where this journey started

I grew up on a small farm. My mom was vegetarian, although my dad wasn't--we ate veg around the house and we could have meat when we went out, if we wanted. We ate lots of homegrown food: eggs from our chickens, veggies from the garden.

Some of my fondest childhood memories involve eating things I found around the farm--mulberries, serviceberries, cherries when the birds didn't get them. I dug up wild onions in the yard and Mom would put them in the spaghetti sauce. We fished in our neighbors' lake and fried the little fish in cornmeal for dinner.

I remember being fascinated by all the creatures that shared our land, whether domesticated or wild.

As I got older I began to explore the origins of food, and decided on vegetarianism for the sake of the animals. I had known chickens and pigs and cows, known their personalities and intelligence and quirks. I couldn't support the needless cruelty of factory farms. My mom and stepdad opened a farm market that later became a natural food store. I began to understand that our bodies are literally made of what we eat; what better reason to nourish ourselves with healthy food?

Mom also taught me an important lesson: healthy doesn't have to taste bad. She had (still has) some kind of magic in the kitchen. I remember so many thrown-together "stuff in a pot" dinners that were always delicious.

I was never expected to do more than take care of my responsibilities and not to get in trouble. My parents were willing to let me make my own choices and to support them wholeheartedly, and for that I am eternally thankful.

Returning to this lifestyle seems so natural to me. It's where my heart has always been.