Continuing on from a couple of weeks ago where I introduced the book, Diet For A Small Planet by Frances Moore Lappe, I want us to consider another food-related threat.

HOW WE FEED OURSELVES WORSENS CLIMATE CHAOS

Our Food System Globally generates as much as 37 percent of greenhouse gas emissions. This is due to our large shift to corporate, chemical practices.

Over the years we have always tried to be transparent with our customers so that you could catch glimpses of what is actually happening with your food as it goes from being just a thought on a page in the middle of the winter, all the way to your kitchen.

This week, we had one of those mini “disasters” that happens when working with real food and mother nature.

Last weekend I drove into Columbus and noticed all the orchards and nurseries were advertising for their “fall harvest” parties.

We thought it might be fun to have a little “party” of our own this week so we are bringing you our “Apple Flight”.

REAL Food.

REAL Farms.

REAL Simple.

These 3 lines are on the top of our brochures. It really does encapsulate what we are trying to do together.

In the podcast heavy world that we live in, we can now listen to the smartest doctors in the world, tell us over and over again what the keys to being healthy are.

At the beginning of 2021 we did a survey to see what folk's wanted on our online store. An overwhelming percentage said bulk spices. We did that a few months back AND NOW THEY'RE ON SALE! So, stock up and get all your baking needs for this fall!

This is the time of year when you should be experiencing a bunch of things that make you happy.

Kids are back in school...maybe you yourself are back in school.

Nights are cooler.

College Football.

It's getting darker, faster.

Maybe a leaf on your favorite tree is turning orange?

And APPLES.

Boxes are LOADED this week!

Piles of fruit and veggies!!

I think this would be a great week to make a classic Pico de Gallo

This year continues to yield an enormous amount of amazing fruit.

Each week I continue to be surprised by the peaches, plums, apricots, nectarines, and now apples that are pouring in.

In years past, we have had very small harvests of all of these and we would have to spread them out thin so that everyone could try at least one. This year, it’s fill the boxes to the brim with amazing fruit!

This is the 33rd delivery of 2021!!

On Monday I was out of town and walked into a Kroger to grab a beverage and saw that the toilet paper aisle was mostly empty shelves. I am VERY rarely in a grocery store so it surprised me a little to see this but it always makes me appreciate that the fact that I don’t have to rely on the grocery store.

I posted this pic on instagram this week.

It’s a picture of Warren Taylor who founded Snowville Creamery. He has since started a mushroom growing business (mostly shiitake), out of Athens, OH.

When we first got started with YB he was still with Snowville, and he had me and my family down to take a tour of the area and just talk about what it was that we were attempting to do.

Last night my 5 year old says to me, “Dad, when it’s marshmallow season again can we get those little ones and put them in hot chocolate?”

Kid gets it.

When we first started this company, we didn’t foresee a couple of the challenges that would face us in that first year. One of the biggest (literally), were the cantaloupes.

We had not yet started working closely enough with the growers to have a say in what they planted each season so we just bought the normal size of everything they grow. Cantaloupes, Water melons, butternut squash, cabbage...all TOO DANG BIG to even fit in our cardboard boxes!!

We have a tradition here at the Yellowbird warehouse.

Whenever the first corn on the cob arrives, we stop what we are doing and we pay homage. We do this by grabbing an ear, pulling back the husk, and eating the corn raw, right off the cob.

Our new employees usually look at us like we are crazy (which we are). But, then they see the look of pure bliss that only the sweetest of corn can deliver.

For those of you keeping score at home, this is week 27 of our deliveries for the year 2021! #halfwaytochristmas

This is our “wheelhouse”, where we start to see so much produce that we can’t even decide what we should buy each week because it is ALL so yummy. #tasty

Cherry Bomb!

There are not many of them available from our local farms but the ones we could find we grabbed...and for this particular week we grabbed a LOT...enjoy!

Ohio Blueberries are ripening fast and furious and we are having them picked, literally as I write this. They require so much time and labor to pick that it’s almost an around the clock job when they ripen. If you don’t get them this week, there should be plenty for everyone in the coming weeks.

Sometimes I need to let you behind the curtain on why our food system is the way it is.

Here at the warehouse we do most of our food pickups on Tuesday. 48 hours prior to that we have been on the phone with somewhere between 20-30 growers for that given week and given them what we think will be a solid order for the week.

Yes, folks, we have come to the end of the line on roots. You have been patient and we thank you for that as we obviously committed ourselves many months ago to many pounds of the sacred roots.