Pomegranates, Pears & Progress
Life is hard; food doesn't have to be #113 [vol5, 11.3]
First the Progress
Two years ago I wouldn't have believed this. My husband said last night, "I knew it would come. It's who you are to rally people around your passions. It was just a matter of time before you were involved in food drops again."
Yesterday seventeen families (& church suppers) bought over 350 pounds of nutrient dense, vitamin packed, gut healing, body strengthening, GMO-free meat! Not only good for people; meat raised this way is better for the environment (herbicide and GMO-free, keeping animals + money in KY). I wrote last week about why care about GMOs.
I began to understand that food is medicine about 18 years ago in Phoenix. We moved to Little Rock about 15 years ago and I plunged headlong into understanding how to prepare and source nutrient dense food for my family. I built relationships at farmers markets on Saturday mornings and eventually farmers delivered on weekdays to my driveway for people to pick up: milk, meat, eggs, veggies, anything really.
Fast forward to two years ago when we moved to Louisville. I was back at ground zero sourcing food.
It felt like an overwhelming regression: we were unpacking a house, settling kids in new social settings, sending our oldest to college after a traumatic accident while learning new jobs. Every time I went to the grocery store I had to pull up Google Maps. Sourcing food was in survival mode.
Where are you on the real food journey?
Recognize it is a journey. We all grow weary. Wherever you are, keep going!! It could look like two steps forward, one step back -- and that is still progress!
Learn, make mistakes, and keep growing!
We've been in Louisville 2.5 years now.
Progress takes time. Lasting change rarely happens overnight.
If you're in Louisville and wanna jump on the real food train, let's connect. Tonight I'm teaching a bread class, Marcy Pierce is setting up an Azure drop at Valley View (hopefully next month) and we hope to have another local meat shipment delivered.
Pomegranates & Pears
For our weekly church suppers I shop at Costco, Aldi and as mentioned above get meat locally. It happens that I pick up my family’s raw milk just before going to church to start supper. This week while in the buying club I asked if there were remaining organic apples from Indiana; we do fruit for dessert.
No apples but there were Asian pears, Korean to be exact, and they needed to be eaten. I was able to buy them at cost. Yahoo!
One lady in her 70s who helps on Wednesday hadn’t eaten an Asian pear. They are round like apples with brown skin. They’re crunchy and sweeter than an apple. I told her more specifically it was Korean. She looked at me thoughtfully and said, “My husband fought in Korea. May I take one for him to try? I wonder if he ate them when he was there.” It was a tender moment.
Pomegranates
Did you know that November is pomegranate month? Monday I bought pomegranates at Aldi ($1/each!). I asked Annabelle, a homeschooler who helps on Tuesday, to do a bit of research on them because we’d garnish our fruit salad with them. Turns out she’d learned to love them when she was in school with another student from the Middle East.
On Wednesday during supper, Annabelle stood next to the fruit explaining fast facts a pomegranates while pointing to the pears. Many were curious and had not tried one or the other. Regretfully I didn’t snap a picture. She even printed a document with her facts. I love her so much.
Life is hard; food doesn’t have to be.
Keep going.
Julie
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