an excerpt from my upcoming book
A life bound by seasons, animal husbandry, farming, tides, community and food shaped the palate, practices, and menus of tried and true local chef, businesswoman, butcher, and entrepreneur.
“As I have learned about growing seasons, rotation growing and grazing, pests and worms, the moon cycle, biodynamic and organic farming, no till, and seed saving, it has become a natural evolution to see how these practices impact directly link to our health,”
I am often struck with the questions of how we have come so far and how can we begin to heal our planet and our food system
Bluff agricultural companies with a movement towards efficiencies and production has come chemicals and crop ready seeds and large subsidies that make growing crops cheaper. These growing practices can be linked to poor health, including malnutrition, livestock related diseases, autoimmune disorders and food borne illnesses. These growing practices have destroyed our soil and damaged our communities and are taking away local economic growth and it has been a downward spiral of ill health across the nation, in our communities and in our neighborhoods.
In this time of climate crisis we all have the opportunity to become environmental stewards by increasing our conscious awareness of our day to day contributions and asking ourselves how we can make a smaller impact, how we can create zero waste and how we can live simpler eating well, and eating consciously, about more than a fad diet and less than giving up on an integrated life of balance.
When we tend to our life, it is the whole life: it is about how we live every moment. When we take the time to tend, we cannot help to live simpler and kinder and more thoughtful.How we live every single moment, and how food, food systems and remarkable recipes made easy can raise awareness, health, and environmental consciousness of every reader.
Tending is about the whole package, the way the food impacts the life, the way the land impacts the food, the way our cultural choices and actions impact the environment. Tending, when it comes to food, to diet, to consumption, is about the whole individual, the whole plate, the whole act of cooking, procuring, sourcing, and purchasing the food we eat. Whether on a farm or in a concrete urban building: food matters, and so do you.