diet at this time.. her father is an unwavering carnivore so when she is at his house she gets plenty of meat). As the norm, I am not one to keep value added products in my house. Traditionally, I have lots of produce, a freezer full of meat, and all the required items if I want to make something. I make my own bread, pizza, juices, pastries, and so on and so forth. However, something about now being a vegetarian and shopping at the store has played with my head a bit. I am putting so much time into “avoiding” meat and shopping for food that doesn’t have it in it, that my natural flow of preparing/ cooking/ eating has been thrown for a loop. My second trip to the grocery store yielded more of the same. I spent $56.00 and got mostly processed foods (see the above picture). I have now realized that if I don’t make a conscience effort to retain my core food values that I will become a vegetarian at the cost I am not willing to pay- my love of food. Also, it seems to be financially pricey and much less fulfilling to remove the creativeness from my dinner table.

Now that I have regrouped, we shall see what next week brings. Hopefully, I will be able to resort back to my before vegetarian core values of food without frills in which the star of the show is the texture, flavor, and spice, and not the speed at which it is ready to consume! Food prepared Honestly! ;-)

Cheers and Happy Eats!

Lucinda

My Birthday

Today is my birthday. Quite a few "bloggable" things happened. However, my inspiration for tomorrow comes from this little snippet my mother wrote in a letter of reccommendation for one of her students that is applying to Harvard.

"Our hometown is located in a very rural area in Northeast Missouri. There are very few cultural and academic opportunities in this county. We have seen the great Mississippi river breach its levies and flood a significant portion of this school district. The local rivers and tributaries have flooded the cropland and farmers have suffered. Matthew's father has a construction business and has felt the financial ramifications of this natural disaster. Always looking beyond the difficulties of life, Matthew has thrown himself into charitable activities and volunteer programs that help meet the needs of the community."

The flooding in Missouri may jeapordize this young man's financial ability to go to college.

I grew up in this small town with the odds against me. Through some sort of luck, I have been able to travel the world, have financial success, and enjoy many cultures. As fate would have it, old roots are hard to pull and I have come full circle - back to where it all started. I am trying to support a food culture that puts more money in the farmer's pockets so people like Matthew have the opportunity to reach their potential.

Age is a small price to pay for the maturity that allows me to see and count my blessings. I do, however, feel old when I think of how short life is and how much work there is to do in the development of a more socially just food system.

Does the food you eat support large giants like Monsanto, Kraft, and Cargill.. or is there a deeper story behind it?

I encourage you to make the family farm the story behind your food. In doing so, you support people like Matthew.

Cheers and Happy Eats!
Lucinda

A day in the life of Lucinda.

I don't wear a watch, and for good reason. If I did, I would probably obsessively look at it and freak out over the time I waste on the random dramatic bits of my life. However, with my cell phone call log, email log, and all these other time trackers I will attempt to piece together my day so far.

5:30.. get up and make coffee, eat, shower, and get dressed.

6:30 Call from Cole (my baby brother) that went something like this:

Cole: When you had your old phone, did you download a bunch of stuff from easyedge?

me: What is easy edge?

Cole: a place to download games, the cell phone bill (we all have our phones on the same plan) had $200 worth of downloads.

Me: Weird, I lost that phone.. maybe it was actually stolen. What kind of games?

Cole: Need for Speed, swimsuit challenge, pacman, and a bunch of other stuff

Me: Yeah, because I am the kind of person that would download swimsuit challenge. (scoff) I will call US Cellular as in a few hours. Where is the bill?

Cole: Jody has it.

Me: ok, bye.

6:30 ish to 10:30ish... watch sunrise while responding to a gazillion emails (OK, there weren't that many, but it sure felt like it). Check facebook, write blog entry, read other blogs I follow, read news sites.

10:30ish... talk to Jody, tell her to bring bill... plan to go pick up seeds.

10:45ish... call from Jody.. tells me farm truck caught on fire, and she needs me to come get her in the tractor or on 4-wheeler.

I attempt to pull start 4-wheeler. Unsuccessful. Wonder why we have a 4-wheeler that needs to be pull started.

Get new hooker boots covered in mud. Make a mental note to buy more appropriate footwear.

Get in tractor, realize how utterly ridiculous it is for me to try and learn to drive a 70k dollar tractor on the fly. Make a mental note to ask if there is full coverage insurance on the thing.

10:55 ish... Call from Jody.. Amy is coming to get her. I have a sigh of relief...

11:00ish... leave for Quincy

12:00... stop and get latte while in Quincy.

12:15 ish .. Get to seed store. Impress older lady behind the counter at my ability to check the weather on my phone. Buy seeds. So happy to support a local place.

1:00ish... find a random number on bill that was called from my phone during the time I thought it was lost, and before I replaced it. Call said number. Thus, begins tracking down of cell phone thief.

1:15ish... Buy pink mud boots from Farm and Home.

1:30ish... food.

2:15ish... go to US Cellular store, sort out bill drama and get serial number for old phone.

3:15 ish... return to farmtown, and confront phone thief. Explain that he can own up to stealing it, and pay back the $200.00 at a dollar a month and bygones will be bygones. He cooks up some story about a random kid on the streets of town selling stolen cell phones, and that he bought it from this kid for $10.00. (Laughable in town of 600) especially since phone thief was in the same building as I was when I thought I lost the phone. Word to the wise... don't steal something in a small town. Everybody knows everybody and the truth always comes out. Sheriff gets involved and Jody and I head back to the farm.

5:00... return missed calls, respond to more emails, and wave at hired hand.

6:00... visit with grandma and grandpa about upcoming trip to St. Louis, new mud boots, high tunnels, and cell phone thief (word spreads fast in small town and they already knew about it). Grandpa gives me an article to research about high tunnels.

Currently: updating blog before food, wearing pink mud boots that have no mud on them, sitting under electric blanket, and watching the horses out the window.

Later: Call Cole to get farm report from Bridgecreek location.

much later: return more emails, read chapters of my book, and sleep....

I love farmtown.

After I go vegan, I'm going to eat the ducks.

When I was 10 years old, I started a list containing the things I wanted to do in my life. I titled it the "to experience" list. I occasionally add items to it ensuring that it is never ending.

Some items were on the list because I knew they were inevitable. If nothing good came of them, I could at least get the satisfaction of crossing them off my list. Such was the case with heartbreak and sorrow. Other items I thought would take some sort of planned effort, but instead happened rather randomly (like being on television or riding in a private plane). There are items that have taken effort, such as reading the entire Encyclopedia Britanica set.

At any rate, one of the items on my list is to be a vegan for a month. I know what you are thinking- I have a farm and its financial success depends partly on people eating meat. That is true, and I most definitely love meat. Pork, Beef, Lamb, Goat, and if my tender hearted brother wasn't so adamantly against it, I would eat the ducks my friend Janel gave us.

However, it is not the lack of meat that has me hesitant about crossing this item off my list, for I am a snobbish meat eater. I am used to/ and prefer good meat from animals given a life worthy of their sacrifice. I assure you there is a taste difference. Thus, when I travel I usually avoid eating meat.

The problem I am having with the idea of being a vegan is my dairy consumption. I am avid coffee drinker, and coffee just isn't right without a heavy dose of cream in it. Therefore, being a vegan would mean giving up coffee, which is not something I can do without dedication.

With all of that said, I am not one to shy away from something just because it takes sacrifice or seems too difficult. When I set my mind to something with a desire to devout my passion to it, I rarely fail.

With a few health issues, I have realized that a vegan diet may kill two birds with one stone. I can cross it off my list and have the possible side effect of better health. So.. here comes my passion.

I recognize that I can't be a vegan overnight, but I do have a plan. For the rest of March I will be taking a closer look at my meat and dairy consumption so I know where I stand. I will also be slowly switching to decaf coffee. In the month of April I will switch to herbal tea and eat no meat. Then, in May I will be completely vegan. During the month of June I might do the raw foods thing just for kicks.

After I have accomplished all of this, as the calender turns to July, for a reward I am going to eat the ducks no matter what my brother has to say about it.

This should be an interesting journey, and I will be sure to keep you all posted.

We are the family farm. Stand with us.

We don't want government subsidies, but we do want an even playing field on which to compete, so please don't allow them to be given to corporate giants.

On average, if you added up our working hours, we make less than minimum wage, so please don't haggle us on price.

We are walking wikipedias on the topics of our trade, so please don't think us intellectually inferior.

If we cease to exist then you would be dependent on companies that are "too big to fail" for your food supply, and we all know that nothing is ever to big to fail so please oppose legislation that makes it harder for us to do what we do.

Who are we?

We are the family farm, and as such we ask you to stand with us.

Stand with us as we fight to keep our land out of the hands of those who attempt to swindle us into less diversification in the name of efficiency, by purchasing products from farms produced in a bio-dynamic way.

Stand with us so we can have the freedom to plant non GMO crops and save our seeds without fear of retaliation from companies like Monsanto, by choosing organic and opposing laws that allow companies to patent life and then sue us in the name of copyright infringement.

Stand with us against those that would have us raise animals in concentration camps for the sake of a dollar, by refusing to buy meat from feedlots or confinement buildings.

You are our customers, our neighbors, our countrymen, and above all else you are our fellow humans. All of us, together, can create a foundation that the next generation is proud to stand on. Together we can be keep our food system pure, and together we can leave this land better than we found it.

Cheers and Happy Eats!

Lucinda

Organics - a matter of ebb, flow, & logistics.

In our world, as we know it, everything works in tandem. For every action there is a reaction, for every cause there is an effect, and every ebb has a flow.

The choosing of organics keeps these natural processes in harmony and balance. This is because organic agriculture at its core, seeks to work with the natural occurring elements of nature. It is not reliant on synthetics, created by man in a lab, which although they may increase per acre production of crops, they also have hazardous effects on microbiology of the soil, our water supply, our health, and wildlife.

As humans at the top of the food chain we have a responsibility to keep from damaging or depleting the bottom of the food chain. Otherwise, our cockiness with be our downfall.

By choosing organics we can stop running around fixing problems we, ourselves, created.

We can stop creating chemicals to kill things whose purpose we don't completely grasp only to turn around, after we have removed them from existence, and realize their use, to create a new chemical to take their place.

By choosing organics we can support an agriculture system that seeks to work in tandem with nature to keep our resources free from mutilation and our families fed.

In my opinion, our food supply issues in the world are not a matter of per acre production but rather a logistics issue. So instead of wasting such great intellectual talent on creating chemicals in a lab, let’s better utilize that talent by putting people to work on logistical issues such as:

1. Putting unused acres into production

2. Shortening the farm to table miles so we don't have food wasted in transport

3. Creating markets for farmers who choose to produce food consumable in its natural state rather than government subsidized markets created for field corn which must be altered before we consume it

4. Teaching farmers to farm organically

5. Getting the surplus that, if we put all of our unused acres into production, we most definitely will have to those in need.

That's my two cents on why organic is superior.

Cheers and Happy Eats!

Lucinda

Peach trees don't grow on the beach.

It's a long dramatic story as to why, but today I took a purposeful trip down memory lane.

To aid in this en devour I imported my email from the past 8 years, and have been viewing picture books of my life over the years. While doing such, I stumbled on pictures of when I used to live on the beach in Florida.. out my door, around the corner and bam- on the beach! I also found emails I sent to my friends describing my apartment in D.C. In my basement was a bookstore, coffee shop, grocery store, and the metro - meaning I was not required to get out in the weather except by my own choosing.

I thought about all of this when I had to hike from the end of the driveway to the house because the snow makes it impossible to get in or out, and when I was putting wood in the fire that needs constant attention to keep from going out.

Of course the randomness of this post is not to wallow in the "used to be" or go on and on about how much this cold weather and snow is annoying me (as tempting as it may be). On the contrary, I just wanted to say thank you. .

Thank you to my brothers and the hired hand that allow me to "play" farmer and take all the credit while they do all the grunt work in this undesirable weather.

Thank you to all the farmers that don't have brothers or hired hands.

Thank you to the person that shoveled my gran's steps so I have a clear path to walk on when I visit her.

Thank you John Goode for having a green house full of beautiful herbs so I can have warm tea next to the fire.

And last but not least... thank you blogspot for allowing me to document this so in the summer when I am sitting under a shade tree eating a fresh peach I can remember to take the good with the bad and that peach trees don't grow on the beach or in the basement of a high rise!

Wanderings in the grocery store isles

My grandmother has been ill. She found out in early fall that she had breast cancer. Her journey has been difficult with tests, chemo, and even an infection that brought her to the steps of death's door. However, her strength is amazing and she has taken everything in stride. Her optimism tempered with realism has been quite inspirational. I hope for a speedy recovery, but am comforted by the fact that she will hold her head high no matter the challenges she faces. I digress.

I make it no secret that I attempt in all forms and fashions to avoid conventional grocery stores.

I get my food delivered to me, grow it, or shop at farmer's markets. I do occasionally stop in a store to get a bottle of wine but even then I try to find an independently owned store, and have attempted to teach my palate to appreciate Missouri wines.

However, with grandmother being ill and grandpa still needing to eat, I have had to venture into the dark side of life - conventional grocery stores.

The fact that my grandfather is known for growing all natural beef in a way that most people say it couldn't/ shouldn't be done (more on that in another post), yet eats grocery store beef, my grandmother is one of the most fabulous from scratch bakers yet buys packaged sweets, she can pickle a mean pickle and does... yet gives them away and buys hers from the store, she makes fantastic jam, yet buys more from the store, has bees and fresh honey, yet once again buys honey from the store... well, the irony is not lost on me. I don't attempt to understand it all, and I just go with the flow. Yes, I am a die hard foodie and activist against anything grown, sold and manufactured without a conscience. However, just because I have my own opinions and views of the food world doesn't mean others, including my own family, aren't entitled to theirs. Once again, I digress.

To the point: While wandering around the grocery store looking for things on gma and gpa's list, I have to say I was quite taken aback. First of all, why is honey in the condiments isle? I spent 15 minutes browsing around in the sugar section at a loss. Secondly, while searching for bread I was trying really hard to find a loaf without high fructose corn syrup- it was impossible!!! When I asked to speak to the butcher, I was told they didn't have one. What???? Furthermore, when I told the woman why I wanted to see the butcher (so I could ask who the meat supplier was) she looked at me as though I had fallen and hit my head- was this such a funny question?

Oh, and an entire isle devoted to soft drinks and fruit drinks? Curiosity got the best of me and I started reading labels. I would be surprised if the entire isle contained even 8 0z of actual fruit juice.

How did all of this happen? When did corn and soy dressed up with fancy labels become food? In the summer when I only eat local foods, I commonly get the comment of "I would love to only eat local, but there just isn't enough variety." Huh? I think the summer abundance of produce to be of much more variety versus what I have found in the grocery store.

Cheers and Happy Eats!
Lucinda