Hey y’all!
I’m jonesin’ for a break, whew – the beach is calling me and I can’t get there fast enough. We leave for Florida on Friday and I have not felt the excitement of going on vacation in a long time – usually I suffer from “Travel Anxiety”, meaning a few days before we leave I get all hooked into my world and feel the need to cancel – this time I’m counting the minutes to loading up the MTP.
Maybe it’s summer time in the city that is squeezing me or just all the scheduling that goes on every day around here. Even though the girls are in camp there is still a ton of organizing that goes down and I am desperate after the school year to escape structure and commitment – I wanna cook food, hang w/my family, finish up my book and loaf…. Just like when I was a little girl and my grandparents house offered an escape, I once again am running to their arms – I still need to be close to them, as I know that time is moving quickly and will soon move them on to their next experience.
My Grandma & Poppy
What a great way to wrap up my week, yesterday we held the Noble Food Makeover at The Integrative Life Center on Music Row. I wasn’t sure how it was going to go down and let me tell you Shorty it was fantastic! Fred, Justice, Mary Alice & Jane Ellen and her wonderful tribe of youngin’s poured through the door, I’d had Bailey her 14 year old help me all afternoon in the kitchen prepping for the class, Bailey is a total sponge and because she runs the kitchen on their farm she is totally down with cooking REAL food. I’m telling y’all working with kids and & getting them to eat REAL food is easier than we think – all we have to do is educate them.
Not only did we pack the room but everyone that came out was 100% present – listening, wanting and ready to shift their relationship with food. There was no convincing, just hunger to live whole lives. I felt so super supported as so many people that know of what I’ve been doing in North Nashville but had not yet been able come to previous events found their way to Music Row. If y’all remember reading my blog at Christmas time I wrote about a couple The Lewis’s, they were our Ranch Managers of the Tennessee Ranch as well as Lee’s family Ranch in Walden, Colorado – The Big Horn. When I met Mrs. Lewis she was suffering something fierce from Pancreatic Cancer, she’d filled the table at the ranch Christmas party with stories of my mother in law as a younger woman and all the adventures of a ranch life together. I felt this huge need to support Mrs. Lewis as she had supported my mother in law; it was my honor calling me to the table – or kitchen. I told her what I do, cook meals that support the body and aid in healing. We agreed that after the holidays I would begin to send food to her via Lee on the days he worked out on the ranch. Four weeks later, just as the holiday rush passed Mrs. Lewis died. I was never able to support her in the way I had wished.
D. Lewis (The daughter of Mrs. Lewis)
A Mother & A Daughter: Taking a new road.
Last night her daughter showed up, it was fantastic – I was moved beyond belief. How cool? There is more, a mother and her 14 yr old daughter made their way into town from out near the ranch. She has Crohns disease and has been seriously ill. Our foreman from the cattle company sent her to me. As I sat with her and her daughter afterwards we talked about how scary it is for the children of a sick parent – I felt my momma and remembered being the daughter of an ill parent, my gaze shifted and I remembered being the momma too, I have sat in both seats. I explained that shifting our relationship with food is the most empowering thing we can do for ourselves and children, getting well and taking care of our health is not just about “us”, but also our family members – what a great message to pass on to our children, one that says, “I value my life, my health and I am not addicted to crap, and I am devoted to parenting and part of parenting is setting a healthy table of food for my family.” Showing our kids that we DON’T KNOW and are willing to still learn something new is a fantastic, fantastic, fantastic MIRROR!
Seeing all these folks show up from out by the ranch I heard God, I’m going to bring the Noble Food Makeover to our cookhouse on the ranch. Rural areas are surprisingly food deserts too, the markets out there lack in fresh whole foods and most folks have also lost a relationship with what to do with beans, grains and veggies – but they too want to know, as our health across this wealthy country is falling to pieces. So peep it, in August the Noble Food Makeover will be offered in 3 different parts of the city!
This morning I received an email from a woman who has been suffering from Crohns disease for many years, her gastroenterologist sent her to my website and saying that I might have some dietary tips! Y’all don’t know this but 2.5 years ago I couldn’t find a doctor anywhere to even listen to the idea that food could influence my health condition. God is not just talking to me but to other people and we are all opening new doorways in our minds.
Thanks y’all for showing up and for holding a candle to my vision whether you are far away or chopping veggies alongside of me, believing in what I’m doing is fuel for the light that guides Mee.
