I can\u2019t put my finger on when it started? or how it started? A few years ago, I was happily going to my favorite large chain grocery store to buy my organic produce. The drive, the shopping experience, even paying was completed without any human interaction at all thanks to self-checkout. I had no clue where the food was grown. A little empty and unsatisfying when I think about it now?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
What brought me from there to here? Today, I\u2019m sitting with my laptop, looking for the right words to express how excited I am for the changes I\u2019m seeing; for our community to be on the verge of something truly remarkable. Not to be overly dramatic? but something that would fundamentally change the quality of our lives. Connectedness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It may have started when I unsuspectingly pulled onto the farm of Mariah & Paydon at Cherokee Lakes Farm<\/a>. I was just swinging by to pick up some fresh produce which felt at the time like a foodie indulgence. Paydon was working on a welding project, and Mariah was working in the field when I arrived. As Mariah showed me some heirloom cucumbers and squash that was just picked, she began to tell me a little about her farming practices. About Korean Natural Farming inputs, soil regeneration and what it meant to grow nutrient dense food. The information was just pouring out of her and I couldn\u2019t get enough. Before I knew it, I think my quick \u2018swing by\u2019 lasted about an hour and a half. My friends who were waiting on me were not thrilled \u2013 sorry again guys!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I don\u2019t believe pivotal moments in your life happen by accident. Around this time, I stumbled on a free movie on YouTube called Back to Eden<\/a>. To keep this from becoming a small novel, let me just say that over the following months I watched dozens of videos on no-dig,<\/a> no-till, lasagna, food forests<\/a> and permaculture designed gardens. The seed of a passion had quietly put down a healthy root and I had to get my hands in the dirt. <\/p>\n\n\n\n