Let me just take a second to give a solid “THANK YOU” from all of our growers and producers. I have talked to MANY of the men and women that are a part of our LOCAL food network, and everyone is anxious (as we all are) about what the future holds. I have no more answers than anyone else, but what I do assure them is that we have a customer base that is BACKING THEM 100% OF THE WAY.
At this point, we all have some anxiety about COVID - some are concerned while others are in a full blown panic. The good news is that a majority of people do recover - I won’t quote statistics because those are changing by the minute. The really good news is that you can take comfort in the fact that you are empowered to change the course of your illnesses. With the right knowledge and some effort, it’s possible to prevent and/or improve symptoms.
Let’s get back to talking about the good in this world shall we? Any of the citrus that you are seeing from us this winter is from our new friends down in Florida at Thorpe’s Family Farm...again, it’s the first time we have gone outside of Ohio for anything but we are sure glad we did. Those vitamins are much needed right now and I know that I have been crushing that OJ that was in the boxes last week.
NEW PROCEDURES STARING APRIL 2ND!
Hey folks! We are implementing some changes! In order to stay ahead of any more “surprises”, we are going to be switching our “public drop-offs” to “parking lot pickups”.**This will ONLY affect Columbus Area Public Pick-up locations**This will NOT affect any Home Deliveries**This will NOT affect Mount Vernon, Mansfield, Marion, or Findlay pick-ups**This will NOT affect those who are already picking up at Swainway, you will continue to do that on Saturday!
From A Brother During Covid - 19 My Songbird- You sing so sweetly announcing life and warmth and growth and hope. Hope that the cold is dwindling and brighter days are ahead.
Well isn’t this fun? There is a lot happening here at YB that we want to prepare you for. We have seen a tremendous increase in sales in 2 places...store orders and home deliveries. To try and keep up with demand, and stay ahead of all the quarantine and social distancing rules, we will be implementing some new processes. In order to stay ahead of any more “surprises”, we are going to be switching our “public drop-offs” to “parking lot pickups”. **This will only affect Columbus Pickups What this will mean is that we will have 6-8 Spots around the city that we are driving to, parking, handing your orders out to you, and then moving on.
The elusive Sarah Ballmer sits down with me to discuss our family dynamics and the relationships between siblings.
She is from a family of 6 kids and I was an only child until I was 13 when my brother was born.
We talk about who gets the last piece of pizza, if our kids punch each other in the face, and why she is wearing a plastic glove at the time of the recording.
I love hearing her talk but she is a self-proclaimed "bottler" so it is not always easy to get her to open up...maybe this can be a continuing segment where even I get to learn some things I have never known about my partner.
Hello Beloved.
Please take the next 5 minutes to unplug your mind from the matrix of thoughts that you have to think about throughout your day. This is not time to solve the world's problems, this is time to laugh at fart jokes and cat videos.
At the bottom I am going to tell you about Yellowbird Foodshed. If you do not already know, we are a FOOD COMPANY that is DELIVERING FOOD...at this point do the details matter?
Let’s all take a collective breath together...in…out…
There are many things that I could talk about but let me just say this...this group of people has been preparing for this moment long before the crisis arrived.
We’ve known a long time that the food system as it existed was not sustainable. All this has done is affirm what we already saw...that our growers right here need to know that we will buy their food 365 days a year, with or without a crisis.
For now we will continue to do what we have always done and build a system that can endure for the “long haul”.
Zach Myers sat down with me to talk denim and ended up waxing about society, family, work ethic, food, and his new book “Kids First”.
“The only outcome I will accept is success”, is a mantra that he has held since he started working as a young kid trying to find his way in the world.
We also talk about how he has grown his selvage denim company “ZACE” to encompass all the things he holds to be true in his life. So sit back, relax, and enjoy...Here’s One For Ya!
What a week it's been huh?
I've heard so many facts and opinions this week that I don't even really have anything to say on any of it.
I'm going to throw the "best of the week" at you in case you need a giggle, a little info, a little musical escape, or a little bite to eat.
As promised it’s pi day box, and the ingredients necessary to make a “pizza pie”
Pizza was first called pie when Italian immigrants arrived in the United States in the late 1800s. Pizza had similarities to a pie – with a crust, sliced triangle portions and its circular shape. Italian-Americans sold and popularized the pizzas, and the exotic dish picked up the English name “tomato pie”. Sometime thereafter the languages met in the middle to give us the term “pizza pie”.
https://www.crustkingdom.com/why-is-pizza-called-pie/
In 2013 Jacob and Elizabeth Coleman moved from Pennsylvania to a 140-acre dairy farm in Fredericktown, OH to cut their teeth at building their own grass-based dairy farm.
Jacob sat down with me to talk about…
● “Carbon Cycles” as it relates to the food choices we are making
● How in our conventional dairy system the retired cow gets turned into McDonald’s hamburger
● Herd Share’s
● “Organic” vs. Pasture-Raised
● Real-life stories of customers health improvement
A random story:
When I was in my early 20's, I was visiting a friend in Indianapolis and we were driving past what was then referred to as the "Hoosier Dome". (Many of you probably remember this)
There was a music festival going on that day/night and I wanted to check it out so we parked and walked up to the door to try and purchase a bracelet that would gain us entry to the festival. They told us they were sold out and that we should have reserved our tickets long beforehand.
Welcome to your St. Patty’s Day box! Plenty of cabbage and potatoes to add to anything you might be making. The kraut from last week might be something you can use as well.
Something new. Galangal Root: Similar to ginger except it can't be grated and must be sliced. The flavor is strong - earthy, sharp, and extra citrusy.
Go to Europe on a vacation OR spend your hard earned savings on a herd of 14 bison?
At age 34 Carrie Starr decided to forgo the trip to Europe and invest her life savings into a herd of bison that are now her livelihood.
14 years later, Carrie has still never been to Europe, but her and her husband continue to thrive on 25 acres of her family's land, as they have grown their herd to 29 head!
Come with us for a conversation about how one meal at Ted’s Montana Grille changed the trajectory of this couple's life.
Cherokee Valley Bison Ranch is situated just south of Buckeye Lake in Thornville, OH in Perry county.
I just got back from taking my 3 boys (ages 12, 8, and 4) to an Ash Wednesday service at the Episcopal church on Kenyon's campus.
We don't usually attend a weekly "service" so it's always fun to watch my children's behaviors in settings like this.
It's a very cool building that feels as if it came right out of a Harry Potter movie and Dumbledore should be the one serving the wafer and wine.
Well friends, things are starting to pick up as we near the spring months.
We have had the most successful winter to date in terms of how many boxes per week we have done, and it’s the first winter we have been able to deliver EVERY SINGLE WEEK!
THAT’s Y’ALL...plain and simple. You have turned the Yellowbird Foodshed into a 12 month a year LOCAL FOOD COMPANY. It means so much to the growers to be able to sell food 12 MONTHS a year and not just in “peak” seasons.
Seeking The Story: The Pilot
A short intro from my heart.
This has been a ton of fun getting these stories recorded and edited.
When I was 21 I had a best friend that taught me about 300 MAJOR life lessons that I still reflect on to this day.
Here is one.
We lived together in a tent out in the middle of the mountains in Montana and shared a car and worked at the same place...which is to say, we were together ALL THE TIME. ..
